The power of love

The warmth of a mother's hand is strong, loving. The memory that arises nourishes, or marks us if there is a lack. This is where a grandmother can come forward. Indigenous grandmothers are disrupting existing colonial systems through their communal wisdom. They are calling on Canada to bridge the gap between the words and actions of governments and decision-makers. “We want our grandmothers to regain their rightful place in our communities,” says Isabelle Meawasige, herself a grandmother. She belongs to the Serpent River bear clan, and her roots are Ojibwe and Algonquin.

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In a Letter addressed to the United Nations On the occasion of the 50th session of the Human Rights Council, she highlights the fact that the research and voices of Indigenous women are not at the core of efforts to combat violence against Indigenous women and girls in Canada. Aged 72, Meawasige was a social worker for over 30 years. She noted the link between extractive industries and violence against women. Some of his loved ones are missing. Its territory of origin is suffering the damage caused by Man Camps (temporary work camps) in the mining and forestry industry.Meawasige is the grandmother who heads the Kii-Ga-Do-Waak Nookimisuk, the council of grandmothers that fights against sexual violence, exploitation, and human trafficking in Indigenous communities in Ontario by cultivating and restoring traditional roles and responsibilities. “Existing political, economic, and social structures in Canada seem unable to transform attitudes and of implementing policies to effectively end violence against indigenous women,” they say in their letter, which supports the report of the UN special rapporteur.According to the findings of the Polaris Project, the number of reported cases of human trafficking crises has increased by 40% since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic in 2020. The scale of the phenomenon is enormous: according toInternational Labour Organization, this represented nearly 25 million people in the world in January 2021.

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Link between land exploitation and violence against women

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As the Kii-Ga-Do-Waak website states, the Grandmothers' Council sees a connection between colonialism and land dispossession, as well as a correlation with violence against women. United Nations reports have revealed that human trafficking is increasing in regions where the natural environment is under threat, and that there are links between gender-based violence and environmental crimes. Jacqueline St-Pierre works at Kii-Ga-Do-Waak. She takes on several roles: communications, fundraising and coordination, in addition to being an adopted granddaughter.

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“The extractive industries of colonialism could not do what they do if people stayed connected to the land,” she explains. The organization Indigenous Climate Action (ICA) describes how the extraction and exploitation of resources and fossil fuels in the territory perpetuate violence against women. “Resources taken from our land contaminate the environment and damage ecosystems, while increasing greenhouse gases (GHGs) in the atmosphere, which worsens climate change,” reads a report. It explains that these activities are at the origin of temporary work camps, which has resulted in an increase in sex trafficking and violence against women, explains the ICA. The UN special rapporteur, James Anaya, made this observation in 2014. “Indigenous women reported that the influx of workers into indigenous communities also led to an increase in cases of sexual harassment and violence, including rapes and assaults,” he said. “Women were the ones who maintained the connection to the land,” explains Ms. St-Pierre. This link was strengthened by the teaching and practice of traditional medicine. The separation of mothers and children, in particular due to the sending of the children to boarding schools, has broken the connection with the land. Meawasige notes that the last boarding school closed in 1996, that the survivors are alive and continuing to raise their children today. They were sent home and had to deal with the hardships and traumas they experienced. Economic instability and social disruptions make people more vulnerable to the dangerous tactics used to exploit them. The National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls, whose report is entitled “Reclaiming Our Power and Place,” was a public inquiry held in response to Call to Action 41 of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada. The investigation revealed that, “despite their different circumstances and backgrounds, all missing and murdered persons are linked by the economic, social, and political marginalization, racism, and misogyny woven into the fabric of Canadian society.” The mandate of the national inquiry was to examine existing institutional policies and practices that address or perpetuate violence. The letter to the UN highlights a flaw: the final report implicitly establishes that “violence is the intersection of current colonialism, with domestic violence that has crept into indigenous homes and communities.”

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“One of the key considerations for maintaining good relationships is to challenge the false but predominant perception that indigenous peoples are at the heart of the problem,” reads Kii-Ga-Do-Waak's letter to the UN.

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“Welcome home, my daughter.”

