Dans l'épisode d'aujourd'hui, on parle avec Makhena Rankin-Guérin, une jeune artiste de la nation algonquine et crie de Pikogan. On s'parle de son année 2020, sa culture, ses exploits et de comment être allié.e de la communauté autochtone, une conversation très enrichissante !
Makhena Rankin-Guérin est une jeune artiste de 18 ans, deux esprits de la nation algonquine et crie de Pikogan. Elle danse depuis l'âge de 2 ans mais a commencé à danser la danse du cerceau voilà maintenant 4 ans. La danse de cerceaux est une vieille danse médicinale qui raconte une histoire à travers différentes formes et animaux. Makhena est aussi une passionnée de la médecine et aimerait éventuellement devenir infirmière et naturopathe pour pouvoir combiner la médecine moderne à la médecine traditionnelle autochtone pour le bien-être de son peuple.
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00:00:00
Speaker 1: Hello, me is Camille Sigouin, I host the podcast.
00:00:04
Speaker 2: My name is Danielle Roy and I'm the other host of the podcast today.
00:00:08
Speaker 2: Thank you for being with us today. Welcome to the official podcast of
the l’Assemblée de la francophonie de l’Ontario (AFO). In this podcast, we had discussions with
influencers and accessible role models in the franco-ontarian community. This first season is funded by the ACFO Ottawa's bilingual Ottawa program. This micro grant program comes
support organizations in the creation of new bilingualism projects.
00:00:37
Speaker 1: Today we speak with Makhena Rankin Guerin. She's an indigenous youth
who is a hoop dancer and who did amazing things during the pandemic. She moved from her job to a retirement home to spend more time with residents. She also told us about her culture and reflections she did in 2020. She also gives advice for people who would like to become allies
and to young indigenous people who would also like to fully experience their culture in a
time of crisis and pandemic. It was a very enriching conversation and we
can't wait to share it with you.
00:01:25
Speaker 2: So Makhena hi how are you?
00:01:27
Speaker 2: Hello, I’m good and you, okay?
00:01:30
Speaker 2: Thank you very much for inviting me.
00:01:41
Speaker 1: So Mahkena, we have to talk of 2020 in your eyes.
00:01:47
Speaker 2: Before starting the discussion in depth is what you're going a little we
talk about you, your background, your experiences?
00:01:56
Speaker 1: Yes, certainly. I am an 18 year old artist from the Algonquin and Cree Nation. My family is from Pikogan, but I was born and raised here all my life in Ottawa. I am in the turtle clan. I have been doing traditional indigenous dances since I was 2 years old. But I recently started dancing the Hoop Dance for the past four years. I'm a high school student. I'm finishing my twelfth grade in a Social Action focus. I hope to enter nursing after my graduation to
then start naturopathic medicine with the ultimate goal of becoming a medicine woman.
00:02:42
Speaker 2: Oh my God Very impressive.
00:02:51
Speaker 1: So according to what you have told us and in your bio you mentioned that you do
dance. So on that same note, you might be a bit AFO Famous because we
often use the video of you doing your hoop dance that was filmed for our
show of September 25, I believe that it was Felix and Geneviève who filmed it, to make
our recognition of territories before our virtual events. We made it play
every day during our conference in October I believe. Do you want to tell us a bit about the hoop dance? How did you start and why this specific dance?
00:03:35
Speaker 1: Yes, certainly. The origin of the dance was a little difficult to know because
that it's a really old dance. Then, different tribes say they started it. But
originally, the hoop dance, that's always been a medicinal dance, then a
dance that tells a story. So the dancer tells a story through different
shapes, different animals, different symbols using the hoops.
00:04:00
Speaker 2: The dance was also used in a time when the tribes met and
that there was a language barrier, that they were not able to communicate they
communicated only through dance. So the dancer was giving messages of peace and love
through the dance to show that he had come as a friend and not as an enemy so
dancing was used for that. But the dance is basically a medicinal dance. It is
really a medicinal dance in the way it works. So when I dance
with my hoops they become an extension of spirit.
00:04:45
Speaker 1: This connection I have with my hoops is felt by
spectators. Then, this evokes an emotion within the viewer, the emotion that
spectators are supposed to feel. Then I don't know if you've ever heard that laughter
may be one of the best medicines, but that's because it's true.
