CBC:

Although adopted from Haiti, my son Josiah is unconditionally a member of our Indigenous community

Sharing our family’s story — after my son, Josiah, was barred from playing at the All Native Basketball Tournament in 2016 and 2017 — was not an easy process as we had to be willing to be vulnerable, authentic and truthful, and thereby process some pain.

However, as a Heiltsuk physician who cares deeply about social justice, I felt I could not pass on the opportunity when we were approached by Yasmine Mathurin, a trusted friend and the Haitian-Canadian filmmaker who directed the resulting film, One of Ours.

Honestly even if I wasn’t going to start doing Canadian Politics I think I really missed the boat by not covering Canada enough. I mean this guy is literally doing the “my black son,” bit in real life.

One of my most important goals since leaving my home community for school has been to get involved in endeavours that would improve the lives of Indigenous people. This goes back to a visit I had with one of my elders, the late Yilístis Beatrice Brown, in the mid-1980s. She told me not to worry about leaving and to do well in school. She asked me to get an education that I could then put to good use for the benefit of our nation when I came back. I often felt guilty not being able to return home as an obstetrician and gynecologist. The hospital and population there are too small to sustain my skills and specialty. Over the years, I have chosen to get involved with other projects I hoped would ultimately have a ripple effect and benefit for the Heiltsuk Nation. 

So this guy is an Aboriginal Pussy Doctor who couldn’t go back to his reservation because there wasn’t a high enough supply of vaginas to make that profitable. So he rooted around for ways to improve the quality of his reservation, and settled on importing Haitians.

I’m sorry but did nobody else have a plan? I would think abolishing alcohol or building some drinking water would take precedence over importing Haitians. Maybe set the crops on fire while you’re at it.

Many stereotypes about Indigenous cultures, communities, families, individuals, governance, sovereignty, diversity and modern lives need to be demolished. I viewed the opportunity to tell our story and share it widely as a way to address some of these knowledge gaps.  

Yeah he’s currently absolutely demolishing the stereotype that aboriginals need to be, you know, actual aboriginals. 

The Heiltsuk Nation belongs to a large family of First Nations tribes who make up the potlatch peoples of the West Coast. Our culture is thriving and in the process of revitalization after many decades of colonial oppression. We remain a unified and strong people and we are very proud of who we are. There are some cultural practices which evoke a particularly strong sense of pride and significance when we undertake them — and adoption is one of them. 

What the fuck is going on here? He’s talking about vibrant abos importing Haitians. Is this guy secretly a jew or something?

Adoption is sacred to us, and we use it to strengthen ties within our nation and to forge stronger connections and kinship ties with our neighbouring nations. We also use adoption to honour those whom we grow to love, regardless of their ethnic or cultural origins. When we practice adoption, we practice ǧvíḷás — our traditional law and code of conduct — and express our sovereignty, just as we have done for millennia. The story we share in One of Ours is a story about Heiltsuk adoption, the deep meaning it has for us, and the lengths to which we will go to practice it in our sacred and unique way. 

Yeah I’m gonna go out on a limb here and say that adopting Haitians has no historical precedence in the Heiltsuk tribe. Maybe they did a lot of adoption of children orphaned from parents dying of diseases or wars or what have you, not going out and importing Haitians. 

Something else tells me the gynecologist thing is a beard, and this guy was sexually abusing his Haitian rentboy. I hope that’s not the case, but I’m getting a bad feeling here. I couldn’t find any mention of a wife, or mother of any kind.

Blood quantum is a colonial construct and one that is ultimately intended to eradicate us as Indigenous people. Used to bar Josiah from the tournament, it ran roughshod over Heiltsuk law and the process of naturalization that made him one of us. Not only was he adopted under colonial law, but also according to our ancient ǧvíḷás, which for the Heiltsuk, supersedes colonial and outsider laws. Josiah was among those chosen to represent our nation on the men’s basketball team and at the tournament. Being singled out and denied the right to play hurt not only him, but the whole Heiltsuk Nation as well. 

So… how is blood quantum a “colonial construct?” Also, WTF is “blood quantum,” anyway? Like I’m pretty sure that Heiltsuk’s weren’t including Haitians as part of their tribe historically. It is literally a “colonial construct,” that race/ethnicity isn’t what defines a nation. And the colonizer of this Abo’s mind is the Harvey Weinstein’s of Hollywood.

Imagine if, for example, when Michaëlle Jean was Canada’s Governor General, she went to another country for an important event. Then imagine the host country wouldn’t allow her to represent Canada because she wasn’t born there. This is exactly the type of callous disregard for legitimacy, propriety and the law that was shown in Josiah’s case. 

Former Attorney General Michaelle Jean

That would be absurdly based and I would love that country. Yes, the idea that Michaelle Jean should be representing Canadians is not just absurd, but it is in a very real sense visible Colonialism, it’s just called “multiculturalism,” or “shut up about this or we’ll censor you.” 

It is my hope that this story of love, care and protection for one of ours brings honour to the Heiltsuk Nation and inspires Canadians to look beyond stereotypes and misunderstandings about what it means to be Indigenous in this country. 

Thank goodness we have the multibillion dollar state propaganda agency to bully these Abos into letting non-Abos play in their sports. Now I’m aware that they would never allow us to have an all-White sporting event, so I’m more of a passive observer here. Even still, it’s shocking the insane inversion of victimhood that we see, as always. It’s also kind of shocking to see them make these same anti-White arguments but directed at Abos.