Finding identity through culture

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This article was published 26/04/2023 (780 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

The sound of a slow, consistent drum beat floats through the halls of Green Valley School Monday evening.

The school is empty, save for a group of 15 youths gathered in the library. Seated in a U-shaped line of desks, nearly each of them is holding a rattle which elicits a shaking sound, like a maraca.

Kirby Nelson sits at the helm of the desks with a small drum, beating it while his baritone wail nearly drowns out the instruments. He’s singing ceremonial songs of his people from Roseau River Anishinaabe First Nation. Around him are other cultural items: eagle feathers, sage to smudge with and animal pelts.

After the song finishes, Nelson, a knowledge keeper from the Southeast Manitoba reserve, will tell stories of Indigenous culture, ways of life, identity and the seven sacred teachings to the kids. Later, they might explore beading techniques, medicine picking, and discuss clan systems.

The Indigenous Friendship Circle program, which runs the third Monday of each month in Grunthal, is a full-circle moment for organizer Lance Uddoh.

He once occupied the Green Valley halls as a student, but the way he conducted himself back then was much different than he is these days.

Uddoh grew up in the foster care system and struggled with addiction as a teen. He rejected his Indigenous roots and felt too embarrassed to explore them, prompting an identity crisis.

“I didn’t think that I needed it, and I was putting my nose up to it,” Uddoh said.

After acting up in school and falling in with the wrong crowds, Uddoh left to Alberta as a young adult after he said burning enough bridges made the move necessary. It was the 90s and he didn’t look back.

Now, 37 with a family, he’s come back to the community with a plan so others with similar circumstances don’t have similar experiences.

The group is a way for youth, especially those in foster care, to explore their Indigenous background in a secure space. Uddoh remembers feeling too embarrassed to do so when he was young, for fear he’d experience racism or derogatory comments because of it.

“Having a bunch of like-minded people within the circle, within the group, learning where there’s no judgments, I think it’ll really help these kids in the future,” he said.

“We’re trying to bridge the gap and let these kids kind of understand their culture.”

His goal isn’t to replace the support systems kids in care already have, but act as an additional resource. Some foster families may also be hesitant to let kids explore spiritual aspects of Indigenous culture because it contradicts traditional religious beliefs for many in the region, Uddoh said.

Most youth programming of a similar nature is in Winnipeg and can be inaccessible to some, he added.

“That’s not always feasible.”

Highlighting the reality of the Indigenous population in the region is also part of what drives the 37-year-old; 130 people of the 1,782-person population in Grunthal identifies as Indigenous, according to Statistics Canada. In Steinbach, nearly 10 percent of the 17,589 residents identify as Indigenous.

Without a sense of cultural belonging, Uddoh fears kids in care will lose themselves.

“Cultural identity, I think, has a big effect on Indigenous kids. I think understanding their history, some of the teachings, and where they’re from and having a close circle of like-minded individuals, it helps them deal with some of the trauma that some of these kids have been affected by,” he said.

While the Indigenous Friendship Circle is only in its second month, he already has plans in the works to offer the same program in Steinbach at Steinbach Regional Secondary School for youth who can’t access Grunthal, giving it a bigger reach. The program is also open to anyone, in or out of foster care, Indigenous or otherwise.

In a sense, Uddoh’s full-circle moment is more of a figure eight: he’ll continue to mentor kids in the community, which will grow to hopefully do the same. And around again.

“I don’t want other kids to have to go through the stuff I did.”