What does it mean to be Indigenous in Canada?

This video was produced by Devynn Boyer, a Saskatoon-based SUNTEP (Saskatchewan Urban Native Teacher Program) student, in collaboration with the CBC Creator Network.

What does it mean to be Indigenous in Canada?

As I ask that question, I want to proceed with caution.

For far too often have we been told the answer from outside our communities.

And it's not that we lack the skills or the words to express our stories.

Rather, that we lack the opportunities.

Each time we attempt to speak, the chances are taken, or the chances are token.

To cover the treaties and the promises that have been broken.

So, what does it mean to be Indigenous in Canada?

I'll tell you.

It means that we are 5 per cent of the population.

Yet, we account for 33 per cent of those who are in jail. 

We say it is caused by a racist system.

They say it's our fault. 

They blame the victims of the poverty and addictions they caused.

It means that Indigenous children are about 8 per cent of the population.

Yet, they account for more than half of those in child welfare. 

They are separated from parents who have been confined and educated in colonial systems that taught them to be anything but Indigenous.

It means that while the problems persist, the families who never experienced the agony of this history and these systems insist that "We tried to help you, but your people wouldn't listen" and say "Get over it and stop being victims."

What they don't understand is that the final school closed the year I was born and they don't understand how these burdens are passed on just as their wealth is.

It means that despite the wealth of this nation, one-quarter of  Indigenous people and nearly half of Indigenous children live in poverty.

Just as wealth and poverty pass on, so do the policies. They have changed the term of residential schools to child welfare but kept all the same qualities.

Now children are taken from parents in numbers far higher than the peak of residential schools because all our bodies and babies have ever been to them are commodities.

See, being Indigenous means that we are at least three times more likely to kill ourselves and seven times more likely to be killed by someone else.

We are 10 times more likely to be shot by police. 

If these statistics don't cause you to stop and have a second thought, then let's continue.

Because Indigenous women are twelve times more likely to be murdered or go missing. 

Three times more likely to be physically or sexually assaulted.

There are more than 1,000 Indigenous women who have gone missing.

More than 150 Indigenous women are missing right now.

And as we scream for change, the same system that has resulted in such horrific statistics pays us no attention.

The system blames us. 

They say it's from family disputes. The gangs. The drugs. 

They spew lines about new policies and projects for prevention, and yet whenever we mention the stories that contradict them, stories about... Helen Betty Osborne, Neil Stonechild, Tina Fontaine, and Colten Boushie.

They perform a new inquiry and pat their backs. 

They tell us there are no real issues and cover their tracks.

We told you long before it made the news that there were bodies under those schools. 

No one would listen. 

They called them a place for education.

But we call them a prison.

So, what does it mean to be Indigenous in Canada?

It all depends on who you ask.

I keep hearing it means cheap smokes and cheap gas.

That you don't have to pay taxes and you get stuff for free! 

But take a look at history. You'll see that nothing we've been given has come without a price. 

Not just dollars and cents…

Our culture, Our languages, Our rights.

But being Indigenous is more than sorrow and statistics.

And it's more than brown skin and physical characteristics

Being Indigenous means that the blood in your veins still remains in the very place that attempted to erase your existence.

Finally proving that being Indigenous is persistence and resistance.

And despite the battles we continue to face, being Indigenous is still beautiful in this place we call Canada.

Support is available for anyone affected by their experience at residential schools or by the latest reports. A national Indian Residential School Crisis Line has been set up to provide support for former students and those affected. People can access emotional and crisis referral services by calling the 24-hour national crisis line: 1-866-925-4419.