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- Everybody, I feel like everybody heals differently
and everybody has a different process of healing
and dealing with trauma, and like,
events that have happened with them.
I was trying to heal it on my own.
- Hi, Josiah! Smile, come on!
- Come on! Wah!
- Ah, he's not doing it.
- Do you take the responsibilities as parents
to raise, promise to do all you can,
to help present Josiah to know Jesus?
- Yes, we do.
- Qu'est-ce que tu penses, Jos?
Est-ce que tu surpris?
Qui est là? Qui est l?
Merci pour Bella Bella.
- Thank you, Bella Bella.
- I'm Black, I'm from Haiti.
I got adopted into a half white-half Native family.
Because of that, I got Native status.
This is the only life I've known. This is day one.
- Coming bowling with us? What the heck?
Of course, you're coming bowling with us.
It's always a toss up - basketball, bowling,
basketball, bowling. Right? - Uh--
- We go bowling like, once every five years so it's,
so it's hard for us to get good at it.
- Literally, I haven't--
- Happy adoption day, Everyone. Woo-hoo!
- Can you believe it's been 22 and 23 years?
Like, how did that happen?
- It only became fun when I was born though, right?
- The heck?! -
- Don, this chicken's really good.
- Unlike you, you tell Mom everything.
- I'm glad you like it.
- Yo, you gotta get one of these guys on your farm.
The all-black chickens. - Oh, yeah, yeah.
- The Blacks are black meat and everything.
I don't know where they're from, but--
- They're from Indonesia. - All right, let's go get one.
- Yeah. Like, they're black, black, black.
Even their meat is dark, dark, dark purple.
- So weird. - Yeah.
- That doesn't look appetizing. - A black pig.
Black is beautiful!
- It's true.
- I don't even know what age I even like,
it hit me that I was adopted, or nothin', like,
honestly, for the longest time, I thought
I was just the same as everybody else.
All I knew is I didn't actually have a like,
a birth Mom and Dad, and all that stuff.
Like, that's all I knew.
I knew, I knew something was up because I was like,
I don't actually have parents, like,
I'm living with somebody else.
Something that I didn't know yet was just off,
and it was that like, that connection,
that like full blood on connection.
They never really made it seem like if I was different,
or anything like that like-- I felt like, the same,
but I knew something wasn't fully there.
- Our adoption day tradition has always been to say
that it's a very special time, and we all get very cheesy,
so I'm trying not to be cheesy, Josiah.
He's like, "Don't get cheesy."
- Are we all gonna say one thing we appreciate?
- No that's Thanksgiving. -
- But anyways, our tradition has always been just to say
that Mariah and Josiah are amazing, and we love them,
and we're so happy that they're in our family.
- Don't drag it on.
- We have to leave in five minutes, for bowling.
- Uh, okay. Goodbye. - Jos, don't run away!
- No. - You're very fun.
- Always give thanks to God
for giving Mariah and Josiah to our family.
Always.
I think um,
you're much easier to look after
before you turn 26. -
- I agree.
- Alright. -
- Okay, Jos, your turn. Damian, your turn.
- I've gotta thank Josiah for toughening me up
and roughing me around all until I was like, 13.
And now I'm immune.
Stronger, because of him.
And then, thanks for Mariah,
for showing me the other side of siblings.
- We didn't know what the hell we were doing,
but it turned out pretty good.
- We did not know what the hell we were doing.
Nowadays, people have read like, 19 books
before they even get pregnant, and we didn't read anything,
we didn't know anything, we didn't, had no idea.
- Remember that time and we had that quilt thing,
and it was one of the few blankets.
- Oh, and she got all tangled up in it.
- And she got tangled up in it and her whole head
was wrapped in that quilt. - Oh, my God.
- And she fell off the end of the bed into a basket
with this thing wrapped around her head.
I'm like, "Why does she sound so muffled?"
- What the heck?!
That's why you don't put blanket on a baby!
- That explains a lot.
- We didn't have anything there! No crib.
- We had no nothing. We literally,
were not going to Haiti to try to find kids.
She landed in our laps.
As a Heiltsuk person,
home will always be Bella Bella,
will always be the Heiltsuk Nation.
The kids always knew that.
They knew that that's where Daddy's from,
that's where our family all is.
I had 14 years to live immersed
in my Nation and my community,
and I haven't had that opportunity ever since.
