For as long as I can remember, my father, uncles and grandfather — who immigrated to Canada from Italy 55 years ago — have spent weeks away hunting moose, deer, turkey, rabbits, and if you consider fishing hunting, they do that, too.
In May, I spent a week at Niizh Manidook Hide Camp — a Two Spirit hide-tanning camp in aptly-named ‘Bucktown,’ or Delaware Nation at Moraviantown in southwestern Ontario. The goal was I packed camping gear, drawing inspiration from my dad’s pre-hunt shops, picking up a fisherman’s hat from Canadian Tire just in case. And while I didn’t make that trip to Bass Pro, I did make one to Walmart’s men’s section to stockpile T-shirts I wouldn’t mind ruining.
Coco and my mom Cathy often tell me they know the intense pressure I’m under to learn what they couldn’t, and what it means to attain this knowledge and share it with them., of which Coco is a survivor — as is my entire family, really — refers to the mass removal of Indigenous kids from their families and communities into the child-welfare system, many of whom were taken without the consent of their families and Nations.
I know my roots, but at the same time, I often struggle with feeling like I’m not “enough” as I lack the same level of knowledge as my peers.And how can I position myself in a way that acknowledges the intersections of my identity, knowing I’m learning things, like how to tan hides, skills others have already mastered, and that have been passed on for generations? I also know I’m fortunate to have the opportunity to write about this on a platform few are able to reach.
Half immigrant half FN lesbian living her white skin privilege while playing victim. Real indigenous suffer in their reserves in abject poverty & desolation.
What savages. you should be ashamed for pushing for such violence in society.