By Shari Narine
Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
Windspeaker.com
Métis scholar Kristy McLeod is bracing for more hateful online comments when Decolonization and Me: Conversations about Healing a Nation and Ourselves hits the stores in mid-August. She wrote the book with Orange Shirt Day founder Phyllis Webstad.
“I’ve made as many (of my social media accounts) private as I can so that it’s not coming at me unexpectedly. But I do expect it will happen and…I don’t really do well in very strong confrontation. I mean, I can stand up for myself, but it’s not my preference…There’s a part of me that’s a little nervous and afraid of what that will be like,” she said.
McLeod and Webstad have already had a taste of the vitriol, ignorance and defensiveness that has become more and more common on social media. They were inundated with such comments when they announced their intentions to write Decolonization and Me, a book intended to guide conversations and actions on truth and reconciliation.
“I think I cognitively got that people say these kinds of things. I’ve read about them. And I’ve had experiences myself. But to see it so blatantly cruel, I didn’t expect the body response that I had to that,” said McLeod, who is registered Métis with family roots in Lac Ste. Anne, Alberta, and Red River settlements.
“And the sadness that came with…reading those comments. It was the sadness that came over me that people were so invested in their beliefs that they could publicly share such hurtful and judgmental comments.”
But instead of ignoring the comments, the pair addresses many of them head-on in the book and dispels them.
“The reason we decided to write this book is because Phyllis has had these direct denialist comments towards her, and I’ve seen them myself in my own life and in my grandfather’s life, in particular, and so I do know that this is a common reaction and often comes from a place of ignorance…and often it’s because they don’t understand. They don’t know the truth,” said McLeod.
Webstad is Northern Secwepemc (Shuswap) from the Stswecem’c Xgat’tem First Nation. She is probably best known for her experience at age six of having the new orange shirt her grandmother bought for her first day of school taken from her by staff at St. Joseph’s Mission Residential School. Orange Shirt Day was first commemorated on Sept. 30, 2013 to recognize the impact of residential schools. In 2021, Orange Shirt Day was established as the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation by the federal government and recognized as a statutory holiday in some provinces and territories.
McLeod and Webstad are hopeful that Decolonization and Me will reach the people who are questioning and open to learning, understanding and examining, at least to some extent, what it is they think they already know. In fact, “Me” in the title refers to these very people.
“I believe that all change starts with the individual. So that is why we wanted it to be in the main title itself. Each individual is responsible to make the choice whether they are part of the change or whether they are not,” said McLeod.
She is also hopeful that by reaching the individuals who are open to change that denialists may also be swayed.
“To fight against the denialists, that is not the role of Indigenous people,” said McLeod, who says she and Webstad stand firm in this belief. “The role of Indigenous people (is) to heal themselves and heal and raise their voices and let it be known, the truth, the full truth. Not just the colonial narrative. It is the role of non-Indigenous allies to stand up and support those voices being raised.”
That is a distinction clearly made in Decolonization and Me.
Write the authors: “Another aspect that motivated the writing of this book was to help take the pressure off Indigenous Peoples who are asked continually to share their experiences…and remove some of the burden of revisiting their traumatic experiences so others could learn.”
The authors encourage non-Indigenous people to listen to what Indigenous people are saying. There’s a difference, says McLeod, who has been a teacher for more than 20 years, between listening to learn and listening to respond.
People have been taught to listen to respond, she adds, and when that happens they’re mentally preparing an argument against what is being said.
“Listening to learn is really just opening up your heart and your mind to hearing what someone says. You may not agree. Maybe you don’t get it. But you can listen and understand that that is how they see their truth, and in that place, we can begin to build a more full picture of what really happened,” said McLeod.
Along with dispelling some of the social media commentary, Decolonization and Me lays out other truths, drawing on the words of the late senator and justice Murray Sinclair and the work he did as chair of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) on Indian residential schools. There’s also a section with definitions, including “colonialism”, “colonizers”, “systemic oppression” and “privilege.”
But perhaps the heart of the book is the personal accounts of trauma McLeod and Webstad share. It wasn’t easy, says McLeod, even though she’s been on her personal journey of healing for a long time and had already processed many of the stories she shared.
“Honestly, it was really hard because…when we sink into sharing our traumas…it’s a vulnerable place to be…I could feel my fear coming up around that someone might attack my story and make me wrong. But then I got to that place of my true belief is it’s my story. And my story is from my perspective. And that’s okay if people don’t agree. It is my truth,” said McLeod, who added that she was grateful that she “got to weave my life and my grandfather and my ancestors into the story in that way, and I believe Phyllis felt the same. She got her voice out there…and I think that personal component is important in opening hearts.”
Each section of the book includes questions for the reader to ponder and reflect on. McLeod says the questions were presented as an opportunity for readers to slow down and integrate what they had read.
“I think that’s the space where true learning happens,” she said.
Despite steeling herself for the inevitable attack on social media, McLeod has hope that non-Indigenous people are open to embracing the truth.
She points out that graduates from high school have gone through almost their entire elementary and secondary years benefiting from the TRC’s final report delivered in 2015. They’ve also grown up in a time when there is more awareness about missing and murdered Indigenous women and girls and gender-diverse people.
It’s also been a time when more publishers have been willing to embrace the work of Indigenous authors writing about reconciliation and educating non-Indigenous readers.
“Even though there may be things inundating us from other places that are more negative messaging, I see hope in communities. I see hope in the grassroots making the change,” said McLeod.
Decolonization and Me: Conversations about Healing a Nation and Ourselves is published by Medicine Wheel Publishing and will be released Aug. 19. It can be pre-ordered at shop.medicinewheelpublishing.com/products/decolonization-and-me-conversations-about-healing-a-nation-and-ourselves.