Walking the Road to Reconciliation on Treaty Lands
by Randy Morin

tânisi (Hello), my name is Randy Morin. I am going to share a short snippet of my lived experiences as an Indigenous nêhiyaw (Cree) man living in Saskatchewan, and what I would like to see change moving forward into the future on the road to reconciliation. This piece is entirely my personal truth and does not reflect the views of all First Nations, Inuit, and Métis Peoples in Saskatchewan, and while I know that reading about reconciliation in Saskatchewan may make some people uncomfortable, I think it’s important to educate and create awareness that there are many barriers in place that inhibit walking the road to reconciliation for all treaty people.

I want my children, grandchildren, and great grandchildren, to have a future where they are free to have access to lands, where they can practise their treaty rights to hunting, fishing, gathering, and, most importantly, where they can learn their languages, culture, and ceremonies. As we know, these are important aspects that are all tied to the lands. I want to share a beautiful story of reconciliation that portrays this sentiment so wonderfully.

A few years ago, I was teaching in a large lecture hall at the University of Saskatchewan, where I was sharing about the healing that comes from the land. I was sharing about Indigenous ceremonies, especially the nêhiyaw (Cree) ceremonies, that are done out on lands away from cities and in the country. I was talking about the Sweat Lodge, or mâtotisân, or crying lodge translated into Cree, and how deeply sophisticated this ceremony is spiritually, symbolically, and philosophically, when it comes to healing the mind, body, and spirit. After I was done the talk, it was time for questions. I immediately saw a student raise her hand. She asked me if sweat lodges, and other ceremonies, were open to other people who were non-Indigenous. My answer to her was that many Indigenous ceremonies are generally open to people who genuinely want help and healing. She then asked me if she could come to the next sweat with me. I told her she could come with me, or I could share with her the details of any future sweats. I then saw other raised hands of students who wanted to be included in future sweats.

After my lecture, I immediately started asking around where I could bring some students, and I found that many sweats were limiting the capacities of their lodges to family and relatives. After exhausting all possible sweat lodges, I phoned a friend and we decided to go driving around looking for land to possibly set up a sweat lodge. After driving for many hours in the rural area outside Saskatoon, we found a place with many large dead poplar trees, which had fallen and broken a barbed-wire fence. We decided to approach the property owners to see if they would give us a few trees to harvest for wood, and we would fix the fence. We drove into the driveway and parked outside the house. A lady come out and we both walked out to talk to her.

After discussing our situation of trying to find a place to set up a sweat lodge, she asked if we wanted to set it up on her property. My friend and I were shocked and surprised at the same time. We then asked to set up the sweat lodge away from her house and in a forested part of her property, out of the public eye. She didn’t want that, she wanted the sweat near her house where she could watch it, take care of it, and protect it. That is what we did. We set up the sweat lodge on her beautiful piece of land, and we have had our sweats on her land with countless people over the last three years.

It is nice to know that times are changing and the #LandBack movement is gaining momentum, where farms and ranches are now starting to open up their lands to Indigenous people, to practise their treaty rights to hunting, fishing, and gathering medicines. You can find more information on this website: www.treatylandsharingnetwork.ca.

Non-Indigenous people often ask me, how can they help and play a role, or make a difference, on the road to reconciliation, or how they can be good allies to Indigenous peoples. I say to them, educate yourselves, be honest and truthful with what happened in history on the lands they are living on. I tell them to teach and love their children well, so they grow up to be loving, kind, compassionate human beings, who understand the true history of these lands. I tell them to listen to Indigenous peoples, and include them on projects, or developments, that happen on Indigenous lands. Speak up when there is an injustice that happens to Indigenous peoples. I tell them to get to know Indigenous people, they will quickly find out that Indigenous people are a praying people with many sacred ceremonies that connect them to the spirit world. I tell them that Indigenous people have a healthy sense of humour and that we love to laugh and joke around. And finally, I tell them to read and learn about the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action (TRC).

Randy Morin is an Assistant Professor at the University of Saskatchewan, where he is devoted to the preservation, revitalization, and reclamation of Indigenous languages. He is also a member of the International Indigenous Speakers Bureau (IISB), where he empowers audiences with stories and language as an educator, author, and a storyteller. He is also the co-director of the nêhiyawak Language Experience (nLE) grassroots organization where they teach the Cree language in week-long immersion camps throughout Saskatchewan.  He is leading the Culture and Language revolution by bringing traditional Indigenous language, knowledge, and perspectives into the 21st century, by helping to create language Apps. and by working in children’s television programming to help keep the Indigenous languages alive. Randy hopes to hear more Indigenous languages being spoken in his lifetime and hopes to see more Indigenous people participating in the ceremonies that the ancestors left for them.

For more information or to contact Randy Morin, please go to www.iisb.ca or www.nehiyawak.org or www.artsandscience.usask.ca/ profile/RMorin or by email at: iamboyce@gmail.com.