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ISSUE 91 – 2018
SINCE 2002
The 7 lessons of the medicine wheel Traditional Teaching Tool
An Intimate Look into the Life of an Indigenous Icon
Buffy Sainte-Marie
Interview with Acclaimed Author and Music Critic, Andrea Warner New Exchange Program will build Indigenous Curriculum across Borders
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15 Cover Story – Using the Medicine Wheel in Teachings
CONTENTS ISSUE 91 BACK2SCHOOL 2018
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SAY MAGAZINE Volume 17, Issue 6 SAY Magazine publishes eight times a year: Winter, Spring, Summer and Fall, as well as Made in Manitoba, Back2School, Economic Development and Education Guide issues. SAY Magazine is published by Spirit of Aboriginal Youth Inc. Mailing Address: Kildonan Place, RPO Box 43084 Winnipeg, MB Canada R2C 5G7 E: info@saymag.com www.saymag.com Publishers Dominick Blais and Kent Brown
responsibility for submitted material. SAY Magazine assumes no responsibility for statements made by advertisers or in submitted material. Graphics, photographs, editorial content and other printed material are the property of SAY Magazine and may not be used without the written permission of SAY Magazine. ISSN: 1707-3049 All copy copyright 2018 by SAY Magazine GST: 856627534RT0001
Editor-in-Chief/Sales Manager Danielle Vienneau editor@saymag.com Editor/Writer Sarah Vaage
Printed on recycled paper using vegetable based inks.
Feature – Candid Interview with Author Andrea Warner
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Laurier-Syracuse Exchange Program Emerging Inuk Artist Update on Bonnie Butlin
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Music Career Development Setting Goals and Staying Motivated
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Patrick Mitsuing: World Champion Pow Wow Dancer
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Two and a half years of archival research uncovers history of the Regina Indian Industrial School BACK2SCHOOL | 3
FEATURE
BUFFY SAINTE-MARIE
didn’t want to create any kind of intrusion; I wanted things to continue to flow and happen around me. Buffy and I would hang out after shows and do our interviews, and that’s when I would take out the tape recorder. It was such an incredible experience. When it was done, I didn’t want to go home. SAY: What is one of your most memorable experiences touring with Buffy? Warner: Getting a chance to see Buffy and her band do sound check every day and just being a part of it all. They invited me into their smudging ceremony before they went on stage which was such a beautiful experience. The whole team was such an inviting, accepting and loving group – they were so kind and generous. I really enjoyed witnessing what their collaboration looks likes. Now I know all the words to all the songs, and I sing along to them all – I’m one of those people in the audience now! I never get tired of hearing/listening to their songs because she [Buffy] has such a unique way of bringing them to life. I thought about what it is to perform a song you wrote more than 50 years ago and when the world is still very difficult and increasingly difficult - to go out there and still believe in its power and its message. The word “tireless” is used a lot in reference to Buffy, and I understand why. She is not someone whose message has ever faded or been compromised. She has had a strong belief system centered in her—probably since birth—and she has always been able to listen to and cultivate it and share it with the world. It’s extraordinary to witness. SAY: Was there anything that surprised you or shocked you throughout the interview process? Warner: I was not aware of the extent of the intimate partner violence and the childhood trauma that she experienced. I cried many times. She hadn’t really talked about it or gone on record about it before. I am grateful to her for trusting me with this part of her life. I know that people are going to read this and feel seen and validated in their experiences. I think people will see a part of themselves in this book that they didn’t anticipate.
