Indigenous group wants to bridge gaps, foster connections

A recently formed Indigenous group wants members and feedback from Indigenous citizens in the Southeast on what they would like to see in terms of cultural exploration, programming, and connection.

“We noticed there was a need,” said co-founder Monique Curci. “We all kind of moved out here, and we all noticed that there was no cultural connection. There was nothing, nothing, no Indigenous culture here. I didn’t even know there were First Nation people in the area when I first moved here three years ago.

“We just want to be able to get out there and help others connect to their culture. And we’re trying to see what the need is and see how we can fill that space.”

Mino Odewin, which means people with good hearts, began when co-founder Anna Klyne made a call out on social media this past winter to find other Indigenous people in the area. Co-founders Curci, Amy Everett, and Helena Wood all answered the call along with Greg Featherman and Adam Norris.

The name for the group was gifted to them in a naming ceremony with an elder.

“We gave an elder tobacco to form our group and then to figure out what we were going to do and to give it a spirit because the work we do should have a spirit. By asking an elder to do a naming ceremony for us, now it has life and we can move forward in a good way,” said Curci.

Klyne said that through Child and Family Services (CFS), through the Sixties Scoop, through residential schools, there are a lot of First Nations in Steinbach who have either grown up in the area or are currently in foster care.

“So, there’s a large First Nation presence here in Steinbach. And, you know, when we all moved here, we realized through our own search, where’s the First Nations, where’s our community? I mean, when I moved out here a few years ago, that’s the first thing I looked for,” she said.

For the first time the parade for Pioneer Days had an Indigenous presence with Mino Odewin’s float. Everett said some First Nations children saw them and were excited to “see their people.”

Klyne said while there is an Indigenous population in the area, there is a First Nations gap in Steinbach in terms of resources, community, traditional ceremonies, cultural teachings, peer support, and advocacy.

“We’re trying to bridge that gap and bring culture and help youth reconnect (through community),” said Klyne.

Wood has been living in Steinbach for 15 years and she tried years ago to get a group like Mino Odewin started as well as faith-based teachings, but was met with Christian resistance.

“That’s black magic was what I was told.”

Wood hopes through Mino Odewin those barriers will come down.

So how does one get back a culture that has been taken or distorted into something negative? For Everett, an Indigenous doula, it begins with mothers and at birth. She said even though her father is a “full-blooded Aboriginal First Nation” there was lots of shame about being Indigenous to the point where she wasn’t allowed to learn the language or the history of her family. Not only does she believe that learning about your culture starts with mothers and at birth she also believes that it takes a community to bridge the gap and reclaim your heritage.

Curci believes men also need to be involved to bring back a culture. She shared that the Creation Story involves both men and women and that there are specific teachings for those roles and uniting the family.

“So I think that’s where it begins, is really creating that family, whether it’s one or a bunch, whether you choose to be a family. And I think that’s the beginning steps to reclaiming our identity and our way of life,” said Curci.

Wood and Curci believe that CFS is the new residential school taking children away from their families and culture and placing them in non-Indigenous homes. Curci said Ontario is now working on placing children in care with Indigenous families and that Manitoba is also looking into doing the same.

Mino Odewin will be honouring Indigenous children who were in residential schools and whose unmarked graves were found in Kamloops B.C. on Truth and Reconciliation Day, Sept. 30. It will hold a walk followed by a feast. More details will be posted on the group’s Facebook page as it gets closer to the date.