Truth and Reconciliation Day is a day to reflect on everything that Indigenous peoples have gone through but to also work on ways of connection and working together. The phrase “we need to know the truth before we can begin reconciliation” is a good reminder because a lot of people still do not know the truth. Truth and Reconciliation is more than wearing an orange shirt one day out of the year, there is a lot of work and unlearning that needs to be done.
On September 28th our class participated in a fire circle. It was my first time doing a fire circle and I found it very moving. Standing in a circle with the fire burning felt very meaningful. We were all in circle together focused on active listening and sharing in the experience. Clayton Gauthier came to speak to us and it was interesting to listen to his stories and different perspectives. Clayton was very personal with us and shared about his life and his art. Art can be a connection to culture and an outlet. He shared about living in a good way and that we have to do things that honour ourselves so that we can respect and honour others. The final thing we did with Clayton was pass his staff made of wood and eagle feathers to each person around the circle. When someone was holding the staff, they would share something that they would do to honour themselves. I talked about honouring myself by finding some quiet time when it is needed. I appreciated how everyone had a different answer because we all honour ourselves in different ways and in doing that we can come together and work as a community.
The second piece of our fire circle was the UHNBC drummers who came to share their songs and drum with us. I really enjoyed learning some of the songs and getting to sing with the drummers. I thought it was cool that some of the class got to drum as well and try it out because it became a shared experience among everyone. Each song they sang was very powerful and sharing where the song came from and what it was about made it more meaningful. The feeling that the songs aimed to invoke was evident every time even if I did not understand the words. One of the words that was shared at the end of the drumming was resilience. There is resilience in drumming and singing their songs as it ties back to community, knowledge and culture. The UHNBC drummers said that they were healing through their drumming. Truth and Reconciliation will take time and the fire circle was a reminder of that but there is also healing happening and learning to live in a good way.
