I am often asked how can one become an Indigenous ally.
There are a lot of different ways you can support Indigenous peoples.
One of the easiest and most direct ways you can help is by making a donation.
Monetary donations are welcome and can be made here:
Monetary donations are welcome and can be made here:
*You do not have to have a Pay Pal account to use Pay Pal or to make a donation with a credit card.
Alternately, in Canada, you can make an e-transfer to:
soulpurposehealing(at)gmail(dot)com
Please replace 'at' with the @ symbol and the 'dot' with a . (all as one word).
I want to step out of the colonial housing world of renting and reclaim some land to create a sustainable and off-grid tiny home and healing centre on. A space where I can live more traditionally in alignment and in harmony with the land, as my ancestors lived, while honouring the ancestors of the land.
A place where I can carry out ceremonies without interference by authorities
and where I can help many more people and also to share teachings for better ways of living.
I also want to find a way of being mobile in the warmer months so I can offer ceremony
here it's needed and where it's wanted.
To honour the Indian Residential School survivors
and those that never made it home from those colonial institutions.
I also want to offer ceremony to honour the thousands of
missing murdered Indigenous women, girls, 2 spirit and trans (MMIWG2ST)
to help bring closure to the many unresolved crimes
so all MMIWG2ST (and their loved ones) can have peace. ♥
Your donation also helps to support me and my healing work.
E.g. The price of tobacco has doubled so your donation
helps me to purchase tobacco for the very important healing work I do.
I use it as ceremonial tobacco making multiple tobacco offerings and prayers every day
or our planet, all people, all creature beings, the water, the air, the fire, the plants,
the medicines, the trees, and for
people who need healing, for specific prayer requests, etc.
I also offer these prayers in ceremony at the sacred fire
and the cost of wood and gas has gone up too so it all really adds up.
E.g. Sometimes I will host multiple fires in one week.
Throughtout pandemic restrictions I offered gatherings online and free to those that needed it.
For over a decade I provided my healing services for free
(as I worked a regular job full time that enabled me to do so)
but once I left the corporate world in 2011 and dedicated myself solely to healing work
I had to come to a place of acceptance that pro bono work is not sustainable.
Your donations also help support the volunteer work I do.
The circles I host have always been PWYC (pay what you can / free) for trauma survivors.
Many trauma survivors are not financially secure as they struggle to recover
from abuse, etc. and often times they can't work during recovery.
In my experience I find these are the people that most need help
so making healing services accessible to them is very important.
I know firsthand that this is the way it is because when the abuse memories
first hit me, it was a real struggle to continue to work and support myself.
Sometimes I look back and am amazed I was able to continue to work full time.
At times I had four jobs at one time just to support myself, as I left home at 15 years old.
If making a donation is not possible you can still support me by promoting my healing work on social media, telling your friends, and by liking and posts and/or re-posting them and/or retweeting them. :)
This is another way to be an Indigenous ally
and I strongly encourage you to do this for all Indigenous people. Buy Indigenous.
Support Indigenous authors by buying their books, Indigenous artists by buying their art, sharing their posts, their art, their books, etc...
Donations aren't simply monetary as they can be in the form of services, gifts of material items that are needed, cash and / or land.
Another way to support is to not take up Indigenous spaces - sometimes when someone is passionate and wants to help they may become too front and center and inadvertently push out Indigenous peoples.
So it's a good idea to ask beforehand so you can be clear on the best approach, respecting Indigenous peoples ways and protocols, and especially in making sure the help is wanted as sometimes, depending on the sitatuation, the help is not wanted - never assume.
Please don't be discouraged or take it personally if you reach out but your help isn't received or isn't received well. Indigenous issues are complex and sometimes our people are hurting and often a lot of emotional labour falls on our shoulders to carry issues, educate the masses, etc. so we may be at capacity thus it's best to be patient and persistent and keep trying (not with the same person - but a few) and doing so gently - if it's for the highest good, eventually someone will engage with you but in the meantime please consider all the ways one can help as listed above.
Another powerful way to help which is really needed, is to write to the government and request the documents for IRS (Indian Residential School) be released (e.g. estimates back in 2013 were it would take ten years but there's been barely any word since and 2023 is here).
Also demand the churches release the documents they're holding.
We have a right to know the full truth.
How can one heal fully from what we don't eve know?
The remains of thousands of Indigenous children from Indian Residential School (IRS) have been found and that number is increasing.
Write and tell them you want every single IRS site searched for the remains of the children and that those children be returned to their loved ones in respectful ways.
Please understand there are more Indigenous children in government custody today (via CFS - Child and Family Services) than at the height of IRS (Indian Residential School)!
Our children are being stolen every day often being apprehended at birth (via birth alerts) simply because one or both of their parents were in the CFS system prior. This practice has to stop.
Write and tell them to stop birth alerts and to stop removing Indigenous children from their families.
You have a voice and you can put pressure on those in power to create change and to help Indigenous peoples.
I often hear non-Indigenous people share how badly they feel about our painful colonial history,
the systemic violence and the genocide of my people and how guilty they feel.
Guilt doesn't help anyone and feeling it doesn't accomplish anything so I very strongly encourage
you to release any guilt you are carrying and instead, focus on what you can do!
ᑭᓇᓈᐢᑯᒥᑎᐣ (Kinanâskomitin) - Thank you! ♥
Heather ~ Clear Wind Blows Over the Moon
Indigenous Peoples Language Guide now Available - This guide, which was created in partnership with the First Nations House of Learning at UBC, is now available for download. This useful guide provides information on how to navigate the terminology and meanings associated with Indigenous peoples in order to produce the best — and most respectful — communication results:
brand.ubc.ca/indigenous-peoples-language-guide-now-available/
brand.ubc.ca/indigenous-peoples-language-guide-now-available/
Do a search and find courses to learn more - here's one that is highly rated:
Indigenous Canada www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html
Indigenous Canada www.ualberta.ca/admissions-programs/online-courses/indigenous-canada/index.html
This page lists different ways in which you can help Indigenous people.
You can choose to educate yourself on the true past of Canada.
We can't really heal from what we don't know and our colonial past is shared by all of us.
There are so many issues that need healing such as the systemic patterns of violence and racism that are still happening today within the colonial institutions and structures that make up Canada.
Here's a place to start as it's a toolkit on how to be an Indigenous Ally - I don't 100% agree with all of it, but some of it can help:
You can choose to educate yourself on the true past of Canada.
We can't really heal from what we don't know and our colonial past is shared by all of us.
There are so many issues that need healing such as the systemic patterns of violence and racism that are still happening today within the colonial institutions and structures that make up Canada.
Here's a place to start as it's a toolkit on how to be an Indigenous Ally - I don't 100% agree with all of it, but some of it can help: