Me Tomorrow

Indigenous Views on the Future

Drew Hayden Taylor, Drew Hayden Taylor

• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Year: 2021
• ISBN:
  9781771622950
• Topic: Social Sciences
• Subtopic: Sociology
• Index: Social Sciences

First Nations, Métis and Inuit artists, activists, educators and writers, youth and elders come together to envision Indigenous futures in Canada and around the world.

Discussing everything from language renewal to sci-fi, this collection is a powerful and important expression of imagination rooted in social critique, cultural experience, traditional knowledge, activism and the multifaceted experiences of Indigenous people on Turtle Island.

In Me Tomorrow …

• Darrel J. McLeod, Cree author from Treaty-8 territory in Northern Alberta, blends the four elements of the Indigenous cosmovision with the four directions of the medicine wheel to create a prayer for the power, strength and resilience of Indigenous peoples.
• Autumn Peltier, Anishinaabe water-rights activist, tells the origin story of her present and future career in advocacy—and how the nine months she spent in her mother's womb formed her first water teaching. When the water breaks, like snow melting in the spring, new life comes.
• Lee Maracle, acclaimed Stó: l? Nation author and educator, reflects on cultural revival—imagining a future a century from now in which Indigenous people are more united than ever before.

Other essayists include Cyndy and Makwa Baskin, Norma Dunning, Shalan Joudry, Shelley Knott-Fife, Tracie Léost, Stephanie Peltier, Romeo Saganash, Drew Hayden Taylor and Raymond Yakeleya.

For readers who want to imagine the future, and to cultivate a better one, Me Tomorrow is a journey through the visions generously offered by a diverse group of Indigenous thinkers.

Our Future Is Young, Educated and Relational

Minadoo Makwa Baskin Student & Leader
and Dr. Cyndy Baskin Writer, Researcher & Educator

Introduction

Makwa and Cyndy wondered whether to write about Indigenous Peoples twenty years or fifty years from now. Although Cyndy believes that what she is predicting is more likely fifty years from now, she wanted twenty years because in fifty she will be dead and so not physically present to see if anything she predicts becomes reality (LOL). However, she invites readers to look at what she writes from either a twenty-year or fifty-year walk in the future.

In twenty years, Makwa will be forty-one years old, the age that his mother, Cyndy, was when she gave birth to him. He will be a Ryerson University and First Nations Technical Institute graduate holding a bachelor’s degree in public administration and Indigenous governance, and a master’s degree (he is not certain in what discipline at this time), and looking to pursue a PhD (if he doesn’t have it by then). Around this time, Makwa hopes to have a well-established municipal political platform based on community development. This would be specific to non-Métis, Indigenous-mixed peoples, whom Makwa has found are often left out of both Canadian and Indigenous innovation plans pertaining to cultural and economic development. The big picture, and where Makwa hopes his ambitions will lead him, is working for all Indigenous communities in Canada as a liaison atop a reformed Indigenous Services Canada, with a focus on Indigenous-led resource management and sustainable protocols. Much like Cyndy, Makwa aims to continue educating himself in the social, economic and political realms in order to continue lobbying on behalf of Indigenous communities for cycle-ending assistance programs for and administered by Indigenous Peoples. Most importantly, Makwa hopes to be a good father, building on the importance of academia instilled in him by his mother, Cyndy, and the importance of core Indigenous cultural knowledge (particularly Anishinaabe) instilled in him by his father, Marcel.

Twenty years from now, Cyndy will have retired from teaching in post-secondary education, but she will still be working, only not as much. She will continue to write and teach in other ways. She will be a mentor to many young Indigenous people. She will be healthy and active, still meditating and involved with her many grandchildren. If you decide to look at this writing as being about fifty years from now, Cyndy will no longer be in the physical realm but will certainly be watching closely what is happening on the planet from the spirit world.

Makwa envisions himself living his elder years with as much zest as Cyndy has. At that time, he will surely be retired from a life of politics and, although he would like to be an adviser to the next generation, he understands the importance of fresh ideas from fresh minds. Still, Makwa will fulfill this purpose by serving as a board member to various Indigenous organizations, as an investor in Indigenous businesses and, quite possibly, as Cyndy did before, as an educator. Makwa will spend his retirement either funding or writing grant applications for the implementation of community farms to tackle Indigenous food insecurity in a multitude of ways, while contributing to a global information repository of Indigenous knowledges.

