invited guest speaker Jay Bird at Kewadin Sault St Marie, MI BH Conference
W down go Mission that’s where my family originates so I know this area very well oh and um I came home when I was four back to ranking and it was after uh my family my mom and dad had split and um my my mother struggled with alcoholism and drug
Addiction and the age of 4 to 10 for me was a very hard time um to say the least it was difficult there was a lot of abuse uh lot of neglect I mean there were good TS too but it was was a lot of unhealthy living um our dad wasn’t in the
Picture it was uh it was hard and because of that my my grandparents took a a parenting role for us uh mine and Eli Bob Jordan they’re both gone now um um you know AJ speakers first first language AJ speakers um my grandfather refused to speak
English so we uh we kind of grew up with that you know that’s how how we learned of J boy you know but because a lot of our kids you know my uncles aunts my mom they went off to school came home and they spoke spoke English but my grandparents never stopped
Uh speaking a jway to them so it was like a one-sided you know we heard language all the time but everything was answered in English and it was the same for us me and my sister here so we were spoken to all the time in a j
Way and you know I can remember my grand grandfather would not tell me stuff in English he would just keep repeating himself and he’d get more crabby and he would not I you know what I used to think jeez this guy’s crabby he’s just a mean old
Man he won’t tell me stuff so I understand so you know he’d tell me like seven eight nine times in a row and he would just and you know and that was my perception young you know speakers are crabby people but um old being older now I
Realized what he was doing you know he was teaching me the meaning of things without any English interference and and I really appreciate that now today because my understanding of language and words is a lot different than the norm now today educated like is different and I struggle with that at times
Because you know my wife will be my wife and I will be somewhere and people will talk to us in a jway whove been to school and I don’t understand them and I and I have lost it’s like they’re saying 15 things to say two things and it doesn’t make sense to me
And I’m I’m trying to figure out what they’re trying to say and I can’t you know and they get mad and I thought you know what your Bo I guess I don’t I can’t understand you but uh you know most communities that we go we gravitate to the others
There because I can understand them you know I know when the laugh when they say jokes or the words that they use for different things like I get it you know or how they describe something when a sea is involved I can feel it you know our grandparents taught us
To feel and when not understand it it’s in our we feel it so you know uh to my story now so when I was seven living in Rankin uh my family was one of the first to move to Ranken from uh Chu and they lived at 300 Front
Street and uh my Uncle Richard lives there now has that property but I I spent a lot of years there as a kid in the old house there with my grandparents and uh when I was seven me and my cousins Sandy BS Sandy buzel we decided to uh we’re going to
Take a ride into town go to the museum and have a look at the native stuff it was pretty back then so we we jumped on our bikes and took off the town you know I was seven you know imagine that now today 7 years
Old you just gone all day long on your bicycle but that’s what we did and uh we went there went upstairs and we’re checking out to the jib section and I remember back then they had a a Beed vest up there was really really awesome I see that and I saw this glass
Case with a light shining down on it so I walked up to that case and I looked in and there there was this pipe lit up in that case was black and had inlays lead silver and I felt weird I felt strange I felt it was a feeling I’ve never had in
My life at that young age and it it was overwhelming and I I didn’t really like it it kind of scared me actually so I said come on let’s go let’s get out of here and we left and went back to ranking and I went to went home my
Grandparents and my grandma was cooking and I was telling her where we went and what I’d seen I seen a pipe at the Museum and then know jit way she said she asked me um what did it look like I said it was black and it had
Silver on it and you know she’s busy and she’s said that’s Ben Z that was your relative he he used that pip now get out the play I’ll call you at separate time and that was enough you know I that answered my question I knew something about it and I felt
Okay and I went to play and never thought nothing about it and uh you know I didn’t even really remember that convers ation with her years after so you know life went on for me I uh I sang with our local group at home you know when I was younger uh we
Were chinan then and that’s where I was exposed to fasting and sweat LOD and basic values and you know I just kind did enough to be part of the group you know I I did enough just to stay out of the out of the radar kind of
