Thanks to Solomon Ratt for allowing us to share these reflections:
As we come closer to The National Day of Truth and Reconciliation I think of the damage done to indigenous peoples due to the removal of children from their families. It was an effective way to rob us of our identities since we learn our identities through our families. When separated from our families we don’t know who we are. We lost our family connections, our relationships and responsibilities within the family, and our languages.
I was asked to comment on the role of language as central to identity. Language is everything. It is how we identify with the world around us. In Cree we have our kinship system through which we identify with our family and community at large.
We have:
• kitâniskotâpâninawak – our great-great-grandparents;
• kitocâpâninawak – our great-grandparents;
• kohkominawak êkwa kimosôminawak – our grandparents;
• kinîkihikonawak – our parents; (note ‘nîkih – my home’ is in that word, so ‘those who provide a home for us’);
• kikâwînawak – our mothers, and her sisters, our aunts;
• kikâwîsinawak (our little mothers);
• kohtâwînawak – our fathers, and his brothers, our uncles;
• kohcâwîsinawak (our little fathers);
• our brothers and sisters (which include our cousins from our mothers’ sisters and our fathers’ brothers).
All this we lost because of the residential schools: not the family members, but the language that taught and reinforced exactly where we fit in those relationships every day of our lives. There is more to be said on this. As we continue to rebuild what was once taken from us, we will begin to understand more.
On Monday, September 30, 2024, tune in to CBC Radio One’s As It Happens and listen for Solomon Ratt’s personal reflections on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation. Follow the As It Happens link for live streaming (or discover live airtimes on various venues, or (after initial airing), on-demand, and even transcripts. We’ll add a specific link here on Monday evening, as soon as it’s available.
