Journal 1 Abby Takacs-Tinsley
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School
Queens University *
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Course
220
Subject
Medicine
Date
Dec 6, 2023
Type
Pages
2
Uploaded by EarlRock11931
Journal 1
Module 1:
In week one, we learned about the 4 different parts of the medicine wheel and some
terminology that is used by Indigenous people and some non-Indigneous terminology as
well. The medicine wheel represents how Indigneous people connect with the land and their
relatives. There are four parts of the medicine wheel: the North or spiritual division, the East
or physical division, the South or Mental division and the West or the emotional division.
Each division represents different things that connect to the land like seasons, elements or
different plants used by Indigenous peoples. Some of the different terminology we learned
consisted of terms like settler colonialism, Indigenous, Metis, Inuit and First Nations. One
term I would like to define is settler colonialism and the course states the vowel recognizes
the oppression of the European class system (Fanning, 2023). In week two we talked about
how to understand colonialism in Canada and how it is represented by Indigneous people as
“the Wendigo”, treaties, the doctrine of conquest and discovery and, truth and reconciliation.
In Algonquin legends, the Wendigo is a monster of the forest, or a human/monster hybrid,
sometimes proposed as a cannibal (Fanning, 2023). We described the Wendigo in context of
Queen’s by stating that students and faculty are not willing to take risks in discussions,
Indigenous practices are also missing in parts of the institutions curriculum and we used
some terminology to describe this situation like Re-Indiginization and decolinization. We also
talked about reasons Canada is lacking in progress with making amends to Indigneous
peoples.
Module 2:
In week 3 we talked about the migration of the Anishnabe and some of the stopping places
they used as fire stops. The Anishnabe stopped at many different places across in Ontario
including Manitoulin island, Salute St. Marie and Turtle island. In week 4 we talked about the
Metis, the complexity of Metis identity, defining status, Bill C-31, The Indian act and
reserves. The Indian act was designed to enforce Indigenous people to become more
“normalized” with Western culture involuntarily. It takes two generations to lose Indigenous
status and it was irrelivant if you raised your child in their Indigenous culture. Bill C-31 was
supposed to be used to amend the Indian act and was enforced in 1985. Prior to Bill C-31,
Indigenous women and children were targeted for loss of status but after it was passed, they
regained their status. Bill C-31 also allowed a non-Indigenous person to receive full status if
they married an Indigenous man. We spoke about Metis Identity and how Metis peoples are
considered to be “mixed race”. This lead to the controversial idea of “hybrid Identity”
(Fanning, 2023) and where identified as “a bin for all those who are not otherwise defined”
(Fanning 2023). In week 5 we looked at a case study on Inuk Christina David and the limits
of Indiginety in Canada, Inuit identity, some elements of Inuit culture and colonial impact on
Inuit culture and traditions. We looked at an article titled “Stop Freaking Out About the
Woman Who "Ate" a Raw Bird on the Montreal Metro” and it follows the story of Inuk
Christina David. She was seen plucking the feathers off a bird in the Montreal metro. With
this, the Canadian social norms made her Indigenity being offensive.
Reflective Piece:
Taking what I have learned from the modules, it has definitely changed my way of thinking.
Understanding Indigenous oppression and how colinization has effected Indigenous peoples
has helped me begin my journey of decolonizing my thinking. Learning about how my
possible ancestors could have been involved in residential schools and how Indigenous
children were treated, has decolonized my thinking and inspires me to do what I can, to help
support Indigneous people through fighting for their rights. Educating other people should be
the first step to decolonizing our thinking in Canada, as soon as I started learning about
Indigenous history, I immediately started to change my thinking and started encouraging
others too. This really helped me to connect to the mental direction of the medicine wheel.
Recognizing what happened when Indigneous children were taken from their families and
forced to become more “westernized”, made me reflect on how traumatizing that can be for
survivors and for the generations to come. Hearing survivors speak up when the burial sites
started being dug up made me realize how strong all of the children were and how much
bravery speaking up required, especially in a country who still has not made proper amends
and a country still full of colonised thinkers. When all the bodies were being located during
COVID, I felt empowered to give my full support to the movement and started spreading the
word in ways that I felt I could reach people. I wear an orange shirt on National Truth and
Reconciliation day and I repost credible information that brings awareness to giving
Indigenous people their rights back. Taking this class and learning relevant Indigneous
history and Indigneous peoples strength in their resistance and makes me strive to better my
understanding and help others do the same. This has helped me connect to the emotional
direction of the medicine circle. Through this course I have become inspired to participate in
bringing more activities to support decolonization and has provided me with the space to
come up with ideas to help support decolonization. I was able to discuss with my peers and
hear their feedback on different activities to support decolonization and it was nice to see as
a community how we came up with so many great ideas and how we all are in support of
decolonization. This helped me connect with the physical direction of the medicine wheel.
These modules have changed my values and beliefs in many ways including how I treat the
Earth and the many gifts it gives us. It’s taught me how to appreciate the smaller things in life
and how beautiful it is to connect with mother nature, and I could not be more appreciative
for a change in belief. It makes me want to connect with the earth more and make my
spirituality more fluid. I have always been a spiritual person but from my knowledge from this
course, it makes me want to explore it deeper. It has also changed how I wanted to treat
other people. I have always loved every person no matter who they are but I realized that
just doing that is not enough. Along with showing love and appreciation, bringing awareness
to situations not just for Indigenous people but for other minority groups can help deepen my
understanding of different cultures and bring equality to every group of people because I
believe everyone should be treated equally. Deepening my understanding of colonisation
and Indignity through holistic learning and thinking about concepts and what I can do as an
individual has contributed to my own healing journey because I have deepened my
connection with my mental, physical, emotional and spiritual health.
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