My son, Tiger, and I are having an evening visit in Saskatoon, where we will be attending the Braiding Knowledge Canada (BKC) Gathering. It is -15 C, windy, and snowy cold.
With the Tigers' technical expertise, on Wednesday afternoon I will be facilitating a three-hour training session for the BNK Board on our Four Worlds, Sixteen Indigenous Principles for Creating a Sustainable, Harmonious, Prosperous World, and our Principles and Steps for Consultation.
On Thursday Morning, after Opening Prayers, I will be sharing the Gathering Keynote for the first hour of the Gathering, with time for questions.
In the process of preparing, I am going through a very intense, deeply integrating emotional, educational, and spiritual process.
I have gone through many drafts.
I have enjoyed and been inspired by each one.
I have no idea what I will share, although this beginning is becoming very clear-Wopida Tanka, Great Thanksgiving.
This is my rough-draft beginning:
Beloved Relatives, respected Elders, Knowledge Holders, researchers, policymakers, and friends,
With warm love and greetings, I would like to begin, as our Indigenous peoples have always begun, when gathering, with thanksgiving and remembrance.
First, I offer my deepest gratitude and prayers for all of our relatives who suffered through the generations, especially the beloved children whose small graves have only recently been uncovered.
We remember them with tearful hearts. We remember the mothers and fathers whose grief has never ended, whose children were taken from them, whose families were broken, and whose love has endured across time.
We honor them today. Because without their suffering being revealed, without their truth coming into the light, we would not be gathered here today speaking about reconciliation.
Their lives, their pain, and their courage to carry that pain forward so that truth could eventually emerge have opened the path that brings us together here. In this way, even the deepest sorrow has become a foundation of Canada's spiritual, emotional, and intellectual awakening.
Our Elders taught us something very important: that nothing in this universe is without meaning, and that life unfolds within a sacred order that we may not always understand in the moment.
From that perspective, even the difficult chapters of our personal and collective history have been preparing us for something far greater: healing, truth, the renewal of ourselves and our Human Family.
Today, as we gather together, we can feel that something long promised is unfolding.
For countless generations, our ancestors lived in harmony with and on the lands that surround us.
Long before modern borders and institutions existed, Indigenous peoples moved across these lands in relationship and harmony with our Mother Earth and her children.
This was not a utopia. This was a result of living in harmony and faithfulness, and dedication to the Sacred Teachings and Prophesies that have always guided us through the darkest storms and anguish.
Our Dakota relatives travelled through these regions and lived alongside other Indigenous Nations, whose lives were also guided by the spiritual and moral values that sustain strong and healthy communities: truthfulness, trust, justice, compassion, sobriety, respect for one another, and a deeply grounded spiritual life in harmony with the natural world.
Our communities lived in ways that astonished the early visitors who encountered them. Homes were open and trusting. Locks were unnecessary because relationships were built on mutual respect.
Elders lived long lives surrounded by family. Children were raised in environments of belonging and responsibility. Life was guided by gratitude to the Creator and by the understanding that every living thing was connected.
When we reflect on this history, we must remember that these societies were not primitive or lacking in anything. They were highly developed in wisdom, ethics, ecological understanding, and spiritual balance.
The people who lived this way were not destined for destruction or punishment. Rather, their teachings live within us today and are guiding the path forward to a new planetary civilization, based in justice, as prophesied.
In ways we are only beginning to understand, the Great Mystery, our Creator, has been spiritually preparing our ancestors, ourselves, and our communities for this very moment.
The time when the truth of history and its consequences are spoken openly, when reconciliation can move beyond words toward real transformation, and when, braided together with Indigenous knowledge and Western Science, will guide the healing and reunification of our human family.
So before we speak together of research, policy, or institutions, let us pause to recognize the sacredness of this moment. We are here together because of those who came before us, because of their courage, their endurance, their sacrifice, their prayers, and their love for the generations yet to come.
May we carry their memory with humility, and may the work we do here at Braiding Knowledge Canada honor them by helping build a future where the children of all peoples can live together in unity, with dignity, truth, and harmony with Mother Earth.
I have no idea where draft 22 will be on Thursday Morning!
