The Mount Allison Indigenous Student Support Group (ISSG) is having their first official powwow on March 22. The Mik’maq flag will be coming up permanently on campus, as well. The power that comes with it is ensuring that, when people are on our campus, they are aware that they are on unceded Mik’maq land and that the University honours the traditional custodians of this land. As I’m sure you’ve seen, the ISSG has been holding bake sale fundraisers to prepare for both the flag and powwow. The common misconception is that we were forced to fundraise in order to have the flag put up and to hold the powwow. This couldn’t be further from what happened.

The ISSG wants to claim these powerful events. We want to show we work for what we get, we are not simply taking handouts. We have raised our money to show the University that we will work for what we want and we will help raise the resources that are necessary. Many people in and out of the Mt. A community have assumed that we were forced to fundraise, and I’d like to take this opportunity to remind everyone that assuming makes an ass out of u and me.

Speaking with my peers, there’s a common theme that we are at least a little mad that people think we did not want to fundraise. To quote a third-year member of the ISSG: “I’m mad.” What is most discouraging is that most people did not have the decency to ask us if we were forced to do this. Asking this question should not be uncomfortable because the entire ISSG would happily answer, “No, we wanted to do this and claim it as our own.” We worked because we wanted to show how badly we wanted the flagpole and for the powwow to be successful.

I would like to remind everyone that the best way to be mad for Indigenous people is to ask us how we feel. Do not speak for Indigenous people, give us the platform to speak. You can do this by asking, “Hey, is Mt. A making you fundraise?” to which we would respond, “Nope, we wanted to,” and there you go! There’s the platform! We are not asking for a soapbox and a megaphone, just to provide the opportunity to speak.

There have been numerous occasions that non-Indigenous people have interrupted me to educate another non-Indigenous people on various topics such as, for example, residential schools. Please stop. Please let me speak. My mother went to residential school and I have been studying them for personal reasons for years. Indigenous people know these struggles because we live them. Let us speak for ourselves, give us the opportunity to speak. It is not as hard as you think.

We hope that you enjoy the powwow and the raising of the Mik’maq flag. We are so proud of what we’ve done and the ISSG has done so much hard work for these significant events. Join us in celebrating our hard work at the powwow from 12:30-4:30 p.m. on March 22, starting outside the chapel for the flag raising.

In my daily life here at Mount Allison, I’m also surrounded by discussions on reconciliation. Being Inuit, I know Canada needs this and I have a pretty firm opinion on how it should happen. However, that’s not something I’m going to focus on. The University has begun doing more for their Indigenous students and I feel that they are trying. When I speak to upper-year students or alumni on this topic, they talk about how far this university has come, and it makes me appreciate how reconciliation and Indigenization are happening, as well as understand the pace of the process.We have a lot to do for reconciliation and Indigenization. We’ve come far, but we have a lot further to go. In saying that, whenever something does happen, regardless of if it’s positive or negative, non-Indigenous people come to me in outrage over how whatever just happened isn’t enough and it’s bad and things are awful. I get it. Indigenous people are exceedingly oppressed in Canada and elsewhere. I know this; other Indigenous people know this, too, because we all face it. But my advice to anyone reading this is not to get angry without knowing how the demographic is feeling.

Indigenous people can speak for themselves and be pissed off for themselves. We all have our voice and most of us use it. If we don’t use it, we learn our own ways to express ourselves and our pain as we deal with centuries of oppression. We appreciate the non-Indigenous allyship and support, but we can speak for ourselves. Please don’t hesitate to ask for our opinions. Please ask me your most uncomfortable questions regarding Indigenous people. I love them. I love correcting ignorance and I understand. I understand that our previous curriculums, institutions and systems have favoured non-Indigenous knowledge and tried hard to stop others from learning about the cultural genocide, colonization and intergenerational trauma subsequent to these racist acts. Sharing knowledge is integral to Indigenous groups and I love doing my small part to support this.

All efforts of Indigenization are appreciated because it’s better than what was previously, which was nothing. We love seeing more and more aspects of Indigenous culture included on campus, in our events and in our classes. It’s starting the long process of reconciliation, for which we have so much to do. We appreciate the baby steps. If you’re non-Indigenous and feel pissed off about something regarding Indigenization, reconsider if it’s your place to be pissed off. You can do this by seeing how Indigenous people feel about it. If your anger truly is founded in the experience of Indigenous people, you’d have consulted us before getting angry on our behalf. Honest allyship happens with knowledge and communication between people.        wela’lin, thank you.