Quote – Wilson, 2008:39

“On the other hand, if one starts from an Indigenous paradigm, then one can choose to use any tool from within that paradigm that may be effective” – Wilson, 2008:39

Wilson’s quote is one that is very inspiring and intelligent to me. It makes me think that instead of looking for tools that can fix a problem or find something new through research and than attempting to fix it, you should start from a base, within the indigenous community and move outwards.

Wilson’s quote brings my mind to start in the place we should have started from the beginning, within the indigenous community. I believe that when people begin research or begin anything knew, they tend to take a large view and look for tools from everywhere. Wilson’s quote is a reminder to start within our community. Gather your tools from where you start.

This quote reminds me to always stay centered and focus on where I came from and what my goal is through my research or in life. Whatever I decide to research, I will focus on my community and use them through every move I make.

Inspirations and Teachings

The person that most inspires me in my community would have to be my mother. My mother is a very strong, independent woman who has always gone after what she wanted and has always (and still does) tried to help every single person she sees in need.

As mentioned above my mother has always been about two things: 1)Going after what you want and 2)Helping everyone you possibly can. She does not believe in selfishness and believes you must help people not use them. Not only did she just believe these values herself but she raised me and my brother and sister with these values as well.

When I was younger my dream was to always be the best ringette player in the world! Many of my friends’ parents told their daughters, “Don’t put all your eggs in one basket, ringette won’t work out.” My mother wanted to feed my dream and do everything she could to help me succeed. She cooked all my meals, drove me to all my practices, and was at all my games, yelling in excitement on the bleachers. She would let nothing stop me from reaching my goals and I went very far in my sport.

Now, my goals have moved on to other things. For example, my research. My research goal is that I want to improve aboriginal job availability and workplace in B.C. I want to learn more about our culture and ways that employers can be more effective with hiring people from our community and helping them once they have been hired. My mom always phones me, texts me, emails me, etc, just to make sure I am doing well and that my university life in general is going smoothly and if it isn’t, well she finds a way to make it better.