Growing up in Greater Vancouver as an indigenous person was not easy. My mother came from poverty and dealt with the aftermath of growing up in a family and community where alcohol and other abuses were prevalent. I know now I was part of a vulnerable population that would be disadvantaged in life, because of the color of skin and my heritage. Or at least I thought that would be my destiny.<\/p>\n
As a young person in elementary and high school I felt ashamed of my family and hid my culture as much as I could. I remember feeling embarrassed about friends knowing too much about my family and doing my best to keep them at a distance. Having said that I know now, given where my mom came from I would say we were doing pretty good. She moved us to a nicer neighborhood and although we didn’t have much she did her best to give us a normal and healthy life.<\/p>\n
Upon graduation my life was turned upside down as my mom could no longer afford to live in Metro Vancouver. She was faced with the decision to move to a northern town where some of my other indigenous family resided. I knew I would be destined to no post secondary education, likely married with kids at a young age and without many career prospects if I moved with them. On top of that I was upset about leaving my friends behind. Faced with this decision I knew I had to find a way to stay and so found myself a place to live and a job at the age of 18, 5 days after high school graduation. At first I was very angry about my mom leaving me in this situation but quickly had to realize that that anger was not going to accomplish anything. Something inside me told me that I needed to be self-reliant and stand on my own two feet. I can almost recall to the day when I said to myself that I would no longer be dependent on anyone and moving forward I would only count on myself to live the life I wanted.<\/p>\n
The article in Light from Many Lights, Part 5, Number 4. Ralph Waldo Emerson, My life is for itself and not for a spectacle…what I must do is all that concerns me, not what people think, discusses self-reliance as an important thing in self-discipline and development of character. What I did not expect after my anger subsided is that my life would in fact get better. Initially I struggled, I admit. It took about 5 years for me to get my footing and be able to balance the responsibilities of adulthood. I had to learn how to budget, pay bills, and how to cook for myself. With only a high school education I slugged it out working two jobs at not very good companies. That experience however taught me that I needed to find a way to get to school so I could better myself. I put myself through college and found a great company with room for advancement. In addition to my career I was careful to find a life partner that had similar values as me, and would be a good husband and father.\u00a0 Even though today I have life challenges like everyone else, I can say I am content with the life I’ve built.<\/p>\n
I’m now a proud indigenous woman working for my community. I’ve been able to learn about my culture and family and as a result understand the history and why indigenous people have struggled. Thanks in part to the truth and reconciliation movement, I no longer need to feel embarrassed about my heritage. Along with getting reacquainted with my community I’ve learned about traditional teachings that make sense to me and am thankful that, for some reason I followed many of these principles. For one I have learned that everyone has a gift and its important to nurture these gifts. Without knowing it at the time, my career path has allowed me to utilize my gifts. I had a mentor that helped me with career coaching, and although I found myself questioning what it was that I wanted to do, I instead just did what I was good at. There were times I was not always happy in my job but I realize now it was all in an effort to prepare me for my role today. I am sure that the adversity I went through as a child and through my work experience was my ancestors guiding me so that I could lead my community through reconciliation. Ralph Waldo Emerson said (Eichler Watson 1951) “Trust thyself; every heart vibrates to that iron string. Accept the place the divine providence has found for you, the society of your contemporaries, the connection of events. Great men have always done so…<\/p>\n
In an indigenous community we can sometimes be harsh on one another and bring down the very people that are working hard to help others.\u00a0 While I trust myself and my destiny I still have feelings and as a leader can be the target of gossip and negative intentions. For the most part I have managed through these situations but its hard when working with family as inevitably there is no off switch to the gossip even when I try and walk away. People seem to think I need to hear about things, mostly because they care and want me to counter. I never do and walk away but admit my heart wears heavy at times. Knowing I’m on the right path and being exposed to this kind of negativity I hope to learn from other leaders how they can continue on their path they were destined for with negative chatter in the background. It’s one thing to know better but in practice what do others do to stay on the path of living a self-reliant life and keeping the mind and hearth healthy?<\/p>\n
Lilian Eichler Watson, 1951, Light from Many Lights, Part 5, Number 4, page 176, New York: Simon & Schuster, Inc.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Growing up in Greater Vancouver as an indigenous person was not easy. My mother came from poverty and dealt with the aftermath of growing up in a family and community where alcohol and other abuses were prevalent. I know now I was part of a vulnerable population that would be disadvantaged in life, because of … <\/p>\n