The Break

Recently I started a new website, My 150 Reconciliation . My goal, over the next months, is to take in 150 stories, one for each of the years that Canada is celebrating in 2017.  Well, that some of Canada is celebrating.
 
I find myself torn by the whole thing.  The part of me that is the descendant of the Scottish crofters that were kicked off their ancestral lands 170 years or more ago, recognizes that we do have much to celebrate.  The part of me that is the descendant of the Irishmen who managed to escape the death of the potato famine because of the military compensation that allowed for the passage of the family to come to Canada also celebrates what a wonderful place this was to come to, to start over, to allow your children and your children’s children to be and have more.  That self too understands what greatness there is to celebrate.
 
But the part that has invested in learning more about what transpired on this land is struggling with how I came to be where I am and to have all that I have. Though this project of mine I am trying to deepen my understanding, my compassion and my ability to be an ally to the people that were here long before my ancestors arrived or even knew of this great land, our Indigenous people.  That is what my website and project is about.

The book that I chose to help me with that this week was recommended by a friend of mine who runs the local library in our old home area in Manitoba.  She knows my interests and my passions, and felt that this book would be a good read for me.  It was!
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Katherena Vermette’s book, “The Break”,was a wonderful, though dark glimpse into the real Winnipeg that is the experience for so many Indigenous and Metis people that live their lives there.  We on the outside hear about the gangs, the thefts, the fights and deaths on the news, a safe arm’s length away from it all.  We seldom give those news stories a second thought to deepen our understanding of how what happened did happen.   We hear about the violence, the racism, the addition issues, but we don’t often hear about the lives.  Her book gives us that glimpse into the deeper core of the story. 

Because it is based in Winnipeg, there is a familiarity that allowed me to picture where each place was, and a reminder of the warnings we’ve heard through the years to be careful and stay away from ‘those areas’.  ‘Those areas’ being home to so many of the characters whose lives we were given a picture of in ‘The Break’.

In reading ‘The Break’ I was granted the opportunity to see more deeply into that world that we often manage to ignore.  The gangs that aren’t necessarily an option as we might choose to think.  The story behind the stories of the addictions and deaths we often choose not to think about…because it’s over ‘there’ or it’s ‘them’ not us.  She gives us a taste of the resilience of the people that live that story, everyday, for the majority of their lives.  The love that exists behind the media blurbs, the pain that is a part of each newscast, the fear, mistrust and attitudes that form and feed so much of the heartache. 
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Through ‘The Break’ I have opened a door that I won’t be able to close behind me.  A door to a deeper awareness, a stronger compassion and a greater respect for those that are represented by the characters that were introduced to me through the book.