“I’m a Sixties Scoop survivor. I’ve been in over 45 places for foster care ‘till the age of sixteen when they cut me loose. No longer a ward of the government. That was a slap in the face because there was no one there for me to say “Come down this road. Take my hand.”

“Residential schools, they created a system. Foster care today is the new residential school. When you’re in there, the government doesn’t look at you like a human being, they look at you like a number on a file somewhere. I’ve had family for 29 years but I hated my mom for that long. I built a fence of hate around my heart ‘cause of my abuse in foster care. I had no proper social living skills at all so I turned to the streets.

“I got caught selling weed. Cops said I had about 6 and a half ounces...more like bullshit cause they stole 5 or 6 pounds of my weed and took over a thousand dollars of me and my partner’s money but we couldn’t say nothing. We had to take it dry or get more jail time. I was in jail when a guard came up to me and said “James, go talk to the warden, see if you can go to your uncle’s funeral escorted.” I went there, kissed my uncle’s forehead and went to pay respects to Coco (grandma). She was right in front of the coffin, with all Native blankets wrapped around her. I went up to the coffin and she looked at me, opened up her eyes and grabbed onto my left hand so tightly I thought she was gonna break every bone in my hand. She said “Listen. Don’t smoke drugs, don’t sell drugs. Drugs are bad, drugs are evil. Please do me that favour.” Then she let go of my hand and back to jail I went.

“In jail you can’t cry. So I walked down that big hallway, went to my bed and cried to myself like a little bitch. I cried my heart out.

“After all these years I said, “Mom, I’m finally honouring your mom’s words. I want to quit drinking, quit drugs. I want to go back to school, get myself educated.” That’s exactly what I’m doing today. I quit boozing and drugging straight off the streets of Hastings. Most people can’t do that; they need to move far away. But not me. I’m strong. I had no help, no mom, dad, no blood relatives to help me out [but] my culture saved my life. I chopped a lot of wood, I danced. That medicine — sage and sweet grass — purifies [you]. All plants that grow from Mother Earth are medicine. I’m with Mother Earth. I’m standing on her right now. Every footstep I walk, all those kids are in my foot. And I got the blood on my hands and it’s flowing through my veins.

“I protect Mother Earth. I help fight against the pipeline. There’s a spiritual war happening today...the pipeline being built. The colonizer oppresses. They don’t give a fuck about Mother Earth, they keep on digging up Mother Earth, keep on taking and taking. You’re supposed to put it back. The water flows out from the mountain and the mountain must be protected at all times. They’re not protected. If there’s no more water then all things around that mountain and that mountain will die.

“I’m going to school. I’m on my last math book cause I want to be a counsellor for the youth. All those little kids, they’re our future. This whole world is fucked up. I was never civilized, or how you do you say it...normal? As far as I’m concerned, the word “normal” is just a cycle in the washing machine.

“I’m walking down a good path now. I’m healing myself, you know? Fuck. I hated my mom for a long time, but I kept my word to her over 6 years ago. Now, I stand tall and proud and have been doing this for over 6 years straight. I’m a firekeeper, a sun dancer, a student scholar and an activist now…my culture saved my life.”