I Survived

I survived.⠀

I survived, living through a horrific night that claimed my parents' lives at the young age of 9. I survived being held hostage while waiting for the RCMP to come & save us for 8.5 hours.⠀

I survived, moving to an entirely different province and ripped away from the close-knit Metis community I grew up in, in rural Manitoba.⠀

I survived the years of mental torment because of the inadequate post-traumatic care, my brothers & I did not receive.⠀⠀

I survived, fighting to move back to the place I once called home to be closer to my roots. ⠀

I survived the earth-shattering reality that my older brother could no longer live with the nightmares of the night that we lost our parents. The pain grew inside his soul & allowed what little light he had left inside him to be suffocated by the dark. The years of torment played out over and over in his mind., eventually becoming too much to deal with. My brother called for help, but it did not come. 11 years later, he decided, help was never coming for him. I survived, losing him to suicide.⠀⠀

I survived, reliving my story & sharing it with the Nation at The National Inquiry for MMIWG. I shared the endless amount of times the system had failed my family. The system's failures did not stop; they've continued failing us. ⠀

Since testifying, I realized I've survived much more as a Metis living in Canada.⠀

I survived what the government once set out to do. I am the generation that was supposed to lose all ties to my roots. ⠀

I survived a failed justice system, the lack of proper policing in rural Indigenous communities, the loss of my parents, the suicide of my brother due to inadequate post-traumatic care, and a broken system.⠀

Most importantly, I survived, a government determined to strip the generations that came before me of ever existing. ⠀

My children survived, & their children will survive. ⠀

I am surviving colonialism.⠀

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#colonlism #colonization #indigenous #thisiscanada #mmiw #mmiwg #metis #turtleisland #stolenland