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Breaking the Chains: Recognizing and Ending Oppression in Our Nations
42 Plays3 months ago
It’s still happening — sometimes quietly, sometimes right in front of us.
Let’s talk about it, learn from it, and rise above it. ✊🏽🔥
Oppression isn’t always loud — sometimes it hides in policies, silence, and fear.
In this deeply moving episode, ningowiiganikwe opens a full-circle conversation about how systemic oppression began on Turtle Island and how it still affects First Nation communities today.
Through simple, honest reflections, she helps listeners recognize the signs of oppression — from colonial laws and workplace inequities to the subtle ways power and control show up in daily life.
This episode calls for awareness, compassion, and courage — to speak up, stand together, and rebuild systems that honour fairness and respect. A must-listen for anyone ready to understand, heal, and help create real change in their community.
#FullCircleConversations #Awareness #Healing
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Transcript
Introduction to Oppression and Manifestation
00:00:03
Speaker
Mnogajab, g'day, and welcome to Full Circle Conversations at Tea with D. I'm your host, Ningga Wiganikwe. Today's episode is talking about oppression, how it began, how it still shows up in our lives and communities, and most importantly, what we can do to stop it.
Understanding Power and Naming Oppression
00:00:28
Speaker
This isn't about blaming or shaming. It's about understanding. When we know what's happening, we can name it. And once we can name it, we can change it
00:00:43
Speaker
Oppression is when power gets used in a way that keeps people down.
Forms of Oppression: Loud vs Quiet
00:00:49
Speaker
It's when rules or systems or people decide who gets heard or who doesn't, who gets help and who's left out.
00:01:01
Speaker
Sometimes it's very loud, like racism, bullying, or violence. Other times it's quiet, hidden in policies, job postings, or decisions made behind closed doors.
The Indian Act's Control on First Peoples
00:01:19
Speaker
For First Peoples of Turtle Island, oppression was written right into law. The Indian Act decided who we could marry, where we could live, even if we could leave our community.
00:01:34
Speaker
It banned our ceremonies and languages. It told us who we were and who we weren't.
Evolution of Oppression Systems
00:01:43
Speaker
As if the government could define our identity,
00:01:50
Speaker
And here's the truth that's hard to face. Those same systems didn't disappear. They just changed shape.
00:02:02
Speaker
Some were carried on through paperwork, funding rules, or even within our own band administrative offices and leadership structures.
00:02:14
Speaker
Because those systems were handed to us. And we were told, this is how it's done.
Fear and Silence Perpetuate Inequality
00:02:23
Speaker
But when a person is silenced for speaking the truth or punished for asking fair questions, that's still oppression. And when we stay quiet because we are afraid of losing our job, our home, our belonging, that's how oppression keeps its power.
00:02:44
Speaker
It feels like walking on eggshells, like you have to keep the peace even when something's wrong. It looks like favoritism, unfair hiring, gossip used as control, or resources kept from certain families.
00:03:07
Speaker
Those are symptoms of oppression, fear, silence, inequality, and loss of trust.
Awareness and Pre-Colonial Balance
00:03:15
Speaker
The good news? Awareness is the first crack in the wall because the moment you can say, this isn't right, you've already began to change it.
00:03:27
Speaker
Before colonization, our nations lived by our own laws, Anishinaabe, Cree, Haudenosaunee, Dene, and many others. Our systems were built on respect, responsibility and balance.
00:03:43
Speaker
Then colonial governments arrived and replaced that with control.
Impact of Residential Schools and Indian Act
00:03:51
Speaker
Residential schools took our children. The Indian Act decided our leadership. Traditional governance gone.
00:04:02
Speaker
Women who were once leaders and knowledge keepers were stripped of their rights. The pain still echoes through families today in silence, trauma and loss of trust.
00:04:18
Speaker
Until 1985, under Canadian law, Indigenous women had no right to their own identity. If a First Nation woman married a non-Indigenous man, she lost her Indian status, her right to live in her community, to vote, and even to be buried on her land.
Bill C-31 and New Inequalities
00:04:41
Speaker
Her children lost status too. But if a First Nation man married a non-Indigenous woman, he kept his and she gained status.
00:04:55
Speaker
That was legal sexism. After years of fighting, led by Mary Two-Axe Early, Jeannette Corbiere-Laval, and Yvonne Bedard, Canada changed the law through Bill C-31.
00:05:13
Speaker
It restored status for many women and children, but created new inequalities with categories six one and 6-2.
00:05:25
Speaker
Non-Indigenous women who gained status before 1985 kept it. Later cases by Sharon MacGyver, Lynn Gell and the Deschenu case challenged this ongoing discrimination.
00:05:42
Speaker
This was oppression on paper. When a government decides who belongs, who is enough, and who can pass that identity to their children.
00:05:54
Speaker
Think about that. A law deciding who you are.
00:06:02
Speaker
Oppression didn't end with those laws being changed. It found new forms.
Challenging Oppressive Systems
00:06:08
Speaker
Housing shortages, water advisories, job favoritism, and decisions made by few.
00:06:17
Speaker
Yet we also see courage. The First Nations Child and Family Caring Society took Canada to the Human Rights Tribunal in 2007 won 2016.
00:06:32
Speaker
Lillian Shirt protested housing discrimination in 1969. Families today continue to file complaints when systems fail them.
00:06:43
Speaker
Each act says we see what's wrong and we're not afraid to name it.
Local Reforms for Fairness and Trust
00:06:53
Speaker
Symptoms of oppression include fear to speak up, lack of transparency, favoritism, policies that protect power, and inequality.
00:07:05
Speaker
Breaking oppression starts with awareness, then voice, action, and reform. Policy reform can only begin locally.
00:07:16
Speaker
Fairness in housing, transparent hiring, rotating committees, and open communication. Small changes rebuild trust, and trust rebuilds nations.
Encouragement for Justice and Allyship
00:07:30
Speaker
So what can we do? We can all play a part. Learn and share your rights. Support those who speak up. Encourage fairness and transparency.
00:07:44
Speaker
Be an ally. We are all treaty people sharing responsibility for justice.
00:07:52
Speaker
Oppression doesn't always look like violence.
00:07:56
Speaker
Sometimes it's silence, a look, a policy, closed door.
00:08:05
Speaker
But every act of truth, every word of fairness, every brave conversation is a step toward freedom.
00:08:16
Speaker
When you see injustice, don't look away. When you feel silenced, remember, your voice is sacred.
00:08:26
Speaker
We can't change the past, but we can change how we live today. That's where reconciliation begins, in our daily choices, and our courage and compassion.
00:08:38
Speaker
Niigwech for listening, for feeling and for being part of this circle. Until next time, stay grounded, stay kind and always Mano.
00:08:50
Speaker
Let it be, but let it begin with you. Bama Pee.