Thing it’s not cuz I was super traditional or anything I just I just did enough I wasn’t hungry you know I was fine just hanging around I had no desire to to be a sponge or to you know to be as somebody trashing things I just wasn’t I respect
But it wasn’t something calling me then so you know I moved away in uh like 2000 I met somebody in uh New York and I moved down there and U my sister was having a hard time around that time she was living in Cornwall and had had uh uh a miscarriage really late a pregnancy she was not doing well so I decided to go and from New
York to to be with her help her support her you know I was the closest family member to her down there so I was on my way to see her and uh I was almost to the Border Thousand Islands and this this lady pulled out in front of me it was
January and I was going to te on her and so i s to miss I thought well I’ll just drive into the in the ditch and you know put my truck in for drive and I’ll just drive out here but it was an embankment there straight down so my truck rolled Southern times
And it ejected me out of my driver’s sight window and I broke my NE NE I see one uh three uh thorax and three lumbares I broke my arm shattered my shoulder and both legs all at once so I was dying and uh yeah I was ready I I knew I could
Feel it happening I feel I could feel myself W leaving there was nothing to stay for I mean as far as far as my body there was just no life left in it and uh but I hung in there I don’t know how and
U so I I was in this strapped into this bed that rotated 24/7 cuz they couldn’t move me they couldn’t roll me cuz everything was broken all they could do was just rotate me so I wouldn’t get bed source and uh you know my family and the the people I
Was with down there got these two well I thought it was two but it was three healer guys to come doctor me in the hospital there was a old guy named eler Ward who’s a m fell and his helper uh I didn’t know at the time was Peter
Went and there was another fellow there from North Bay I I forget who it was I think he was one of the guys from point tail back back then I forget who was I I remember seeing two but they had their uh they their pipes and E wings and they was praying
And smoking his pipe right in the right in my room in the hospital and that old guy said you’re going to be okay a year from now you’ll be back to normal I just thought she right how am I going to be okay I’m paralyzed everything’s
Smashed like I don’t feel alive or that I’ll be okay you know he told me that and I just had to believe him and I didn’t for the first while it was a tough place I was in not knowing if ID even walk you know again but I did slowly everything came
Back and a year later I was back to work driving a truck light duty you know not having heavy lifting or nothing but I was back and doing that job was my thing in life that was the thing I love to do my dad was a
Juger and that was my that’s all I ever wanted to be and I did that and you know uh 2002 I started my own company and I worked for Massy wholesale and I H produce and Frozen goods from Toronto Southern Ontario and serviced a lot of the Northern Communities and
Uh you know as far as living a traditional lifestyle then no I did not you know again I respected it but it was not not a concern of mine it wasn’t something that I ever wanted to be I knew about it but my main concern was just building myself up economically and
Being the best guy out there Trucking in Northern arar that was my goal in life and uh so it seemed you know that just I just barely attain that and then everything dropped off for me you know the way I was living was the business in me were my first
Concern my family and everyone else was after that that’s how I lived actually that’s how I learned the truck you know truck comes first over everything so my kids you know they were put on the back burner my relationship was on the back burner everything was not a concern just
What I was doing and doing it well and that only went so long you know I was not taking care of myself I was not taking care of my family and it caught up to me and I burned out and I lost my contract from my behavior and so I went from
A lot to one day now I have nothing and I’m in trouble you know I’m just not doing well and I had knowwhere to go I felt alone you know so I uh I called my my Uncle Richard and my sister and told them what’s going on and I need
Somewhere to go I I don’t know what to do with myself you know my goal in life is just crushed I felt defeated so they said come home you know just come home and regroup so I did that I went home and it was uncomfortable to say the least you know
I went from being in my mind someone important to nobody now but you know has been that’s how I felt I was I was something but now I’m nothing you know I have no skills I don’t have anything to offer so here I am now back in ranking living on my sister’s
Couch no money I didn’t have a cell phone no phone even and uh you know I’d only been there a short time and then my sister’s World crashed you know there was Major things happening in the home and when that happened you know she was looking to me for support and I was
Just barely hanging on by a threat myself you know so here we are the both of us now just kind of barely helping each other get through it was hard again you know I I see the word for this conf resiliency where we had to go through a lot of that it was