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The way in which she frames the relationship between colonialism and pedophilia is going to allow people to better examine the real costs of colonialism. If people haven’t been able to make it real through understanding residential schools, I think this is another way people can confront colonialism and understand why decolonization is so important. People will further understand why movements like “Me Too” and “Time’s Up” are so prevalent. Our cultural history is so rooted in exploitation that I think this will be an emotional and eye opening read for a lot of people. SAY: What did you learn about yourself along the way? Warner: I was very privileged and welcomed into cultural ceremonies and traditions which was a beautiful and emotional experience for me. I really valued that. Buffy has such a capacity for creation – she talks a lot about creation and the creator, and I think that’s part of how she maintains her energy and her momentum – she’s very much an optimist. She has helped reframe things for me and helped me think about things from more positive viewpoints - I need to be part of a solution. I hope that stays with me forever. SAY: Is there anything else you would like to share with our readers - with young people reading SAY? Warner: Buffy has an incredible love of learning - she truly values education and learning. She’s looking at ways to further digitize and revitalize the Cradleboard Teaching Project (www.cradleboard.org); making it relevant to Canada and to the United States. I think she would be excited if young people checked it out and thought about how it could be useful in modern society because it’s an interesting way of approaching education. Edited in collaboration with Sainte-Marie herself, no book, article or interview has offered as powerful or intimate of a look at the amazing artist’s life, and Warner takes the reader on a brilliantly emotional and engaging journey. Buffy Sainte-Marie: The Authorized Biography by Andrea Warner, foreword by Joni Mitchell. Available September 25, 2018, from Greystone Books.
COVER STORY
The Seven Lessons of the Medicine Wheel The Science of the Medicine Wheel
Many cultures have attempted to track the movements of the sun, the moon and the stars and have used these celestial bodies to measure time, to follow specific geographic routes using cardinal directions and to relate to the physical and spiritual world they live in. There are numerous examples of ancient sites around the world where ancient cultures and ancestors laid out stones in patterns that relate very closely to the movements of the sun and can be used as calendars showing accurate sunrises and sunsets on the solstices and observed equinoxes. The Medicine Wheel, sometimes known as the Sacred Hoop or Sacred Circle, has been used by generations of various Native American tribes and First Nations in Canada for health and healing and as a tool for learning and teaching. There are many interpretations of the Medicine Wheel by many people and cultures, and no one is wrong. Depending on the teachings they received, many Elders, including SAY Magazine’s consulting Elder Norman “Redsky” Monkman, refer to the Medicine Wheel as the Medicine Circle. In fact, “Medicine Wheel” is not an Indigenous term this term was given to the structures by the first Europeans and is not the way the first peoples referred to their
rock structures. In fact, a wheel was a foreign concept to the ancient first peoples, but this is how they are commonly referred to in present time. For the purpose of this article we will use the more widely recognized term Medicine Wheel. There are seven common teachings associated with the medicine wheel in many First Nations’ cultures. These teachings vary by tribal custom and by the elders relating their own heritage and stories. However, there are a lot of common themes that can be taught and discussed that are very relevant to modern life and can be proudly taught as evidence of the high level of knowledge in cosmic things, in the changing of seasons, in timekeeping, in the use and respect for animals, in plants and in the elements. There is no right or wrong way to use the medicine wheel as a teaching tool. It is both a universal symbol and a personal mnemonic tool for various cultures. Inviting elders to relate their associated learnings about the medicine wheel is an important way of preserving and passing on culturally important knowledge. The knowledge vested in elders should be honoured and respected.
Using the Medicine Wheel in Teachings The Circle The circle, or wheel, is a common symbol in many cultures and represents several elements to the First Nations. The circle acknowledges the connectedness of everything in life, such as the four seasons, the four stages of life and the four winds, and it represents the continuous cycle and relationship of the seen and unseen, the physical and spiritual, birth and death, and the daily sunrise and sunset. The circle is divided into four coloured quadrants. The colours can vary, but the symbolism remains similar amongst the first peoples. The wheel moves in a clockwise direction, with the teachings always beginning at the yellow, or eastern, quadrant. These colours relate to teachings of the directions, seasons, elements, animals, plants, heavenly bodies and the stages of life. Question you can pose to students: Many things in the world are round. Can you name some? Possible answers: The moon, the sun, the sacred hoop, the connections of all things, etc. BACK2SCHOOL | 15