President Al called the 16 person meeting to order at 12:05, and welcomed guests and members. Drawing our attention to the fact that our meeting is being held on land defined as Treaty 4, the President shared our Club’s Land Acknowledge statement. There were a number of things the President took care of in the early minutes of the meeting which are highlighted below.
Our Guest Speaker John Currie, Executive Director of Honouring Indigenous Peoples was introduced by President Al, who recognized our Guest as a significant driver behind this organization. In doing so President Al referred to his friend as one having a passion for and commitment to building bridges in the community. Our Guest expanded on this image by recounting the opportunity he was given when he offered to gather up coats for northern Manitoba residents. Having offered to take on this task, he next learned the number of coats was 350. Through his effort 543 coats of all sizes and colors were gathered (all in like new condition) along with scarves and hats. All these offerings were packed onto 14 pallets and were courtesy delivered to the required sites. It was through this experience that he became involved with Honouring Indigenous Peoples (HIP).
HIP was an organization initiated by Rotarians in Ontario who worked with Indigenous Elders and Knowledge Keepers, in a mutually committed Partnership. In their exploration they came to realize Rotary’s Areas of Focus were consistent with the hopes of the Indigenous community. In moving through the challenges it was concluded that equality was foundational to their working together. As a result 50% of the Cross Canada Board is Indigenous and 50% is Non-Indigenous. This equality is reflected in their VISION Statement – All Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Peoples work together, interconnected and interdependent for the benefit of future generations. Their Vision is supported by three critical VALUES – i) Honouring; ii) Diversity; and, iii) Relationships. These are in part defined as: i) Respecting and honouring the past in the spirit of Truth and Reconciliation; ii) Recognizing and respecting the diversity of Indigenous Peoples and their Stories; and, iii) Strengthening the relationships between Indigenous and Non-Indigenous Peoples.
HIP has four Program Goals for the National Youth to Youth (Y2Y) Program:
- Truth and Reconciliation – HIP supports calls to Action 62-66 fostering culturally grounded youth education;
- Relationship Building – HIP recognizes that building meaningful relationships among all youth across Turtle Island is vital;
- Land based Environmental Stewardship -HIP empowers youth to become responsible stewards of this land by teaching themselves to respect and understand and care for the environment;
- Development of Young Leaders- This becomes a key thrust in the programming of youth experiences
John Currie expanded on the approach HIP has taken in creating the Y2Y program, which began with a Pilot Project in 2019. It consisted of 10 Non-Indigenous youth who shared their Robotics Skills while the Indigenous youths shared their land based teachings. One of the interesting outcomes noted by the ‘learned’ Non-Indigenous eye, was that the Indigenous students did not take notes - the realization that the Indigenous Community is an oral story telling learning process. The 2nd gathering did not occur until 2022 because of COVID and was a regional gathering which included 15 Indigenous and 15 Non-indigenous youth who became immersed in Indigenous Teaching, followed by a National meet in Winnipeg in 2023, where the 25 Indigenous and 25 Non-Indigenous youth were immersed in Indigenous Culture. In 2025 the Program was held in Halifax, Nova Scotia. This gathering, as the others are organized by the host province, and in this instance the Non-Indigenous youth learned about and were involved in a smudge. Information from our Guest indicated the Non-Indigenous participants were satisfied that they would be able to share their smudge learnings.
Thank you John Currie, for this important
Honouring Indigenous Peoples update.
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