Winnipeg Free Press

Winnipeg Free Press (Newspaper) - March 14, 2022, Winnipeg, Manitoba C M Y K PAGE B1 CITY ● BUSINESS ASSOCIATE EDITOR, NEWS: STACEY THIDRICKSON 204-697-7292 ● CITY.DESK@FREEPRESS.MB.CA ● WINNIPEGFREEPRESS.COM B1 MONDAY MARCH 14, 2022 SECTION BCONNECT WITH WINNIPEG’S NO. 1 NEWS SOURCE▼ Deepening bond with Indigenous culture A FEW weeks ago, I had the privilege of sitting down for lunch with Wally Chartrand. He is an Indigenous knowledge keeper, traditional pipe carrier, sweat lodge holder, sun dancer, and a shkabeh, which means helper. He is also on the executive manage- ment team at Ma Mawi Wi Chi Itata in Winnipeg, as the keeper of the spirit. I met Chartrand once before, briefly last year in a sharing circle at the end of a conference we both attended. We barely spoke then, he accepted my Facebook friend request after the conference wrapped. More recently, he graciously agreed to meet me for an interview when I messaged him out of the blue last month. Initially, when I messaged him, I wasn’t sure that he’d even remember or know who I was. “I write for the Winnipeg Free Press. I’m doing a series on elders in Manitoba and I’m wondering if you would be interested in being interviewed…” read part of my message. “Yes, I remember you and yes, I’d love to contribute to your story,” he responded. Leading up to our meeting, I was both excited and nervous. For me, this was more than an interview and a story. Being able to write this story was an honour and it gave me a reason and access to reach out, but in a deeper and more personal way, I was so grateful for the opportunity to sit down and listen to him, and to learn from the knowledge he keeps. The first time we met it was at the Cork and Flame restaurant on Portage Avenue. I offered Char- trand a tobacco tie and thanked him for meeting me. We sat for nearly three hours. He was generous with his words and knowledge, speaking softly but steadily while I listened. He welcomed my questions and assured me that there was no such thing as a bad or stupid question. “That’s how we learn,” he’d say. I am only just starting to learn about my Indigenous culture and, if I am being honest, I often have an overwhelming feeling of imposter syndrome. I didn’t grow up in ceremony or learning about or practicing a traditional way of life. I’ve always known who I am on the surface — a card-carrying Indigenous person from Brokenhead. But I have always felt disconnected from my roots, and when I was young I used to pretend that I was someone and something else, because I felt a lot of shame and internalized racism for who I was. I know I am not alone in this. I have heard other Indigenous people tell me how heavy the imposter syndrome gets for them. The jour- ney many of us are on to reclaim ourselves and our culture can be difficult because it has no map, and it’s hard to figure out where and how to even start. SHELLEY COOK SHELLEY COOK / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Wally Chartrand ● CONTINUED ON B2 Nativelovenotes uses humour to counteract sadness in world Stick-to-it-ness proves a winner C OVID-19 pandemic lock-downs were lonely enough without being marooned in a new city — the situation sticker-mak- er extraordinaire Amy Jackson found herself in last year. The 34-year-old from The Pas and Opaskwayak Cree Nation had been in Winnipeg for about a year, pursuing a master’s degree in Native studies at the University of Manitoba. At the best of times, a year isn’t much time to build a whole new social circle, and the best of times, it was not. Jackson could hardly have guessed she’d soon leave school as an entrepre- neur with an international following and a bricks-and-mortar store in the works. “I was still relatively new to the city, so I was alone for weeks at a time. It was really difficult, and I thought, ‘Man, if I’m depressed, I’m sure tons of people are.’” Jackson started looking for some- thing that would fill her time and take her mind off the pandemic doldrums. As one of those people with mosaics glued to their laptop lids, that meant making stickers. “I started creating as an outlet, as a way to cope,” she said. “I thought then, it would be so fun to do some digital design work. It’s something that I’ve always wanted to tap into.” Jackson opened up an app and start- ed designing. The world already had its fair of depressing things in it, she said. She geared her designs to balance it out. “I really wanted to counteract that with some humour — let’s remember our humanity and remember