Laws of Matriarch

I’m feeling like I’m losing myself to the hatred and racism that society throws at us. It’s hard to find support for Aboriginal people who are brown and have accents, and often, it’s not even coming from our own community. You ever notice how you hardly hear Indigenous accents in local workplaces? Up here on the North West Coast, our accents are deep and rich, carrying the weight of our culture. In this society, the preference is clear—white skin is the standard. There’s a long history of hiring practices that favor white skin and Euro accents, and it continues today. You see Indigenous folks being hired, but many of them don’t have the same lived experiences or connections to our traditions. A lot of them are self-identified as Aboriginal, Métis, or classified under Canada’s Indian Act, but they don’t always embody what it means to be truly Indigenous. Our traditional laws follow the Laws of the Matriarch; if your mother is Aboriginal, then you are too. It’s a law based on respect fo...

When I was younger, I didn’t really feel God. I saw everyone around me struggling with their beliefs, some hating God, some sticking to strict religions or rituals like it was a badge of honor. My family tried out all kinds of spiritual paths over the years—Buddhism, Christianity, Seventh-Day Adventists, Jehovah's Witnesses, and even atheism—but they always found their way back to our Indigenous ways. I was baptized Anglican and went to church as a kid. It scared me, and I thought God was sending everyone to hell. In my teenage years, I felt lost and alone. I turned to street drugs for a bit of happiness, but it came at a heavy price. I thought, if I’m going to hell, I might as well go out with a bang. Then in my 20s, I went to treatment at Round Lake and realized that we, as Indigenous people, are still here. I learned about the rituals, prayers, and medicines of the prairies. I thought, this is the fire and lightning I’ve been searching for, the magic I saw in movies about shaman...