September 18th, 2023

An image of Dr. Niigaan Sinclair

This morning we listened to a talk from Niigaan Sinclair, the keynote speaker this year for SD57’s Indigenous Day of Learning. Two stories from his speech stuck out to me. First, the story of when the young men learn to make fires. He said that those who are lucky, persistent and kind will make a spark, and then they have half a second to put the spark to dry grass to start the fire. The young men would fail over and over, while singing a song to their grandfathers. The fire ceremony he described held feelings of happiness (when the fire starts) and signifies staying committed and being there for each other.

I think this story struck me because of the frustration I can only imagine is felt every time this ceremony occurs, as well as the relief when the fire starts. The idea of failing to create a spark repeatedly over many hours was something that stayed with me as well. I think failure is an integral part of learning. Failure is generally frowned upon, and can be treated as something to avoid in education. When I was in school, failure meant not being a good student, not studying enough. Failure was something I was, and still am, terrified of. Failure meant I was not trying hard enough, or that I was not enough. Failure often still means this for students and the people around them. Failure should not meant this, though. At least, it should not mean this in education. We learn from failure, either what not to do again or not to get frustrated with ourselves when things don’t go our way. Failure teaches us not to give up when things get tough, especially if there is some sort of success after failure, like what would eventually happen in Sinclair’s description. I think this piece of knowledge is incredibly helpful for anyone to know.

The other thing that stuck with me was Sinclair’s metaphor about people being trees, with roots being made at home and branches growing out of the home. However, many Indigenous people have been cut off from home; because of this they do not have their roots. This can lead to the feeling of apathy and an inability to grow branches. I found this metaphor incredibly effective to describe the situation many people on Turtle Island have gone through. I think this was the best way I have ever heard this described, and it stayed with me all day.