A few weeks ago, I travelled to Winnipeg with my partner to visit her family. This was the fourth journey home that I have made with her but the first where we’ve had enough time to explore and experience the city beyond her grandmother’s neighbourhood. Most people who I told about the trip before we went joked that the only reason to go to Winnipeg was to visit family. One friend, however, told me that he loves the city and would absolutely choose to go there for vacation. I was intrigued and wanted to learn more.
One of my priorities right now is reading books written by Indigenous authors, especially Anishinaabek, in an effort to learn more about the place I live and the people who have been caring for this land since long before anyone who looks like me decided it was ours. I was delighted to find Wînipêk – Visions of Canada from an Indigenous Centre by Niigaan Sinclair. I wanted more context for the emotional depth of Katherena Vermette’s The Strangers and Joshua Whitehead’s Jonny Appleseed, both fiction works illustrating the life of Indigenous people living in contemporary Winnipeg. I did get that from this book and also a whole lot more.
I feel like I’ve recently reached a new stage in my learning about the colonization of this land, the horrifying impacts of that ongoing genocide, and what needs to be done to repair and reconcile those relationships. For quite a few years, I felt confident in my knowledge and my actions in this space. After all, I had taken a few Indigenous studies courses and knew significantly more than most people in my life. Mandatory awareness courses at work felt repetitive and boring because I had already put my own effort into learning. Something has changed though and I’m suddenly aware of how much I don’t know — and how much I’m not doing. I’m going to keep working toward a deeper understanding and more meaningful actions. So far that includes things like actively supporting Indigenous businesses, learning Anishinaabemowin, and attending more cultural events that are open to the general public.
We had a great time in Winnipeg and because of this book, I paid a lot more attention to the way the city is shaped by both its Indigenous heritage and the oppression of Indigenous peoples. I took my daughter to the Human Rights Museum and the Manitoba Museum and we talked a lot about the ways that history and contemporary culture are shared in museums and who decides what gets shared. We discussed the renaming of streets or other public infrastructure and why that is meaningful, particularly in the case of Abinojii Mikinah. And we went to Feast Cafe Bistro for dinner with the whole family, where we enjoyed fresh picked lilac lemonade and a variety of bison dishes.
It was a really good visit with family and also with the city of Winnipeg, I’m excited to go back and explore more another time.
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