Hard you know I’m trying to uh get well and then all that other stuff started happening it was hard so you know we make it through that together her and I and her her kids so one day I decided to I’m going to go back to the museum
And see if this pipe is still up there that I had seen as kid because uh I dreamed about it here and there over the years maybe two three times over 25 years or so so I go up there when after I go up there and I go
Upstairs and that case was still in the same place when I was a kid and I walked up to it and I looked down and that pip was still sitting the same spot didn’t moved that at all and this time when I’m looking in it I I break down and I start to
Cry I think uh you know this is my moment I’m having my breakdown you know this is my mental breakdown right now has nothing to do with this with this Bight it’s just me and all my stuff happening and I got to leave you know so
I I was only standing there maybe a minute downstairs I go and I’m heading out the front door this is the Museum St place now on Queen Street over here and I’m heading at the front door and this guy works there I didn’t know at that moment who
He was but it was uh King fors he was the curator he’d seen me had out you know my are all weepy and I was all yeah you okay I said no and I just walked right past him and out the door so you know I didn’t have the
Skills at the time you know to help myself that way so I I went to The Bachelor Health Center and there’s a a fellow there I could see almost daily just to go through things in my hand and help me manage daily and he wasn’t there he wasn’t
There that day there’s another lady there who I’ve known growing up all my life uh traditional person not not somebody I would normally go and search out but it was it was somebody to go see you so I I went to her office and I gave her my tobacco and I
Told her what my Grandma had said when I was a kid told her how I felt seeing this Pike now again that I dreamed about it and she says you know those things those items in there don’t belong to those white budies they belong to
Us and it would be wrong if you did a heist and I’m just I don’t know what to say to that you know I’m trying to think and I all I could say was Mig you know so I end up when I back I know I’m in the parking lot the health center
Sitting in my car and holy man this lady just told me to steal a secet I from the government you Know but you know I I still did not feel better I needed that feeling I needed somebody to say or do something tell me whatever just so I’m okay I again I did not have the skills to do that for myself so I had 20 bucks in my pocket I
Went went to Max it was Max Milk then and I bought a tin of cherry uh tobacco and I went right back up there to the Museum and I walked in that front door and that guy Kim was standing there like he was waiting for me to come in there his office was just off the front back there and I went to talk to him and nothing would come out so I just kind of handed that sea
Like that to him and he’s he took it his left hand you know not nobody knew protocol of the same he knew that and he took it and uh he said come on let’s go my office and uh so I sit down and I’m and I’m barely just hanging on my emotions are
Everywhere soon as I go to talk start crying and I said uh there’s an item upstairs that’s really upsetting me and I went to go talk to a counselor uh some traditional people in my community about it and they told me to steal it his eyes got real
Big yeah he said uh you just kind of ruin your chances of that and I said no I I I don’t want to see that happen like that and you know they’ll be talking about this now and in that moment you know the only thing that I could think tell him was to
Uh take it out of the case and lock it up in the back and when I said that even though I I had no connection with this item I felt immediate lost like somebody had just left and I could not control my how I felt I just was crying so
Much and uh he said hey let’s look at the index cards you know I can tell you the history of this and what we know about it and I’m like no I don’t even want to know I got to get out of here and I just walked
Out so you know I get in my car on Queen Street and I’m thinking man you know I came home to just be well and help out and do what I can here and I feel worse than what I feel here this is awful I do not want to have
Anything to do with this it it’s just it’s not a way of life for me I don’t want anything to do with this I don’t like feeling like this it’s so difficult again resiliency so my my my plan really was to move to South down Southern Ontario
And go back driving again that’s what I wanted to do but in the meantime my cousin Mike he l a couple houses down from my sisters he would call me with needing help he did sweat lodges and stuff for the community and whoever would come by uh he helped out with funerals
Too so he called me come on let’s go get Minister me let’s go get some bir you know we’re doing a lodge need help rocks and stuff with that just little jobs he was building his Arbor back then I would help him with that and so we I I just stayed busy with
