Between my father and my son
Son, you are now a couple of months old, and I write to you on your first Canada Day hoping you have a childhood of fun, opportunity and confidence that you are valued by our country.
This is something your grandfather did not have when he was little. When he was young, he experienced the worst this country had to offer: he was taken from his parents and put into a residential school, he emerged to find segregation, and then for many years continued to face limits placed on him not by his talent but by the laws and practices of the day.
Through it all, he held his head high and eventually found peace on a personal level, practising our culture and adopting the Archbishop of Winnipeg as his brother in a powerful act of forgiveness and reconciliation before he died.
One of the reasons we named you Tobasonakwut, after your grandpa, is because we want you to learn from his strengths while hopefully avoiding the struggles he faced. We want the little Anishinaabe person we hold in our arms today to reach his full potential without having to wonder about what might have been if life were different for his people.
Already, some things are much better. We do not worry about you being taken away to a residential school. Life will no doubt hold obstacles for you but the road to success is open for you in a way that did not exist in my father’s time.
Your namesake was deprived of a good education. At residential school, they only taught him to Grade 8 and denied him a path to high school. Imagine what he could have accomplished if he had been able to go to a good school and then straight to college or university, which he eventually did later in life. Perhaps he could have become a lawyer at a young age. Perhaps he could have contributed even more to our public sphere. He was successful in First Nations politics, but perhaps he could have moved mountains in mainstream politics as well. The injustice he experienced was not alone. It was experienced by at least 150,000 other Indigenous kids over many generations. It is staggering to consider how many other talents were prevented from reaching their full potential.
One report estimates we could now grow the economy by $27.7 billion a year, or 1.5 per cent, if we immediately brought about equal access to education and employment for Indigenous people. Looking back over the past 151 years, I wonder how much those returns would have been compounded if Indigenous folks had access to good schools and jobs since Confederation.
We know very well that colonization harmed Indigenous peoples, but nonIndigenous people ought to recognize they have been harmed by colonization as well. We have all been harmed because for the past 151 years we have been living in a country that has been deprived of the full contributions of many members of our society. Our country is great but we can make it greater. We could all be better off if we simply ensure equality of opportunity.
Son, I want for you to do more than just demand equality. I want you to dream of a future in which your generation meets the challenges of our time inspired in part by our Indigenous culture. Reconciliation is not just about addressing past wrongs but also about unlocking a powerful future.
Your generation will have to reckon with the challenge of income inequality. The rise of populism, sectarian conflict and the migrant crises are examples of how the rich getting richer and the poor being left behind destabilizes societies.
You will hear an answer to some of these challenges as you grow up around our summer sundance ceremonies; you will hear the saying “the chief should be the poorest one in the community.” This is a lesson in leadership. They are saying that if you want to be a leader, then when someone is cold you must give them your blanket, that when someone is hungry you should give them your food and that when someone is suffering you ought use your gifts to help them.
I wonder, if you grow up hearing “the chief should be the poorest one in the community,” how will you then behave if you become a chief executive officer. Perhaps you will see to a more equitable and sustainable distribution of resources in our society.
You and your peers will contend with global warming. You will see the turn of the next century, a time today’s climate scientists say will bring disaster. You will probably look back at our current environmental debates the way we today look back at the civil rights movement.
Remember the Earth is your mother, water is life, and that you are always engaged in a relationship with the world around you. We have been taught to make a tobacco offering before we take something from the earth, whether it is a rock for a sweat lodge or a tree for a fire. Carry these ethics with you into the world and help us find ways to make a living while sustaining those relationships with the people and land around you.
Remember that reconciliation is more than just a buzzword. The powerful lesson your grandpa taught in adopting the archbishop goes far beyond the Indigenous context. It is a lesson in humanity. We are all human and so we all make mistakes. Yet if we want to become better people then we need to understand how to repair relationships after they have been broken.
This is why reconciliation matters. Understanding how a residential school survivor can forgive the descendant of his tormentor is the lens through which you might understand how to cultivate good relationships for the rest of your life, whether between people or between nations.
Son, I stand between you and my father and marvel at how much more opportunity I have than him, and how much more opportunity you will have than I.
I am also mindful of how many people have not shared in this progress and continue to fight through pain, poverty or government policy.
This is the inflection point of my generation: working to unlock the tremendous contributions Indigenous peoples and cultures can make to the world, while still trying to meet some very basic needs, like getting clean drinking water on reserve.
It is my wish that my generation takes care of these basic needs and brings about equality for everybody, so that your generation can be freed to soar to the great heights that are open to you.
And if you don’t feel like changing the world in such an epic way, it’s all good. I will love you just the same. Happy first Canada Day!
Wab Kinew is a former musician, journalist, broadcaster, university administrator and a bestselling author. He is currently the leader of the Manitoba NDP.