It’s hard to put into words on a web site, what my journey in Reconciliation has meant to me.
How much I have learned, how much I still have to learn, and how grateful I am for the relationships and connections to the beautiful people who are helping me to keep going. Questions that I’ve sat with since I was a teenager about the meaning of life, and what it means to be a good person, have been getting answered on this journey.
The journey began growing up on the lands that raised me, in Chief Drygeese Territory, the Traditional Territory of the Yellowknives Dene and home of the North Slave Métis Alliance. It wasn’t until more than a decade after high school graduation that I had a huge reckoning to realize that my high school had been co-located with a Residential School, Akaitcho Hall. Akaitcho Hall was a non-denominational Residential School, and one of the last Residential Schools to close in Canada in 1994, shortly after I graduated. Thaddeus Leonard died in 1992, while attending Akaitcho Hall.
My ignorance about Akaitcho was a big shock to me, and also very disappointing. Taking more perspective and doing what I could to educate myself, I started to realize how much racism and ignorance hides in plain sight in Canadian culture. It made me so sad to realize that, through my ignorance, I had also been part of that system as a young person growing up in Yellowknife.
Today, I am deeply honoured whenever I am invited to walk alongside Indigenous Nations, community organizations, Elder Circles, and other groups to be a part of their strategy, planning and meaningful conversations. In a spirit of Reconciliation and in honour for the mutual learning and all the blessings I receive through this work, I offer a reduced rate for most of this work.
I have a long ways to go to honour the teachings and live my life in a good way, and to keep walking a path of Reconciliation in a good way. As my Elders and Knowledge Keepers keep teaching me and encouraging me, I just need to keep trying and be honest with myself on the way. To give thanks and pray to the Creator and do the best I can each day. I fall short a lot of the time, but I guess that is the nature of the earthly journey.
If you are interested in building a relationship, I would love to get to know you. Please visit my contact page and give me a call or send me a note with the best way to reach you. Hand to heart, Alli