Him so about 3 months goes by and we’re there getting a lary for somebody in homeone rings and it was councel indeed they’re looking for me at Mike’s house they knew that’s where I’d be and they called this house cuz I again I didn’t have a cell phone 2010 I didn’t have c
Phone so they like we Council uh come on over I want to talk to you okay so he’s like how long you going to be I don’t know you know what’ you do I don’t know I said I didn’t apply for a job or anything I don’t know I want to see me
And I’m trying to think of things that happened you know a long time maybe I’m in trouble for something so I go over there and I walk in the C Chambers and they’re all in there deer and you know he had his his hat on his his Birch one with
The his ceremony had and I walked in and I looked at him and I see him and I thought why is he wearing that at the council meeting you then I looked on the table and that bike was sitting there and know it just froze and he said uh you know make your
Bake prepare yourself get ready we’re presenting this to you atan and then fast do your fast your 4day fast with this and then you’re going to start doing things to help us and I just I don’t know what to say I just said okay okay you know and they’re like okay see you
Later I didn’t even get a chance to you know still so I haven’t even touched this thing I didn’t know much about it all I knew was is I know bip from the museum so I go home and I tell my sister what just happened and she was so
Happy she hugged me so tight she was proud of me and that was my first moment hey I’m doing something right here since I’ve been home so she helped me we made the bank and I got everything ready and then we went to n bu young and
We l him for the first time many many years you know we knew at that point oh let me back up a bit so Dean nuk him from uh different they had shared information Dean had a relationship with Kim sharing Maps land claim information you know historical
Things so they had a conversation I guess one Time and uh came my head headphon and they were talking and he said hey this young guy was in here with a gold tooth all upset about some bike upstairs oh that’s J herd you know so they started discussing things and de knew some little bit about this bike too we shared the
Information and then that repatriation started you know I had know I had know much of anything about this so they were working on that and uh you know without me really knowing what was going on so I’m thinking to myself after you know these guys were watching me for 3
Months go through what I was going through to see you know is it going to hang or is he going to take off and I stayed not really cuz I wanted to I just was busy that’s I really think I was just busy so that happened you know
We but when it happened just before that ceremony we went in sweat large that afternoon and I was sitting beside Dean in there and I could hear Nish on I could hear that in L and I’m ding ding sh do what does that mean I said clouds something at least
Like seven seven clouds I was like oh not knowing what that meant what the bo are about you know something in s of watch I thought so when they presented him to me I finally touched him and I looked at him and I was able to turn turn him and I
Was counting on this a top of his on the B with seven clouds I was like w that’s his name so up to that moment we knew that he was found in 1923 here in White in a rock house a she on the Riverside what’s that 15 miles from here maybe
So uh he stayed in a private collection with the guy that found him uh AR olist until 1950 1950 he passed and his family had donated his whole collection to the museum to St Marie which at that time was the armories later on they moved into the
Old post office and he was on display all those years so up to the point I think it was 63 years he was in there you know today now looking back I’m so thankful that he was there you know people would think you know white people had him or he was in a
Commercial place all by the government whatever he knew where he was and he put himself there and he was waiting for me and I’m so thankful that they did that kept them safe that’s how I feel about the museum you know so here I am now me and
Theas together what am I going to do you know I thought I’m just going to be a pipe guy in the community Su ni ceremonies whatever you know other the stuff I had no idea what was involved for me I had no clue so that night
After he was presented at n of B they had a they had a shake tank guy there and I thought I going to go up and ask some stuff about my my work or just personal things nothing to do with him it was that was enough FY that
Day so I’m asking you know relationship questions and work stuff and I had went and got some gifts from my car so I had my seon my my material and my gift told him who I was and asked him those things and had a shake time I was the first man to go
Up and he said a turtle is going to come and everything will make sense and I’m waiting I L that’s not what I asked and I lean right in close to the canvas you know like my face is right he say that’s it and I just I just went