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Kii-Ga-Do-Waak Nookimisukl is dedicated to healing through traditional ceremonies and advice, rites of passage. Through gatherings, education, and training, they help people understand the nature of sexual abuse and exploitation committed against Indigenous peoples. Grandmothers work with women and girls who have been victims of human trafficking.

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“They are brought into a tent and they spend two or three days fasting there. They share, they build relationships. And when they are ready, they head to a sweat lodge where they return to the belly of the earth. They can be reborn in this hut,” explains Meawasige. The grandmothers sing to them as they come out of the sweat lodge. “There are very, very powerful things that happen.” A fire keeper makes the sacred fire burn. Participants can address their prayers and offerings to this sacred fire. This is where they can get rid of everything they no longer need to wear.

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“There, they can let go of everything, they can get rid of all the injuries,” says Meawasige. When they leave, the grandmothers are there, arms outstretched with towels to wrap them.Meawasige tells the story of a young girl who was a victim of human trafficking. “She disappeared from her community without it making any waves. Nobody said goodbye to him,” she said. When this woman was able to get out of her situation, the grandmothers decided to organize a circle in her honor, which they named Welcome Home. Meawasige went to talk to the leader of this young woman's nation and told him her story. He came to the grandmothers' circle and welcomed her into her home. When she came out of the sweat lodge, “the grandmothers wrapped her in a blanket, the young woman fell to the ground with her heart on the ground,” Meawasige continues. Grandmothers have a teaching that says that, if a woman's heart is on the ground, there is no hope. “No matter how strong these female warriors are, no matter how many bullets or what direction the arrow goes, if the woman's heart is on the ground, you might as well give up,” explains the grandmother. The grandmothers lifted her off the ground. And they rocked her. All this time, they sang a song to him that said, “I will always love you.”

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“There's another woman who went home. She was at home; so were her body, mind, and soul, Meawasige shares. It's as if they were cleaned and lightweight. Their whole body testifies to it, their faces shine, they shine from within and without.” Why can grandmothers take on a role that mothers struggle to fill? “Maybe it's because it takes a long time to heal from early childhood trauma,” notes Meawasige. And it's because grandmothers have always played a role that this energy is still alive and pushes Meawasige and her circle of women to be the grandmothers of those who need it most.

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Indigenous grandmothers have a critical leadership role

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Grandmothers play a particular role in Anishinaabe customs. Mrs. St-Pierre often heard grandmothers say “that their own customs were like embers, that they had to be buried. And right now, they are fanning the flames, to reignite the fire of matrilineal customs.”

“In our communities, as grandmothers, we have a lot of power. We have a lot of voices, explains Meawasige. And people are very, very hungry for the knowledge of grandmothers. When grandmothers' fires are on, people travel for miles to come and watch the fire and pray with these grandmothers.” In the letter to the UN, Measawige explains that calls for justice “require greater visibility and greater participation of Indigenous women, not as research subjects, but as agents of change in decision-making processes about new policies and systemic transformation..”

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Indigenous grandmothers have “a vital leadership role in their communities, which they continue to exercise, [but they] are not recognized as holders of their cultural rights within traditional governance systems,” reads the letter to the UN. In addition, as the Grandmothers' Council explains, Canadian government systems create barriers to accessing sustainable funding for their cultural and political work. Policy changes and occasional funding are insufficient, despite data and reports such as those from the Native Women's Association of Canada's Sisters in Spirit campaign (2009), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (2015), and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (2019), and the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women (2019). The letter to the UN highlights the following: “(...) all too often, resources are directed to national indigenous organizations, without taking into account the efforts of grassroots indigenous women. A consistent and continuous distribution of funds is necessary and must support the efforts of grassroots women, especially grandmothers.” “It's a very difficult time right now,” acknowledges Meawasige. We can't bring our people together and tell them stories that will float in their blood and rejuvenate them.” But the pandemic is not stopping grandmothers. They continue their work by making calls and organizing video conferences. Kii-Ga-Do-Waak Nookimisuk is raising funds to make a documentary, which will begin shooting in the spring. The project, entitled The Nokomis Project, will serve as a permanent archive of grandmothers' initiatives. A grandmother's voice has a power, that of teaching and healing girls and women. This power testifies to the strength of love.