00:05:06
Speaker 2: Emotions can really act positively and negatively
on the body, the body, the brain and the soul too. So the way you feel
when you watch the hoop dancing.
00:05:26
Speaker 2: This is medicine that works.
00:05:28
Speaker 1: Then with all that is happening is super important what you do. I know
also that there had been plenty of calls on the Social Distance PowWow on facebook and the social media. Lots of people were dancing to try to bring the most medicine
possible in this time of crisis and pandemic that we experienced last year. I also saw a
interview you had done that spoke about your exceptional experience of the pandemic
since you made a big decision to move to your workplace. Is that right ? Could you tell us about it? What did that mean to you?
00:06:23
Speaker 2: No, certainly. At the start of the pandemic, everything was a bit scary because no one knew what to expect and no one knew how contagious that was. My mother was immune compromised so she was at very high risk of getting the COVID so she didn't want me to continue working at a retirement home around the elderly, and she wanted me to stay home.
00:06:46
Speaker 1: So she made me make the choice to either stay home or find somewhere
others and continue to work. There was no hesitation on my part. Me I do not
didn't want to abandon my old folks. Above all, I found that this was the moment
who needed me the most there, at the base. So, I spoke to my boss and I found a
way for her to give me a room in exchange for volunteer hours, then a lot
hours of work. In total, I have volunteered over 4000 hours at the residence. I have
stayed there for over 6 months. At first, I thought I would stay only about a month.
00:07:36
Speaker 2: Wow I thought that it was only two weeks.
00:07:51
Speaker 1: Yeah, yeah, but seriously. I loved it.
00:07:56
Speaker 1: If I could go back, I would spend even more time with
the residents. I spent time outside of my working hours, with them, playing
games and playing board games, I would go back to their room, I would talk to them.
00:08:12
Speaker 1: If I could go back, I would spend even more time with
them. I found it to be a truly amazing experience, both for myself and
for residents. It was something really rewarding to know that even though
little of my time, my energy could raise their morale. So it was really
an incredible experience.
00:08:38
Speaker 2: Wow! Seriously that is really nice.
00:08:44
Speaker 1: Especially that the population most affected by the pandemic is the elderly
then all the reports that came out of the residences how it was not easy and it was
sad. We have friends in the area who worked in the sector and just having to organize facetime
with families and sometimes people don't answer. I am sure that your presence has
been super appreciated.
00:09:30
Speaker 2: It has also had a big impact on me. I find that having spent so much time
with the residents really made me question what was really
important to me in my life. Looks like I matured a lot after passing six
months with the elderly. They brought me a lot too.
00:09:59
Speaker 2: I have a friend who worked in homes for the elderly especially at the start of the pandemic if he had to go to the grocery store he had to send
someone else in his place in case he catches the virus. You decided to simply
to move out. It's really super cool!
00:10:19
Speaker 2: Then it was me also realizing that I really wanted to spend the rest of my
life helping people. I saw that it was really easy for meto give a lot of love to these
people there. So yeah, that got me on the right track. Yeh!
00:10:49
Speaker 1: But in another area, you described yourself as 2 spirit
your bio. Could you educate us a little on this term? What does it mean for you?
00:11:10
Speaker 2: Yes, certainly. The term 2 spirits is very vague. The way that
the individual going to live it differs a lot from person to person.
00:11:19
Speaker 1: So my experience is not the experience of someone else, but
usually someone who is 2 spirit is someone who has two spirits, one spirit
woman and a man spirit. It is usually people who are very much balanced between
feminine and masculine energies.
00:11:38
Speaker 2: Then I know who I am as I was born in a female body.
00:11:45
Speaker 2: I feel like I don’t identify my female gender as seen
normally. Then, I'm really happy that the binary, then the gender expression, is
becoming more and more flexible.
00:12:00
Speaker 1: Because I'm not someone who identifies completely feminine.
00:12:09
Speaker 2: Then, 2 spirit people, they are people who have been recognized, it's very
long in my culture, like people who have a lot of medicine in
inside them, people who are able to understand the female perception as much
than male perception.
00:12:25
Speaker 1: It is people who have double responsibility because just having the
responsibility of women but also it is the responsibility of men. If they want
take responsibility, of course, but it is already well respected in the indigenous community.
