Effective healing must include communities

Page 10

Elder Rose Auger remembers the day when she finally got through to a group of unruly substance-abuse young offenders. Early one morning, nearly a decade ago, she had a healing program for troubled Native teens.

"It was then that I discovered the only way I could reach these guys was to touch them, even if I had to hit them, she said.

Speaking at the opening address of the Aboriginal Women's Healing Awareness Society's Healing Awareness Conference in Edmonton, Auger said the traditional techniques she passed on to those once-troubled teens is the reason they are proud and effective leaders today.

"It's amazing what they learn from the traditional ways. It's incredible how these ways change them. We all must learn about the traditional ways and carry them on."

Such was the emphasis of the three-day Eagle When She Flies conference held

at the Edmonton Inn recently. About 150 Natives representing bands from across Alberta and Montana participated in workshops dealing with healing, wellness, spirituality, AIDS awareness, self-esteem, partnership and leadership. Traditional pipe ceremonies, Native dances and displays of culture-rich hand-made wares enhanced the return-to-your roots theme.

Keynote speaker Maggie Hodgson cited residential schools as the reason for most of the social problems dogging Native communities today. While healing will take place, she said it must be holistic to be effective.

"The challenge we have when we are involved in our own healing is that we have to be able to move from our own individual pain and healing to our family's pain and healing and then to our communities," she said.

For it to be genuine, however, Hodgson said Native communities must first grapple with the issues of honesty, responsibility and respect in regard to healing.

"Is healing going and having a big cry about the pain we have experienced in our life? Or is it the amount of time we spend in bingo halls while our babies babysit babies?" she asked. "These are the issues we will struggle with in our communities."

On the last day of the conference, singer Laura Vinson discussed the importance of education and discipline for success in today's world.

"Without my degree in education, I would still have to be working in bars," she said.

In between songs, celebrating Native history, Vinson urged the crowd not to be discouraged by the amount of healing that has yet to take place. She reminded them that since the first white contact, more than 10 million Natives have died - more than the casualties in both World Wars and the Holocaust.

"We do tend to look at our problems and think we're in bad shape. But when we look back in time and at those 10 million who died due to a concerted effort to annihilate them - the fact that we're still here and standing and we have a culture is a triumph in itself. In the spirit of things, we're still here."

At the end of the conference society President Martha Campiou said despite the small turn-out, she felt confident knowing those who did attend would return home and spread the message of healing to their families and communities.

"The ones that turned up are the ones truly interested in helping themselves and their communities, and that's what matters."