{"id":1242,"date":"2022-11-04T09:49:00","date_gmt":"2022-11-04T13:49:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rfng\/?p=1242"},"modified":"2025-07-22T09:21:08","modified_gmt":"2025-07-22T13:21:08","slug":"1242","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/carleton.ca\/rfng\/2022\/1242\/","title":{"rendered":"Inherent Rights Youth Leaders Gather for First IRYI Storytelling Session"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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\n Inherent Rights Youth Leaders Gather for First IRYI Storytelling Session\n <\/h1>\n \n \n <\/header>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n\n <\/div>\n<\/section>\n\n\n\n

FIRST NATIONS YOUTH AND ELDERS GATHER FOR FIRST INHERENT RIGHTS YOUTH INITIATIVE STORYTELLING SESSION <\/strong>
\nWritten by Ben Sylvestre<\/h2>\n\n\n\n
\"image\"<\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A thin trail of smoke streamed into the frame of Elder Jerry Fontaine\u2019s video feed. An unseen bundle of medicines burned in the smudge bowl on the table before him. Two-dozen people videoing-in from First Nations across Turtle Island listened closely as he offered an opening prayer in Anishinaabemowin.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Fontaine\u2019s words opened the first in a series of online storytelling sessions<\/a> for Indigenous youth and Elders hosted by the Inherent Rights Youth Initiative (IRYI). Each of the sessions will equip young Indigenous leaders with knowledge and skills to lead the future of self-determining First Nations governments in Canada.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe need to train a new generation of inherent rights leaders. And that’s what this is all about,\u201d said Satsan (Herb George), founder of the Centre for First Nations Governance<\/a> (CFNG). \u201cBecause what we’re up against in terms of rebuilding our nations is not only going to take hard work and discipline and commitment, it may take several generations to do.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

IRYI is a joint project spearheaded by CFNG in collaboration with The Rebuilding First Nations Governance Project<\/a>, Laidlaw Foundation<\/a>, and The Institute of Public Administration of Canada (IPAC)<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The initiative began in 2021 with a series of successful events connecting Indigenous youth with Elders with a vision to reclaim and rebuild Indigenous identities by strengthening connections to lands, languages, ceremonies and histories. This year, IRYI is hosting five virtual storytelling sessions in the fall and early winter 2022, leading up to a virtual Youth and Elders Gathering<\/a> on December 15th<\/sup>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

First Nations youth and Elders can still register to join the half-day virtual sessions: as Satsan explained to attendees, First Nations are in dire need of more self-government leaders with skills and information to guide their communities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI’m really honored that you’re with us today and through the course of these six sessions that we’re going to do,\u201d said Satsan \u201cAnd I hope that you will bring others with you because we desperately need you all.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The People Pillar.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

Each of the five storytelling sessions connects youth with Elders to explore one of The Five Pillars of Effective Governance<\/a>, how it played a role in their lives, and how it will play a role in First Nations\u2019 futures. The inaugural session spotlighted \u201cThe People,\u201d the first of the five pillars.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

CFNG created the pillars with the help of First Nations citizens, leaders, Elders, and academics. \u201cThe People\u201d and the other pillars\u2014The Land, Jurisdiction and Laws, Governing Systems, and Resources\u2014are the five essential aspects of all First Nations\u2019 past and present self-governments.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the leaders of the future, Indigenous youth will need to understand how to govern their communities and protect their rights. The storytelling sessions aim to prepare them to build upon the legacy of First Nation-self government since time immemorial and rebuild what their communities lost to colonialism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe can come together and learn together\u2014learn to rebuild our nations\u2014because our young people deserve it now,\u201d said Satsan. \u201cAnd we need to put this in place forever into the future.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Who we are.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was eight years old\u2014when my father was chief for many, many years\u2014growing up, I begged him to teach me the way he was teaching my older brothers,\u201d said Elder Ethel Dubois of Star Blanket Cree Nation. \u201cAnd he did.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Now decades later, having used this knowledge to build an over 25-year career in social work supporting First Nations communities, Dubois appeared on-screen at the ceremonial gathering as its guide and storyteller. She wore a bright yellow t-shirt in a white-walled meeting room on Star Blanket territory.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubois explained how the power of the people is rooted in their understanding of their identity\u2014who they are and where they come from. The Elder recalled when she first learned this lesson herself.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I was five years old, the old grandmothers sat in a circle. And they kissed me on the forehead and said a prayer,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd by the time I got to my paternal grandmother, she said \u2018Do you know who you are?\u2019 in Cree.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cShe instilled in me my identity\u2014my Indigenous roots I was never ever to forget.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Dubois says knowing who you are as a First Nations person means thinking beyond your community and the boundaries set out by the Indian Act. All Indigenous people come from Turtle Island, and all Indigenous nations are in relation to one another as communities sharing the land.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The People Pillar is about creating action through the power of people coming together. Dubois\u2019s role at the gathering was to share her experiences, build collective identity, and ignite collective action.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen you gather the people, gather the community in a nonthreatening way, you will get the answers for change,\u201d she said. \u201cA lot of our mindset right now is having to ask permission\u2014we don’t have to do that anymore. We don’t have to ask permission for anything. We have to take action.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And\u2026 action.<\/h2>\n\n\n\n

That\u2019s where the youth come in. After hearing Elder Dubois\u2019 stories, participants broke into small groups to parse out how what had been shared connected with their own past, present, and future.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were talking about how there’s different aspects of the People Pillar that Indigenous people uphold\u2026one of the main things that stood out was our different roles that we play in our communities and then our nations,\u201d said Haida Nation representative, G<\/u>aawee Jaad (Serena Smith). \u201cEach of us have a role to play in our communities. And it’s important for us to find them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Youth reported finding common ground with other youth from different nations and highlighted that their peers shared the same struggles, histories, responsibility, or drive for change.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe were talking about how we want\u2026learn more, learn more about ourselves, you know, through immersing ourselves within culture and even learning from one another like in the sessions here,\u201d said Cowessess Nation representative Darian a\u0302cikahte\u0302 (Agecoutay).<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And as Elder Dubois explained, knowing yourself and your people is the first action towards rebuilding First Nations governance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing is to try and get to your identity, know who you are, where you come from, and how you’re going to make things happen,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For information on how to join future IRYI storytelling sessions and other gatherings, please visit our <\/strong>events webpage<\/strong><\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

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