Huh I felt cheated you know I did what the hell’s this guy talking about that’s not what I asked him so I left you know I left there that night driving home I’m you know that guy must say that everybody you know he was making up riddles about
Stuff things that could apply to whatever you know I was saying that I remember saying that to my sister driving back I was S I really feel what he did being honest he doesn’t know what he’s talking about so about a month later I was in window at a sweat lodge
And the guy that it was his sweat LOD he he’s a bone doctor guy and he used a small U mut sugar for his doctor and he always put it on his alar at South Lou so it’s like second door in there and I seen this blur come through the
Door is closed but I seen this blur come in there and like a turtle like a mck knock a snapping turtle Mok the one that bites and I said to him hey there’s your Shaker I seen it in here no that’s not mine he said that’s something for
You I was like oh a new helper or something I’ll figure it out later so uh we get out of Lodge and he said hey that that shake Tent Guy you seen he moved to want a pate and here’s his address and his number if you still don’t understand
What he’s telling you go to his house and ask him I said yeah I going to do that so I just went there the next day I never called him I just showed up and announced his door and he was home I knocked on the door and he oh I
Remember you you got that pipe at that I’m like yeah and I had it I had it with I walked in and I sat in his kitchen and he was frying some wieners and you know baking grease all that stuff and he was doing dishes too and
We’re talking about people we know and coming and he said you know my teacher Albert wart and I’m like Albert Ward I know that old man he’s got white eyebrows mustache and every be way that thing and he just kind of stopped and he he shut the water off at
The T so he turned around he’s looking at me and he came inside across from me at his table and he’s just staring rightly hard he’s like you were that kid in the hospital bed in New York 10 years ago I’m like yeah he says I was there with him helping you Live and um we both just kind of had a moment there oh and then year night it was young when he came and then he said you know my man Duke and my ji told me that you would be coming a younger guy with an old pipe and I’m
Supposed to help you get started and uh he he kept sure of that we started working together you know the thing with Jesus G is not years and years knowledge doesn’t work like that that would only cloud my judgment in my mind I would be going into Shake tent with memories or
Protocols or things all that be had to do was show me the beginning and the ending part of the ceremony make sure it’s safe make sure everything exp fine make sure you close it properly the the middle is not me it’s the Menor so that was my training we worked
Together for a year and uh you know one day he’s like hey you’re good off he went up north doing mines and stuff he just took off he was gr you’re good that was it you know and I felt man I don’t know nothing about this I’ve got zero experience just basic
Stuff you know but he was true to his word he did exactly what he said he would what he told his man took he would do he did that and then uh you know singing with the guys at home I knew known lot of drums in United States
Canada and I kept in contact with some over the years so my buddy Lee luire calls me from yve it says uh we’re having problems with our drum and our guy’s getting sick uh back then Scruff was still there biscuit was still there they were
Ill at that time uh Terry B Terry had just passed he was uh he always stucked them off anyway those guys were are mentors when we the kids they would help us you know give us the little tricks and the tips and stuff to do
And so he he heard that I was doing shake and uh asked if I could come down and oh so at that time I had been talking to Dean and I’m like how come nobody at home is asking me to do this yet here he said just wait they will don’t don’t
Push it just let them you know they’ll call you when you they’re ready so I went down I went to Red Lake Minnesota and uh they had set me up at this Hall in redbe which is pretty Central it’s right next door to Red Lake the town in the in the
Reservation it’s a red be on almost like the halfway point between panima where the lodge is there and where like the gas station and all the convenience stuff is so you know it was good hanging with my buddies but it was different this time because I wasn’t there as a singer
I was there in a traditional sense and that was odd feeling for me everybody talked to me different they looked at me differently it was uncomfortable actually so they had this guy give me one help me he’s from there and uh so we’re in the hall we’re sitting up
Shake and this old lady comes wheeling in there in this motorized chair you know she backs up against the back wall right across from me you know and she’s watching me over her glasses the whole time every move I’m making you know I’m putting my stuff together she’s watching
Me like a hwk didn’t say hi to me nothing just you know but everybody kept coming in and they were going there and giving her hugs and I said give me one man that old lady must have a lot of big family here oh yeah big familyes big lots lots of
