GDI is a Saskatchewan-based educational, employment and cultural institute serving Métis across the province
Jan 16, 2023
Posted in: Uncategorized
We are just days after having experienced the second, official, Truth and Reconciliation Day, a day to reflect on the miserable experiences of thousands of Indigenous children who were forced to attend residential schools, and a day to remember them and the many children who died in what some people choose to call prisons for children. Truth and Reconciliation Day, September 30th, dovetails with Orange Shirt Day, a day related to the personal and painful residential school experience of Phyllis Webstad.
We are also just days away from Thanksgiving Day, a day that all children who went to residential schools missed spending with their families and their families missed spending with them. In a few days, I will be giving thanks that most people will be able to gather with their loved ones to remember so many things with gratitude. I will also be giving thanks that residential schools no longer exist and that many Indigenous families are on a healing path due to their own strength and resolve. I admire the way they express thanks for what has been good in their lives.
“Thanks” giving is an Indigenous way of expressing gratitude and it pre-dates contact with non-Indigenous Peoples who are often credited with hosting the first Thanksgiving. But that’s another story.
| Traditions of giving thanks long predate the arrival of European settlers in North America. First Nations across Turtle Island have traditions of thanksgiving for surviving winter and for receiving crops and game as a reward for their hard work. These traditions may include feasting, prayer, dance, potlatch, and other ceremonies, depending on the peoples giving thanks.
https://www.canadashistory.ca/explore/arts-culture-society/the-history-of-thanksgiving-in-canada |
I believe it is human nature to be appreciative and that this has been expressed across cultures. The last several years have amplified the many reasons we have to be thankful in addition to feeling sorrowful over the changes and losses we wish had never occurred. I cannot say “in spite of” here because we aren’t asked to choose one over the other. It is a more natural response and one that reduces the stress of feeling foolish for being optimistic or depressed because we feel no hope. I have cut myself some slack in approaching this, allowing myself to feel whatever it is along the spectrum of what we are experiencing over the pandemic, the world’s precarious political and environmental states, and the recent natural and man-made disasters. I balance this by thinking of the people in my life I enjoy being with and care about. I have gratitude for being employed to do work that matters and for working in a wonderful workplace with great people. I am grateful to live here because we enjoy freedom and peace and because we are willing to find the ways to make this true for all Canadians.
Fall is a time of year when things slow down or stop and rest. This shift may be the very reason we find the time to slow down enough to more consciously remind ourselves to remember and to be thankful. I’m grateful for the reminder.
GDI is a Saskatchewan-based educational, employment and cultural institute serving Métis across the province
