Abstract:

From kindergarten to life as an adult we as human beings yearn and seek belonging. Whether it is within our personal, academic and or professional lives we need to have a sense of Kinship. Amongst marginalized urban Indigenous communities, people are searching for evidence and traces of their identity. There is an overwhelming sense of placelessness plaguing the identity of many urban Indigenous people across Canada due to the impacts of Imperialism, colonialism and methods of colonization. Cultures around the world engage in rites of passage and methods of Introspection to the discovery of self. It has been through ceremonies like the Vision Quest and Traditional Fasting ceremonies that Indigenous people like the Anishinaabe can face their truth on the journey to finding identity. Transformation is a natural progression to becoming who we were meant to be (leader, teacher, agent of change) after we have truthfully faced ourselves. The speaker shares that he now has the opportunity to fully embraces his clan (the Crane), his spirit name and the role he was intended to occupy since birth regardless of the methods put in place to separate him from his identity as an Indigenous person.