She wanted to show us the areas she would berry pick. The places she dug for clams and went fishing. Where her father and brothers used to go hunt. The hills she ran around playing with her family and friends as a young child. She showed us where she came from. She wanted us to know. She wanted to show how beautiful it was, and how proud she was to be from the north.
It was the most incredible time of my life and immensely healing in so many ways. I always felt like an outsider growing up down south. Both with Inuit and with non-Inuit. I didn’t actually fit in anywhere. Sort of cast out. You feel it by how you’re looked at, how you’re treated. It always felt like something was wrong with me in the city.
I didn’t feel that feeling while I was on the land with her. In fact, I no longer felt like an outsider but I also felt immense pride and love for her like never before. I felt more connected to her, more understanding to what she’s taught me in my lifetime. It feels like everything clicked where it was not meshing before. My heart and mind were at the same place at the same time.
Colonial violence kept me from my culture, my land, my language, myself- I was stripped bare as a young child. And once I was striped bare, I was taught not to be proud of my mother or where she comes from. Colonial violence almost ruined me. It tried- but it failed to. I want all my friends and followers to know I’m so proud of being Inuk. Being my mother’s daughter. I deeply cherish these memories and moments my anaana gave us. Aakuluk and thanks for listening.