The following is based on a conversation that Makwa and Cyndy recently had about their thoughts on the future for Indigenous Peoples.

Our Future Is Hopeful

Cyndy: Readers of this chapter will notice that I am hopeful about the future for Indigenous Peoples. I am hopeful because, despite all the challenges and struggles we continue to face today, we have recently made progress in creating better spaces and places for Indigenous Peoples. We have done so in the areas of music and other forms of the arts, within academia, and in creating culture-based services that support individuals, families and communities. We have lawyers, judges, senators, psychiatrists, doctors and fashion designers, and their numbers continue to grow. I am hopeful because I see so much hard work being done for the good of the whole, often with personal sacrifice, facing the risks involved when taking a stand on what is important and keeping our good minds on a better world for the next seven generations.

I am hopeful because young Indigenous people around the globe are in contact now, sometimes in person, but mostly through technology, such as Zoom, Facebook and online video games. Our Ancestors, such as those of the Hopi Nation, saw this coming as they talked about a giant spider web that would connect people from around the world. Is it a coincidence that the internet is called the World Wide Web? I don’t think so. Through social media via the internet, youth from the four directions can share their stories, recognize their vast similarities despite geography, and develop relationships that can last a lifetime. Politicized youth can come together as a unified global population, pressuring others to open their eyes and minds to what Indigenous Peoples have known since the beginning of time.

The internet can also be vital to Indigenous rights movements, allowing youth to participate in dialogue that can create a better understanding of their identities. It can be used as a tool to connect with other Indigenous groups, spread solidarity and give them greater political clout. An example of the use of the internet to educate people across the globe is the grassroots movement, Idle No More. Since 2012, 400,000 people and hundreds of local Indigenous-led agencies and organizations self-organized around the world under the hashtag #IdleNoMore. Using its website, many YouTube videos and a Facebook account, Idle No More works through solidarity actions on an international level while connecting the most remote First Nations communities with each other, with urbanized Indigenous people and with the non-Indigenous population. Fluent in social media and new technologies, this movement upholds Indigenous rights and the protection of land, water and sky. As technology advances in the future, and our young people grow up immersed in it, they will have powerful tools to go beyond what Idle No More has achieved in continuing to connect, educate and organize both Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples.

Another medium, music, has always been a way of relaying messages and, through the internet, this has become easy, providing opportunities for many Indigenous youth to share their work like never before. Artists like A Tribe Called Red have gained an international following that continues to build a peaceful revolution through their genre-bending mix of electronic dance music, hip-hop and First Nations traditions. Sharing songs, such as “Land Back,” and partnering with diverse musicians, like Muslim hip-hop artist Yasiin Bey, Tribe promotes a combination of political stances and unity among all.

I am hopeful because I, and many around me, refuse to be immobilized by fear and sadness, and instead we are using our justifiable anger and passion to make positive change. Without hope, I might as well lie down and die because I would be of no use to anyone.

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Makwa: I, too, see a rich future for Indigenous Peoples, at least in the scope of Canada. For myself, I draw hope from those past generations who laid the foundation for us to fight for social equality and financial equity for Indigenous Canadians. Doing the work while honouring my Clan teachings, my grandfathers and the present collective is what propels me to carry that work into the next stage. Along the way, I have hit these “checkpoints” where I look around and see my Indigenous colleagues succeeding, including Indigenous-mixed Peoples like myself, all of whom are well established in their communities as teachers, healers, staff carriers and pipe carriers, but also as nurses, educators and boxers.

In both a national and a global movement, Indigenous Peoples have at last sparked the conversation of Indigenous autonomy in multiple nation-states. In Canada specifically, we are starting to move away from legislation created for Indigenous people into that created by Indigenous people. I think the future will be a time of bolstering that ideology and what that looks like not just for Indigenous people but for all Canadians. The importance of autonomy was driven home for me while attending the Ryerson-FNTI (First Nations Technical Institute) partnership program in public administration and governance. Here, for the first time, I was being educated by culturally knowledgeable Indigenous professors who saw us all as the future, those who would create world bridges or carry the torches to set the seventh fire.

