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To understand and know where you are going, you have to know where you are coming from. That's what Daphne-Anne Olepika Takpanie Kiguktak, founder of Yiwa-young Indigenous Women Action/Jeunes Femmes Autochtones En Action, sends us as a message when she opens up to us to discuss her journey.
We talk about her inspirations, the solidarity between indigenous women, healing and, above all, the rediscovery of ourselves.
Where does your need to meet with Aboriginal women come from?
Last year I lost my friend Kelly Fraser. She was experiencing a lot of lateral violence. It awakened a need in me. A profound need, dating back several years, for us to come together between Aboriginal women and to do things together, to create spaces for us. Beautiful things happen when we see each other, get together, when we raise our voices.
I realized that the path I needed to follow to reach this goal was to create a non-profit organization. The organization has been registered since last summer: it is Young Indigenous Women Action/Jeunes Femmes Autochtones En Action.
It aims to implement healing programs related to the land for young Aboriginal women. The objective is to provide them with tools for their future, their people and their environment. I had a project, but I lacked the tools to carry it out. So I decided to go to college.
I didn't even know it was possible for me. I did not go to CEGEP. I finished high school very late, a few years ago, at the age of 25. I did a program called FEP-ACCESS, which exists for people who want to pursue university studies and who have an unusual background. I am in my third university term.
At the moment, I am studying full-time at the University of Montreal, where I am completing a certificate in philanthropic management. I am learning everything related to philanthropy: managing an NPO, development strategy, frameworks and standards, and more.
What is your connection to your culture and identity?
A few years ago, I was experiencing stress related to lateral violence. I received judgments like: “You are not indigenous, because this or that.” Then, that's when my urgent need to reconnect with my territory, with my family appeared.
My birth mother, among many others, suffered from residential schools, and that created trauma. That meant she couldn't take care of me. So, she confided me to someone else who was in her life, a Quebec woman who took care of me. Both my mothers were there to welcome me into this life.
I grew up far from my territory, from culture, and it was super important for me to find them as quickly as possible. I felt really lost, between two worlds.
It created a void inside of me. At some point I told myself that enough was enough, that I should go back to my territory and meet my family.
Overnight, I packed my stuff in a box, picked up my backpack, and went north. This is where a great adventure began. I went to meet my biological family for the first time in Grise Fiord, Nunavut.
, Ausuittuq — this is the name of the community in Inuktitut. That means: where the ice never melts. There are less than 150 inhabitants. It was quite an experience!
Photo: Daphne-Anne Olepika Takpanie Kiguktak
When I am in the South, I miss the North. When I am in the North, I also miss the South. Both places represent something so different and so important. I will have this tug all my life. At the same time, it is something that is very beautiful and that makes me me. As for my name, it has long been a personal debate. The person who raised me called me Daphne-Anne, but my biological mother named me Olepika.
I grew up with that first name. Later, as an adult, as I discovered some things related to my life story, I started asking people to call me Olepika. In my personal story, there was a separation between Daphne-Anne and Olepika. Today, I am in my thirties and I realize that I have enormous respect for both my names. In fact, it's not just my name, it's the story of my life.
What are the elements that are important to you and that you want to integrate into your project?
There is always a connection to the land in everything I do. Without the territory, without our environment, we would not achieve anything. We must not forget this and we must be careful about our planet. All of YIWA's programs will have a connection to the land. To strengthen this link, I want to develop a sailing program.
I see a clear connection between sailing and Indigenous communities. In a sailboat, we all have different strengths and positions in order to operate the boat. It is together that we succeed in moving forward. This is the link: with the different communities, together, with our different strengths, we will succeed in changing things for our peoples and our environment.
What inspires you to move forward?
For several years I have been involved in the environmental field, in the protection of the earth. I have been involved in various groups, where I have often been the only Aboriginal woman. I was wondering where they were and why I was the only one. I wanted to see a great generation of Aboriginal women involved.
That's where the idea to create YIWA came from, to build a creative space for Indigenous women so that we could build something solid together for our future. The idea also came to me when I saw the absence of Indigenous women in the media. A few years ago, it was shocking to see that there were very few of them.
Slowly, people are starting to take an interest in Indigenous peoples; we are being given more space. With colonization, the place of Indigenous women has changed so much. We are so erased. We are disappearing, we are murdered in this country, it is so alarming. It is really urgent that we take our place back. Let people also realize how sacred women are. We need to regain this respect for women.
On May 8, Olepika will host the first YIWA panel, where we will also meet Olivia Lya Thomassie, Uapukun Mestokosho, Laura Fontaine and Maïtee Labrecque-Saganash, who will discuss territory and identity.