we can make jokes and have a good time to- gether, you know?” With that, Nativelovenotes was born. A year later, the company’s mer- chandise includes not only stickers, but also stationery, buttons, jewelry, phone accessories, prints, clothing and home wares. The goods are plastered with phrases such as “Ever sick,” “Live Laugh Skoden,” and “Go smudge yourself.” But other designs tackle more serious issues. They denounce racism, the Indian Act and the colonizer mindset. Or, like the sticker that says, “Inter- generational trauma ends with me,” they show a desire to make the world a better place. One thing is clear about Jackson’s already abundant catalogue of designs: they have struck a chord. “It blew up really quickly. I think within the first week, I had 1,500 followers on Instagram when I started sharing my work,” she said. That number has since ballooned to more than 25,000, and Jackson said support has been pouring in from across the globe. “We’ve sent to most European countries, to Indigenous folks who are living up there. We’ve had a lot of peo- ple in Australia, New Zealand, South America, and then of course, spread across North America and to Hawaii and the Polynesian islands,” Jackson said. The ubiquity of interest in her products, which she describes as “un- apologetically rezzy,” took Jackson by surprise. “It makes me feel really excited. I also feel really fortunate that I’ve tapped into such an important — I don’t want to call it a market, because it’s more than a market — into a broader community that we didn’t know we could connect with each other in this way.” Julianna McLean of Saskatoon (via James Smith Cree Nation), who bought three coffee mugs with the words “Colonizer tears” arched above a rainbow for herself and her kids, said Nativelovenotes provides a connection to home and proud reminders of who she and her children are as Indigenous people. CODY SELLAR RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS Amy Jackson’s company, Nativelovenotes, has merchandise including stickers, stationery, buttons, jewelry, phone accessories, prints, clothing and home wares. Stickers are one of the many products. READER BRIDGE If you have a story idea to diversify our journalism, please contact us at: readerbridge@freepress.mb.ca Turning to God, prayer following diagnosis WHEN their daughter Candace was murdered in 1984, Cliff and Wilma Derksen became widely known for the very public way they lived out their Christian faith and deep trust in God. They are doing it again now that Cliff, 77, has been diagnosed with ter- minal cancer and given just eight to 10 months to live. “We aren’t called to live as Chris- tians in secret, but to be helping others, to be an encouragement, be an exam- ple,” said Cliff of how the couple wants to once again share what God means to them during this new and unexpected challenge. The diagnosis came as a shock. Cliff, an artist who recently retired from working as an associate pastor at Maplecrest Church, hadn’t been feeling well for a few weeks. He went to a walk-in clinic on February 26. After examining him, the doctor told him to go immediately to Victoria Hospital for more tests and scans. He was transferred the same day to St. Boniface Hospital’s cancer ward. After arrival, he was told to expect surgery the following day. But when the doctor came in to see him the next morning, she said surgery wasn’t an option. “It was too far gone,” he said. The cancer, which had started in his gall- bladder, had spread to his liver and intestines. His first question was how much time he had left; eight to 10 months with treatment, four to six without, he was told. He called Wilma right away with the news. While waiting for her to come to the hospital, he started reading his Bible. The first verse that jumped out for him was a favourite, Jeremiah 29:11: “’For I know the plans I have for you,’ declares the Lord.” “That was an encouraging word from God for me right then,” said Derksen of those verses, originally shared with Jews living in exile in Babylon thou- sands of years ago. In other verses in that same chapter, God told the exiles to live their normal lives — get married, build houses, plant gardens. “God was telling me to just be myself and live my life,” Derksen said. Cliff Derksen told he has terminal cancer JOHN LONGHURST RUTH BONNEVILLE / WINNIPEG FREE PRESS FILES Cliff Derksen called his wife, Wilma, right away after hearing the news. ● CONTINUED ON B2 ● CONTINUED ON B2 B_01_Mar-14-22_FP_01.indd 1 2022-03-13 8:33 PM ;