The Fulfillment of Prophecies

Cyndy: When I think about the future, the first thing that arises are the many prophecies that Indigenous Peoples have talked about for a long time. Unlike most prophecies, those of Indigenous Nations are not necessarily about an inevitable apocalypse (although at the time of writing this, we are living with COVID-19, which I refer to as the zombie apocalypse) or the end of the world. Instead, the fate of humankind and the world is in the control of human beings. Indigenous prophecies speak about choice, which is critical to what the future will look like.

Many of these prophecies refer to the seventh generation or the seventh fire. For example, the Onkwehonwe tell of a time when, after living with the newcomers for seven generations, the trees, birds and fish will begin to die. Animals and people will be born with deformities. Huge stone monsters will rip open the earth. Eventually, people will grow ashamed of how they have treated the earth, their mother and provider. Then the Onkwehonwe will rise and demand that their rights and stewardship over the land be respected and restored. Importantly, other people will finally see the wisdom of the Onkwehonwe and turn to them for guidance and direction on saving Mother Earth. Children and youth are the seventh generation, and they will decide what to do.

Similarly, the Anishinaabe Nation tells of a time that they call the seventh fire, which will bring a new generation that will seek knowledge, pick up the teachings that have been put aside and take action on the state of the earth. Most people do not know this, but these Anishinaabe prophecies originated with the Mi’kmaq Nation, who promised the Anishinaabe protection as they moved from the Atlantic coast through what are now Quebec and Ontario. The seventh fire also speaks to the descendants of the newcomers, telling them that they will have a choice between two roads. One road will lead to the eighth and final fire, a time of liberation and healing. The other road will continue to lead people along the path of destroying the earth. Like the Onkwehonwe prophecy, this one too speaks of other people reaching out to the Anishinaabe to help them save the planet.

Mi’kmaq prophecies focus on all Indigenous Nations coming together with the purpose of leading the rest of the people of the world. They speak of putting aside differences, considering what we have in common and joining together. They emphasize the fact that while new knowledge and wisdom will come out of this, it must be based on the old teachings if we are to save the planet from destruction. We will know we are in this final stage when the Creator takes the earth in both hands and shakes it violently. This will be the warning of the coming of great misery and destitution for all people. However, we will have a choice: allow this destruction to happen or prevent it. We can achieve the latter if we heed the wisdom of the Elders, who have the abilities to restore balance in the world.

The Lakota have a prophecy about a giant black snake that tries to cross a mighty river. If this snake crosses the river, the end of the world will begin. If it is prevented from crossing, then a new time of co-operation and peace will emerge. It is a hawk and an eagle that help the people kill the black snake, which is viewed as a sign of racial unity.

The current generation is living with the signs of the choice we must make in the future: stone monsters are bulldozers and other machines that tear open Mother Earth. The black snake is oil. Preventing the snake from crossing the river are the protests at Standing Rock, North Dakota, against the Dakota Access Pipeline, and in Wet’suwet’en First Nation territory in British Columbia against the Coastal Gaslink pipeline. Indigenous Peoples the world over are standing up for their rights and the protection of the land, and this will grow exponentially in the future.

Today, it is mostly young people who are protecting the water and land, not only through their creations via technology, social media, music and video, but more significant...

Table of contents

• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Introduction
• About the Cover Art
• Me Tomorrow—Paint It Red
• Our Future Is Young, Educated and Relational
• Future We In-U-Wee
• No Reconciliation in the Absence of Truth and Justice
• In the Blink of an Eye
• A’tukwewinu’k (storytellers)
• Seventh-Generational Thinking—Fact or Fiction?
• Our Education Tomorrow
• Don’t Give Up!
• Strangers in a Not So Strange Land
• Me Tomorrow: The Journey Begins . . .
• Waanishkow (Rising)
• We Appear to Have Fallen on Dark Times
• About the Contributors
• Also in this Series