Family so you know we get going we have our feasts and the guys are there they brought their J and I do my Spiel and like the protocols what we need you know if you’re asking stuff and then we start and a few people come up and then
I hear the chair come wheeling up there you know right up to the tent and she put uh like 8 yard prints two or three three of those in there material and like $5 and her same and then she starts off in a good way one question right after another
Didn’t even give me a chance to say my answer you know to her she just kept one right after another without a break and it was like 23 questions in a row and it was all the day things the that I didn’t know anything about cuz I wasn’t
Really you know Che by like ghost Dan and who goes where and when and family member things and so I’m telling her all this stuff and it’s not making any sense to me at all but I’m just telling her what I I’m hearing and uh she was all me but you
Know she took off so there’s a I don’t know 15 16 more people that night and we finished and I come out and the lights come on and that old lady’s still there it’s like 2:30 in the morning and she’s still there usually Elders will leave you know after their stuff but
This one was still there and we started taking things down packing up and she comes Wheeling over and she said to me and I’ll J wait she seen my uh uh think against my my my otter hides hanging on my chick T they were helpers just
Helpers and she said you know is that is that your material are you you know is that your degree height and then I said car come here I not a she looked at give me one and he bust up laughing and he’s like he’s not he doesn’t know anything
About but and then she started laughing too and then she looked at me and she said you know I didn’t come here to to meet you she said I came here to kick you out of here like what she said I came to see for your fake and I was going to throw
You out of Fred L and uh I said well I did I pass the test and she’s oh yeah you know you answered everything exactly what I needed to know and uh don’t change anything that you’re doing just keep it the same as how you’re doing stuff cuz you’re right you know when
Uh wasab her name was wasab she was the midday chief for Red Lake she ran to Lodge there so you know I had no idea who that was and even when they told me I still didn’t have the concept in my mind of how the role that she had in that
Community okay she’s us spiritual person I don’t know but her and I became close right after that and uh she became you know Peter headon and then Anna was there to help me help me along questions I needed you know supporting me and just someone caring about me she filled
That role my mom had just passed in that not long in that point time unexpectedly here and uh so there was a voice there um you know my my sister and I found out some information about my mother after she had passed you know her mental illness and
Her addiction was most of her life but um a good friend of ours told us that she had been working working on herself and her mental health and she was almost out of her breakpoint through she was was there when she passed and that was really comforting to
Hear but we felt well I did for sure I felt guilty that I didn’t wasn’t in contact with her or or knew that from her so we had our funeral that my sister was here in ranking for her and the way we do it and ranking we
Have our 4-day Fighters we have a talking Circle every evening you know so one night people are laughing next night and everyone’s crying next night everyone’s mad you know we just you go through everything each day everyone gets a chance to talk and different motions come out
So and I was really feeling like I had missed an opport opportunity with her and uh her friends some of her friends came like what second night they were behind people from town here by high faith and we let them talk we give them a spot in the circle you
Know so this guy Yoko his name is Yoko I had seen him since I was a teenager he’s talking then he said you know we were at our prayer meeting one day in Georgina she was just elated she was glowing she came to meeting one night so
Happy she said that Bine senior had come to my house and met with my son and told him he was going to be a Healer and that guy I like it shocked me everyone I was there just kind of looked at at me and I I totally forgot all about that too I
Was like holy man I forgot all about that and you know that was her giving me that just that reassurance hey you’re doing the right thing her last you know don’t feel bad you’re doing your stuff and I totally forgot that I was like 14
I come home from school I just had a new girlfriend at the time I my two buddies that hung out with and that’s what I wanted to do that was my life and I come home and this old man’s at my house with his daughter and he came here to see me and
He wants to tell you stuff and you got to sit down here and listen to him I was like oh I don’t want to be here I want to be with my friends but my mom was s me you need to sit there and listen to Li this guy tell
