John Currie spoke to us on behalf of “Honoring Indigenous Peoples” (HIP), a national Rotary initiative in collaboration with some Indigenous Nations whose mandate is to catalyze societal change by inspiring Indigenous and Non-Indigenous relationship building, strengthening community well-being and advancing the next generation of leaders.
John Currie spoke to us on behalf of “Honoring Indigenous Peoples” (HIP), a national Rotary initiative in collaboration with some Indigenous Nations. John Currie has a bachelor’s degree from York, in Indigenous and Canadian History. He is a member of the Cultural Council Pickering and is President of RC Pickering.
John shared with us that 1/3 of First Nations people went to war, a huge sacrifice and a major contribution to Canada and the World. There are 633 First Nations in Canada. Indigenous Peoples have not been treated well. Often we don’t recognize that this is in recent history. Residential Schools made attempts to wipe the Indian out of the child. The word “Indian” is problematic. A misnomer and a legal definition that does not recognize a multitude of cultures and traditions. The Indian Act made Indigenous Peoples “wards of the state” overseen by an Indian Agent, and subject to many restrictions in their lives. Today, we see positive changes – education supports, United Nations declarations, changes in government. Even with findings of the Commission on Truth and Reconciliation, more needs to be done. Rotary is a group that can help make important changes. HIP consulted with Indigenous leaders, knowledge keepers and elders. They said clearly that education was key – not just for their people, but also for Non-Indigenous people. We created HIP with a 50% Indigenous and 50% Rotarian Board (hopefully we will soon bring more Indigenous People to Rotary). Our board is also 50% women and 50% men – with representation across Canada. We have district coordinators and our mission is to catalyze societal change by inspiring Indigenous and Non-Indigenous relationship building, strengthening community well-being and advancing the next generation of leaders. We need to build awareness and learning, build relationships and walk together while working on shared real-world community challenges. Indigenous Peoples and Rotarians have a lot of common interest. John invited us to join HIP and for Rotary Clubs to think about how they can get involved. An idea is to connect Indigenous Students and Interact Students. Cultural sensitivity training is an important component to understand our biases and understand that words we use matter. We need to seek to understand, asking first what is needed and being respectful in our approach. We have learned about the importance of land-based training, reciprocity and focusing on the next generation. Thank you John, for this important endeavour, for sharing this information, and helping us move forward in a good way.