and Elwood Jimmy - Speaking My Truth

although generosity is the basis of many immigrant cultures as much as FirstNations cultures.“You don’t understand,” James said, “Sharing is the law. The Land owns itself.”Who loans the land? Who will restore the land? The waters?By working with the land, with our communities, we can work towardsspaces ofDecolonizationTransformationTruthReconciliationAre we there yet? No.James’s best friend, Walter Wastesicoot, visiting now at this home on MurrayLake, was compelled to write the following in response to this text by Elwoodand me: As a residential school Survivor, I have learned much of the colonizer’smalice. He offers me reconciliation while I have an outstanding case againsthim for sexual and physical abuse suffered while resident at one of hisinstitutions of assimilation. He offers my people reconciliation while he holdsour lands and resources in abeyance, ensuring our continued survival by hishand only. Reconciliation is said to be a personal privilege, offered to one whohas made amends for past wrongs. Something is skewed in the colonizer’soffer of reconciliation. He carries with him centuries of shame, for which I andmy people will continue to suffer in a marginalized existence in his hope forreconciliation.Does taking responsibility for the effects of colonization diminish the shame?But the seeds are there.66 | Sandra Semchuk and Elwood Jimmy