Author: Kelcie Y

As I work through editing our draft land acknowledgment I find myself so pleased at its messiness.  Something about how the handwriting hugs the print and brings so much personality to the page.

The image exemplifies collaboration.  I love its liveliness – scribbles, underlines, questions, and redactions.

Thank you so much to Sadaf, Michelle O., and David for your feedback (sorry if I missed anyone, make yourselves known in the comments).

Please add your feedback below if anything strikes you!

Since attending Juniper and Salal’s seminar earlier this week (sorry I had to leave early) I’ve been thinking about some of the questions I was presented with at the Rematriation workshop regarding the construction of a land acknowledgement.

Yahlnaaw, the workshop’s facilitator, emphasized the importance of first locating ourselves.  Yahlnaaw emphasized that who we are is where we come from and offered us several reflective questions (the ones I remember are added below for your own reflective purposes).

To properly orient to and acknowledge these lands on which we currently live, we must first acknowledge where/who we came from (geographically, culturally, linguistically etc).

Thank you, Meredith, for offering a beautiful example of locating oneself as you shared Juniper and Salal’s acknowledgement.  Not only does this practice help create a rich land acknowledgment, but when shared, it also creates and strengthens our connections to one another – deepening understanding.

• Who are you?
• Why do you do the work you do?
• Where do you come from?
• Who are your ancestors?  What language(s) did they speak?
• Where do you hope to go and why?
• Who supports you?
• What brought you to this land?
• What are your intersecting identities?  (consider race, class, gender identity, sexual identity, ethnicity, religion)

Here’s what I’ve personally put together so far.

I am Kelcie Lee Yaromy.  My middle name was inspired by my Irish maternal grandmother, Rosemary Leona.  My paternal grandparents are Dorothy and Stanley who gifted me with Polish, Greek, and Ukrainian heritage.  I was born on the traditional lands of Huron-Wendat, the Seneca, Haudenosaunee and the Mississaugas of the Credit River.  After my grandmother and several of my mom’s siblings moved to this island my family followed.  I received the bulk of my education on the traditional lands of the Snuneymuxw peoples.  While studying psychology at VIU I learned how the first seven years of life set the stage for lifelong mental health. After graduation, I moved to W̱SÁNEĆ and Lekwungen land (drawn by the opportunity to live with my sister – my favourite person – once again) and shifted my focus to early childhood education.

I look forward to sharing more and using this excercise to help inform Acorn Place’s land acknowledgement.

On January 26th I participated in one of UVIC’s Anti-Oppression workshops, “Strong Voice: Rematriation as Resistance.”  It was the first of a series of workshops that I highly encourage you to check out.  You do not need to take them in succession as each workshop is easy to follow as a stand-alone experience.

If you’re curious, Celine also attended the 2nd workshop, “Hear Someone’s Voice Before You See Them: Anti-Oppression Key Principles, Knowledges, and Equity-Focused Action-Based Frameworks.”

Info about the workshops can be found here:

https://www.uvic.ca/equity/education/anti-racism/index.php 

I hope to continue sharing and breaking down some of what was discussed in “Strong Voice” but here is a brief summary.

Yahlnaaw our facilitator from Tagu Consulting contends that rematriation is concerned with the stories and identities of objects and bodies, restoring ancestral and feminine values (like fertility, knowledge, nurturance), and protecting/maintaining those bodies’ and objects’ relation to one another and to their original land.

Where “repatriation” is the passive return of objects and bodies to their ancestral homes (often damaged, disrespected etc), rematriation ensures that objects, bodies, and the land are restored respectfully and that all intersecting relationships are considered.  Land back is not enough.  Restored liveable land back should be the norm.

All anti-oppression work must be guided by rematriation.  If “indigenization” and “decolonization” are not guided by this concept, they have been whitewashed.  How does this resonnate?

Such powerful things to think about.  I look forward to sharing more.