BY KAI KAI KONS
(In the Spirit of Winter, Ahow Ngaw Aatissoke, I will call upon the muses to help me share a sacred story)
“Long Ago before there were villages of Anishinabek, Nanaboozho and Wolf walked amongst the Earth together naming all things. For a long time they walked beside each other and then eventually went their own separate ways to organize there own species. What would happen to Anishinabek then would happen to Wolf where we both have been hunted for our scalps and territories and almost made extinct.
After Wolf and Nanaboozho separated and after their species organized themselves as tribes on Turtle Island, the Earth went through a period of a great never ending winter. One day one of Nanaboozho’s descendants was out looking for medicine for his village and became lost in the icy barren lands far away from his village. Nanaboozho’s Great grandson was lost and could not find his way home, he walked and walked and prayed for help. After a while Nanaboozho’s Grandson came across a pack of starving freezing Wolf pups. The Wolf Pups were almost frozen and just as this man needed help, so did the wolf pups.
The Pups then spoke to the man and promised that if he was to rescue them and take them back to his village the wolf pups would return the favour and serve Anishinabek in a way that would help them survive this never ending winter. Once the Man and the pups returned to the Anishinabek village the wolf pups taught the people how to use them in such a way for travelling great distances. As time went on the domesticated wolf pups became dogs and together Man and Dog worked as a team to travel great distances to exchange messages, medicine village to village helping Anishinabek survive the Ice Age. ” – Anishinabek Aatisookaan
They say you can tell the shape of a community by the condition that its dogs are in and in most of our Anishinabek communities our dogs are overpopulated running wild in packs, starving and uncared for. In recent years a few dogs have even killed loved ones in some of our communities. If we are serious about “decolonizing” and moving forward within our communities we need to realize that some of our “stories” or “aatisookaan” are much more then mere legends recognizing our sacred connection we have with our stories including the sacred relationship with the Dog and Wolf Nation. If we wish to talk about asserting ourselves to who we really are and moving away from the Indian Act then the first step is that should be restoring the relationship we have with our Dogs.
In continuing with this Dog Euphemism or “Teaching” in regards to our “biiskabiiyang/decolonization” process, when our leaders are thrown a bone by the Government through a Self Government Package, Land Surrender, Lands Management Agreement or any of the countless other “packaged rights” that further assimilate who we are which are dressed up as some form of restoring our Independence, our communities are given mere insignificant authority to create menial governance mechanisms such as creating something as irrelevant to our autonomy as Dog-Bylaws, while our wild dog epidemic continues. We see this happen within our health, police, healing and wellness and education strategies as well, where the core problems are not being addressed and we utilize their tools of oppression.
We have always had dogs within our communities where we had a use, respect and where both dog and Anishinabek had an understanding that they both needed each other. We do not need the Governments acknowledgment and permission using their bureaucratic tools to control our dog situations or any other of our own affairs. Dogs roamed free in our past where there was no problem however the only difference from then and today is we forgotten our relationship we have with our dogs.
People in our communities have dogs and let them breed out of control and disown them because maybe they can’t afford to look after them and so they overpopulate running in packs. We don’t need Dog Bylaws or any other Governance mechanism that parallels a municipality we have our own understandings. We need to repair the connection we have with our dogs be it through ceremony, taking proper care of them and speaking our stories to remember our connection to Wolf and Nanaboozho. It is the time of Aatisookaanak, let our stories be heard and seek them out. I believe if we restore a broken relationship we have with our brother the Dog Nation, then all else will follow through to help us get back up again. So if we want to talk about revolution and “it’s our time” and seventh fire this and that, let us first take care of our damn dog situation.
SOMETHING STINKS AND IT AINT THE DEAD FISH Before my community accepted a Land Surrender and voted on accepting $307 Million using Canada’s biased and illegal Specific Land Claims Policy, I went out to seek an answer through fasting. Fasting is how we seek understanding and direction and connect us back to our Mother. I wanted to ask Creator on how I should go about making my own decision on this Land Settlement and so I fasted.
I fasted for Four Days and had a Sacred Dream which came in four separate dreams. I dreamed that Bunnies were eating me and the more I let them eat me the bigger they grew, then the dream shifted. A person in my community asked me to leave where I was fasting and that he was going to take me to a much better spot in our community, I didn’t want to go but I did. As I left we came across people in my community walking like zombies, with no eyes. They lost their spirit. The dream then shifted to where I was in my Aunties house and she was crying because she missed her home, the home she gave to me and so I gave it back to her. The dream then shifted to where I was setting nets in Georgian Bay my home and the fish were all dying on the shores. We had to feed them Shark and Whale meat so they can revive themselves.
There is a more explanation to the dreams but when I came out of the fast in real life now I’m speaking of and when us fasters came to celebrate in or community ending our fast to share our experience and feast, that day thousands of fish washed upon shore dead. My Cousin a well respected Medicine Person said we had to follow through and take this seriously. Eventually the Grand Chief of his Medicine Society came to our community to help us revive an old ceremony and teaching but that all that came of it. I wanted to speak on why I went out for and what I asked for but was denied to share when the head honcho came around and denied to share how this relates to the Land Claim. What came out of this for me through my fasting is we have walk our ceremonies and understand our sacred stories and even people in our medicine societies need to walk the talk and follow through within the decisions we make in our “politics” and way of life or else we going to end up like those fishes, dead. We need to understand who we are and how we are connected. Ceremonies and asking for things is not just something we do to be Anishinabe, we best damn need to follow through with the things most of us only play around with.
Our Ceremonies, Sacred Stories and Teachings seem all respectable accept when it comes down to the eleventh hour when our Future Generations and Earth needs us. It’s all a powwow and everyone wants their dancing and singing honorarium. We bring our Elders out, tokenizing who we are in our political circles and shove them off stage when the prayers are over and go right back to our “little white sandwich government funded conferences.” I have not surrendered but I have accepted $10,000 through the Land Claim Surrender to assist funding ACTION and Oshkimaadiziig Unity Camp. We as Seventh Fire People need an alternative representation and we need to take back our communities and lands. This Fast has helped to create what I and Giibwanisii have been working on for the past year. Sometimes these Medicine People and Leaders only go so far and they are the only ones some people will listen to when it comes down to the eleventh hour. Lets not let them make further Surrenders on behalf of our Earth and Future. Organize through ACTION and lets RISE UP, It is our Time, lets embrace our stories, ceremonies, clan system. Sure the clan system is working already but only the Chief and his Clan benefit in most of our communities. Don’t let these Dogs represent who we are not.
Never Been Idle, Kai Kai Kons, Loon Clan 1 807 407 2390
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