00:12:43
Speaker 2: I am someone who saw my bi-spirituality, not only spiritual,
but also at the emotional, mental and physical level. I often live my bi-spirituality,
by the fact that I very rarely wear makeup, especially for things like
traditional dances or interviews like the one here, because I find that it
honors the way I am made and then also, I find it important to honor howwe are made and our imperfections. Then, I am not a perfect person. I am far from that.
00:13:25
Speaker 1: Then I think it is important to standardize the imperfections in
very perfectionist world.
00:13:34
Speaker 2: So me, it goes well.
00:13:50
Speaker 1: Especially today in the world or one life, or social media
dangerous for our mental health. Comparison is the murderer of joy and with
social media we do it all the time.
00:14:11
Speaker 1: No, it's true it's horrible and when you think about it, we are the first people
in all of humanity that grew up with the impacts of social media. So we're like
the guinea pigs. I don't remember exactly what I read, but I read something
share that the level of anxiety and the average anxiety among young people today is the
same average as psychiatric patients 40 years ago.
00:14:52
Speaker 1: Yes, it is the generation with more anxiety.
00:14:55
Speaker 1: It's like we are constantly bombarded with information. We are bombarded
by companies who want to sell us things constantly and unfortunately, a
great marketing techniques is to attack people's ego, to attack their
value. So it's so important to feel good in their body.
00:15:16
Speaker 1: They say like, "Oh, buy my product, you will feel better."
00:15:31
Speaker 1: It is not just a marketing technique, it is the marketing technique.
Oh yeah, and they do it so in a subtle way. Like here's something for your
stretch marks, here's something for the hair, here's something for your fat. We don’t
even notice it! Here we're in a whole different conversation but
it's super interesting. It is so hard especially for young people. Are in the process of
find who we want to be and we are forced into an idealism constantly.
00:15:55
Speaker 1: Me and Camille we are at an age where you have friends that are married with
children, and there are others who have just graduated from high school and are just starting
their life. The option scale is very diverse.
00:16:34
Speaker 1: I find our phones and the internet is a tool so powerful
but that's exactly it. We are in control of what we do with it. We can do
as much good as can be done wrong, but that's for us to decide. Yeah yeah.
00:16:52
Speaker 1: Especially since it's so easy to say things when you're hidden behind
a telephone. People say things they would never say face to face with
somebody. Sometimes I read comments and I say to myself "if I ever had the misfortune to say
that to someone, my mother would have killed me. "We are really in a new age of
communication and technology.
00:17:24
Speaker 1: I recently I made a big social media detox. I have deleted all my
social media. But like sometimes I have to take a break because it's like it's so important to be in the moment. Then it looks like it's like it gives you so much anxiety about business that you shouldn't even have anxiety about, about things like that, especially during the pandemic too.
00:17:52
Speaker 2: At the beginning of the pandemic, we all felt like we had to watch the news. I dunno
why, but this habit of keeping the news open when you wanted to be up to date.
But as the news changes everyday, and they'll work it out so that we know if there is any important news. We don't have to listen to the news every day, especially if it's not good for our mental health. Once I had sent a message to one of my friends to see if we wanted to do a detox, but I can't, because in my job, I need social media.
00:18:24
Speaker 1: I was not able, social media, as it has become a machine, really.
00:18:40
Speaker 2: But returned to the theme of this year. What did come out of
the year 2020?
00:19:20
Speaker 1: I became a germaphobe. As I am so much more aware of
germs, as I disinfect my hands after I touch anything out of the
house. I would also say because of all the protests. Part of me wanted
to go to the demonstrations, but I was not able. But not that I was not
capable, but I didn't want to put myself in that position because I knew that
was going to give me a lot of anxiety because of my mom back home nearby. But I
started seeing a lot more protests online, so people sharing
things, online petitions. Something that is very important. Especially values us
during the pandemic.
00:20:34
Speaker 1: There was a positive impact, as mentioned, is quite positive too,
but there are other positive impacts in 2020.
00:20:47
Speaker 2: We will take stock of what happened, but I have had a lot of time
with myself, a lot of time to think about my business, to practice things that
I could not before, like for example the hoop dancing during the pandemic, I
practice at least an hour a day.
