Paradox, Contradiction, and Hypocrisy

Paradox: The nation state called Canada built reserve communities as a mechanism to aid in the elimination of Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge, yet today these communities are repositories of Indigenous people and Indigenous knowledge.

Contradiction: Although not members of a reserve community, as a measure to hold on to who they are as Indigenous people many non-status urban Indians work hard to retain, or regain, who they are as Indigenous people, where as a result many have more Indigenous knowledge than some reserve based Indigenous people.

Hypocrisy: When an Indigenous person holds tightly on to their status card yet argues that  an Indigenous person who desires to be a status Indian suffers from a colonial mindset.

All entities are a circle; knowledge is seldom created in a linear way. More often than not, knowledge is created through paradox and contradiction. This is one of the teachings the boy with the pipe brought humans.

As for hypocrisy, we need to value that all knowledge creation must move through our moral codes, such as the Seven Grandmother Teachings.

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Lynn Gehl is an Algonquin Anishinaabe-kwe from the Ottawa River Valley.  She has a section 15 Charter challenge regarding the continued sex discrimination in The Indian Act, and is an outspoken critic of the Ontario Algonquin land claims and self-government process. She has three books: Anishinaabeg Stories: Featuring Petroglyphs, Petrographs, and Wampum Belts, The Truth that Wampum Tells: My Debwewin of the Algonquin Land Claims Process, and Mkadengwe: Sharing Canada's Colonial Process through Black Face Methodology.  You can reach her at lynngehl@gmail.com and see more of her work at www.lynngehl.com.

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