So he’s talking in a jibway you know they knew he knew that I could understand my mom you know so he didn’t talk English at all and then he offered me sea he gave me tobacco he smoked those players playing no no filter yeah he took some
Out of his p and he gave it to me here after this so I looked that up praying for my mom now I’m looking at her I blowing circles and just being a jackass I’m smoking in the house in front of my mom that was my big thing
There not thought this guy was there talking to me just hey look what I get to do teasing her you know oh way yeah but and you know I don’t really remember anything that he was to say to me he would talk for a while and then
He’d fell asleep and he’d wake up and he go back into his story he he was like that and he came three or four times and uh and then he he kept asking me to come down to his house and check out his shed he had a shed with all his
Stuff in there he wanted me to go there and see him but I was too busy with my friends you know and that was the time when he got ponia and and he wasn’t he was gone after that was near the end of his time and I totally forgot that my whole
Life till that moment from where at the funeral for my uh for my mother that old guy knew that back then but I just wasn’t ready you know but he put that in my mind yeah so you know uh me not knowing a whole lot was
My legitimacy for sh T you know I wasn’t going around repeating information that I picked up from people it was just natural ability happening that’s how it started for us so 1610 was when Nish was made by my relative named Ben Z he was the first one that made him it was
In later 7 uh 1720s 30s is when the lead was added to him it was 1638 right d when uh French came so that’s if you can think how many years there’s some time there short period of time where n was with us pre contact here during what we’re doing
Now you know a realization I had had uh last night talking with my wife and my sister so you know it was near Robinson here on Tre time when he was put away 1850s and when he came back out to us it was at the same time when that was beginning
Again you know Dean and everyone else started planning you know talking what we to do with this and then they they decided hey we’re going to bring this forward and try and correct this treating how unfair it is so you know just recently things kind of came completed with
That you know is it a coincidence that he came out for that to restart again that he came came to me a descendant of who had him during the treaty and it was Dean’s relative NE Neo who signed so my relative consulted Dean’s relative at the treaty so during the
Last you know 13 14 years there were times in there where Dean had come to shake tent to see us what should I do how do I conduct the band and help them exactly what our ancestors had done in the 1850s so you know just kind of going
Through the motions of things we didn’t have this in mind as it was happening at all so after it was completed and I said hey do you realize that we’ve repeated history with him you know we did the exact same things that those first ones did in the same place for the same
Issue you know is that is that by chance or coincidence you know was he waiting for this time for that time for it to start again you know to help with you know to use us the same descendant you you know so when I first seen him it wasn’t something I wanted it
Wasn’t a desire it wasn’t a I would have been happy if he was just safe but that might do get PL for me you know it’s been a while now you know a lot has happened been to a lot of communities and um you know when I made the
Commitment when I received him I said I would do whatever I could do and I’m still you know resiliency you know there’s been a lot of hard challenging is in the road you know cancer near death a number of times you know issues in our family you know my wife and I
Struggling when we always seem to just make it past that next th Hill not knowing what’s happening next just that this is who we are and what we do you know um a lot of that people know you know we have the ability to ask how many how
Long and some will conduct themselves accordingly you know they’ll spread out how many they do but I don’t I never asked I don’t want to know I’m just doing this whenever I need until I can’t anymore you know it’s a it’s a constant learning process what what we do and uh I
Uh I often wonder where is this going to bring us where is this bringing my community what’s going to happen next cuzz they never know just that we’re available yeah so he’s uh 414 years old and uh you know it’s him it’s him and uh the G ke not me I’m just the
Driver I just bring him that’s my RO well that’s who I am and what I do you know just like my family members before me we’re of service to the spirits that’s it we’re not you know super gifted or anything I don’t think we’re just doing what we can
As people to help our community that’s so right like to view myself anyway so what time is it am I out of tit already well yeah I’ll it there just you know that’s not even what we’ve been doing that’s just how we got to what we’re doing basically our
Story you know so we’re from here and we’re still here being resilient um me much for listening [Applause] everyone