00:21:16
Speaker 2: Recently, it has calmed down a little bit because of the cold. But yes, I spent
a lot of time doing things I wasn't doing. As I started to do again
of the art of painting. I started playing the flute, moving a lot more time
do my hobbies.
00:21:37
Speaker 1: Then I think it's something really good.
00:21:41
Speaker 2: But I think it has been a year where people rediscovered their hobbies.
People got the chance to explore new things like those who would love to play
piano or playing guitar.
00:22:08
Speaker 1: It has really been a year of self care, self discovery and self love.
00:22:22
Speaker 1: Yes, because it is the same with us all our lives so the relationship that counts
the most should be our relationship with ourselves. Super good time to enrich this
relationship.
00:22:40
Speaker 2: Yes, the relationship with yourself.
00:22:47
Speaker 1: You and all aspects of you. Your physical, mental, spiritual and
emotional, your connection with the creator.
00:23:33
Speaker 1: What is the thing you're most proud of?
00:23:43
Speaker 1: Now, I would say it really is the way I've improved in my Hoop dancing. It's something that has always fascinated me. But really, lately it's like. Sometimes I look at myself in this video and I say to myself wow I can't believe it I did that. Then the fact that I practice dance opens up different opportunities to me. Then it's my dance, my hoops, it's the thing I'm most proud of. It makes me happy, because in my mind I'm in a trance. When I dance I dance like I am in prayer. I really like it.
00:24:37
Speaker 2: Then, out of curiosity, I really ask that because I'm curious, is there
compétitions ?
00:25:14
Speaker 2: As far as I know, there are competitions for powwow times and dancers
can do this ask to dance for a specific occasion.
Speaker 2: It's true that yes, there are different levels. Me, I mix up the dance a bit
contemporary to traditional dance, the dance of hooping which is not an indigenous dance but who also dances with hoops.
00:25:58
Speaker 1: I learn a lot of this dance because I practice more dance
contemporary. So I dance to my music not necessarily traditional, but just
to really feel the vibrations and dance to the song. It's not really a
ceremony. It's when I practice traditional dances that I would use traditional music. I let my mind tell a story that wants to tell. In this hoop, there is absolutely nothing that is planned in advance. It's really like it's freestyle.
00:27:14
Speaker 2: Does the fact that there was no PowWow season this year affect you ?
00:27:23
Speaker 2: Oh yes, this is the year I grew most as a dancer. I am so not the dancer I was last year and even less the one I was the year before. I think I mention it every day like "oh I would love to go to a PowWow. "But at the same time, I tell myself that it's a moment of practice and
once the powwows start over I will impress many people.
00:28:01
Speaker 1: Yes I realized that I do stunts in my dance and I really look forward to
demonstrate that.
00:28:16
Speaker 2: One last question, since it already makes about thirty minutes we’ve been talking. What advice would you give to other young people like you who want to live fully
their indigenous culture? What advice would you give to people looking to be
allies of indigenous culture?
00:28:39
Speaker 1: As someone who lived in a city far from their elders, I think
it's very important to find the available resources. Like here at we have the Wabano
Center for Aboriginal Health, which is an organization that teaches tradition, that teaches
culture and which offers ceremonies. It's open to everyone, I would highly recommend
go find those resources and use them. Then learn more about the culture.
00:29:29
Speaker 2: It's such an amazing culture and rich in value, especially compared to
values, in relation to the environment.
00:29:39
Speaker 1: I find that there are values and beliefs that we need for
the survival of humanity. Listen to elders talking to all kinds of videos online.
However it is clear that what you find online will not be as good as what you
will be found in person. I would definitely recommend going to events in
no one when permitted.
00:30:29
Speaker 2: I just want to say a big thank you to Makhena.
00:30:34
Speaker 1: I'm really really happy to have you with us today. Like I have
mentioned to Camille, you were the person I was most looking forward to talking to. If people
want to connect with you, where can they find you on social media?
00:30:54
Speaker 1: They can find me on Snapchat, Instagram or Facebook.
00:31:17
Speaker 3: Thank you.
00:31:23
Speaker 2: And to all our listeners. Thanks for listening to this podcast today. Then
don't forget to follow AFO on all these platforms at @monassemblees on Facebook,
Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn and YouTube. Then, in the next episode, we'll talk about
Francophone immigration to Ontario. See you soon, everyone !!