Saiakwanaktakwe’ní:io’ne’ – Taking Our Rightful Place

How can we heal? The world must once more become a place where we are welcome, where we can again partake in creative action. We want to make decisions for our own people and to have access to better education for our children and to equitable physical and psychological healthcare adapted to our cultures.

We want to manage the exploitation of resources on our ancestral territories according to our environmental philosophies, grounded in respect. We want to no longer be invisible as people.

The reason so many Indigenous voices have been raised against the idea of reconciliation is that it must necessarily be preceded by healing. Imagining that reconciliation is possible without change is too easy: there are actions that must be taken before a true encounter between the different populations occupying this territory can take place.

In the Atikamekw language, the word “mintatakaniwin” expresses the idea that if reconciliation is to be achieved there must first be reparation and rebuilding on new foundations.

What can we hope for? What do we dream of when we open our eyes? How shall we go about building the future? It’s no longer a question of returning to the past, clearly unrealistic, but of discovering what we are, individually and collectively.

Jeanne d’Arc Vollant, Innu