I have been receiving some nice compliments recently regarding my stories in the Wingham Advance Times and the Listowel Banner.
I appreciate the many comments; I am happy that what I write starts meaningful conversations and makes people think.
I get the general impression that I am doing what is expected of me as a local reporter, providing excellent coverage of your communities and telling stories that matter to you.
On Friday, I received an email that made me stop and think. This was a response to my recent column in the Listowel Banner titled ‘You missed the point, sirs.’
The subject line from an unfamiliar email said, “Perth County Land Acknowledgement Piece.”
Nervously, I opened the email; I was sitting in my vehicle between photo gigs, asking myself if this would be an aggressive or complimentary email.
One never knows when talking about changing opinions, learning new truths, and being asked to disbelieve preconceived notions how people will react.
Calling out bad behaviour is a slippery slope.
To my relief, the email began with the following, “I read your work in the Banner. I was glad to read your column regarding Perth County Council’s deliberations surrounding a Land Acknowledgement before meetings.”
The gentleman told me about his family’s failed attempts to learn about their property outside of Listowel beyond recent history.
“To date, I have been unsuccessful in learning about the lands that I grew up on near Listowel. I find online resources inconsistent or very general. I was wondering if you knew of any resources, historical texts or stories that would help me in my quest. I want to properly recognize the peoples who walked this land before we did; it has blessed me and my family very much. I don’t want to just cut and paste something from a website, I want to understand who was here before me so I can thank them properly.”
I had to sit and think for a while as thoughts raced through my head about how to answer such a question.
I had a similar question from a co-worker last year, asking why there aren’t more resources that explain the history of the land and its people pre-contact.
Why don’t we know? Why don’t they know? How to try to explain the complexities of that question respectfully and insightfully?
I gave him my opinion on the subject. The following is an excerpt of my response:
The easiest way to put this is that we are all learning about this together, in real-time!
One of the unfortunate legacies of the residential school system is the attempted erasure of our history, culture, and languages.
Removing children from their communities also removed them from the rich oral history of the People. As a result, generations grew up without the stories that would be told during community events and gatherings. They often lost connection with grandparents and elders who hold the knowledge.
Therefore, we all search now for the truth about our history. Our elders are dying, and they take with them our orated history.
And then, I began to think about the question and realized that I must dig deeper into this subject, get to know the topic better, so that I can provide a better answer when I am asked that question again.
I reached out to my friend and colleague, Dr. Andrew Judge, who specializes in traditional Indigenous knowledge, ethnomedicine, and land-based learning, to dig deeper into this question. He provided me with several options to explore the history of this area.
There is no easy or straightforward answer, Dr. Judge said; there is no clear-cut resource that’s going to tell you the answers to these really broad types of questions.
But I feel it is worth looking into further; if the people in the area want some information about the land and the people that used to be here, to understand the importance of the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, then I will try to provide some answers.
Over the next few months, I will do a deep dive into the pre-contact history of the land which is now the Huron-Perth-Bruce region and begin to try to answer these questions.
So, thanks to the gentleman who sent me the inquiry; you have given me the inclination and direction to explore more deeply the pre-contact history of the land in this area.
And thank you to the many folks who are reading my work, it means a lot to me! Keep on reaching out.
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Cory Bilyea is an Indigenous journalist currently working for Midwestern Newspapers. She is a member of the Six Nations of the Grand River nations, better known as Onkwehonwe, the original people. Cory is a survivor of intergenerational trauma caused by residential schools. She can be reached at cbilyea@midwesternnewspapers.com.