I watch it all from afar.
It didn't take the core identity out of me.
- This is Bella Bella.
- And I still identify as a,
as a Heiltsuk person above, above all else.
- Look at Mama!
- And I tried to instil that connectedness to my children.
- Welcome home. That is beautiful!
You guys did a great job.
- We go to Bella, and like, they love us.
- Papa can ring for service!
- We've been part of the family there.
They, they treat us like one of their own, they,
it ain't no different.
So, I mean, they've always just accepted us,
which is beautiful.
- Hey!
- Hey-hey-hey!
- Oh! Ooh! - Yo, this guy!
- He would've been like, that's not my name.
As long as I can remember,
basketball has been the one thing that I've played,
dreamt of.
It was very important to me, like,
I played it from a young age, I played on multiple teams,
I travelled all over with them.
I won a couple championships, and whatnot.
Basketball was always like, the one that stuck around,
like, no matter what else I did, or whatever,
I'd always come back to basketball at the end of the day.
It was a very important piece of my life.
So, Josiah got involved with the high school team
and some community leagues, and he just loved it
and he was really good at it.
And he got invited to participate
in the Heiltsuk Nation um, Junior All Native team.
The All Native basketball tournament is a big deal
on the West Coast. Basketball is,
is the sport that everybody is really passionate about,
and it goes back a long ways, like decades.
Teams would train all year,
they would bring all of their village pride
to the tournament and compete for their Nations.
So, this was a really cool way for him
to get involved with people from home, and sort of learn,
and connect, and learn about the culture.
He played for two years
at the All Native basketball tournament.
Until the third year,
somebody protested his involvement,
and one of their rules was that
an individual had to be born
with at least one-eighth Indigenous blood.
That is a type of a blood quantum rule.
They can't legally be that, because I was adopted,
and it's, from, from me being adopted,
it's pretty much the same thing as if I had Native blood,
because it's not like if I had a choice for this situation.
But they didn't want to see it like that.
And then, when they found out that he was born Haitian
and we adopted him, they said well, he can't play.
Who is Indigenous?
The question has been at the centre
of a controversial decision to deny Josiah Wilson
from playing in the All Native basketball tournament.
- He had already provided his status card uh,
as proof that his is a Registered Status Indian.
- The family was shocked when the 21 year old
was sent a letter barring him from playing
in the All Native Basketball Tournament.
- Do you consider yourself First Nations?
- Yes, I do. I've been, I've been part
of the community in Bella Bella, the Heiltsuk community,
for a while now, and I was a social worker out there
and I helped out with the kids, and everything like that.
So, yeah, I do consider myself part of their community.
I was actually shocked and hurt, just knowing that
after two years of playing for the All Native,
and they've seen me play before, and then just boom,
they say that I can't play for them,
I was actually very shocked on that.
If they see that I'm adopted and I have a Native status,
I feel like I should be allowed to play.
- You got this!
- You're gonna break things here.
- It goes by the name. - Well, that's racist.
- What?
- Why do the Black kids have to go last, huh?
- Wait a minute, no, I go first!
- Yeah, you literally put--
- I put my name in first.
Okay! This looks promising, Dad!
- Yeeahhhh! - Okay.
I told Mariah if she doesn't get a strike
she can't come back home, that's it.
- Oh, maybe, maybe, maybe! Oh!
I'm very proud of my parents for like,
making those choices that they made in their life
to adopt two, beautiful, great kids from Haiti,
and then, um, having two of their own as well,
and then like, being able to,
to bond and to be stronger as a family,
I think that's awesome how that story played out.
Adoption is, certainly in my world view,
it's a very powerful thing.
- I was so close!
We were young and naive,
not knowing what we were getting ourselves into.
Ended up moving to Haiti.
The chapter of our lives in Haiti
still reverberates today
because we ended up starting our family down there
and adopting our two kids.
Bumpy ride, but we're at...
at Numerson's compound in Léogâne.
I had a nursing degree; she was a teacher.
We thought we could do some good in the world
and we looked for opportunities,
so we both ended up working in the hospital.
In my culture, in the Heiltsuk culture,
adoption has been a very important part of our culture.
It's the way we grow our families and,
and strengthen ties between communities,
so adoption was nothing strange or new, to me.
Doesn't matter how you have your children,
you just love them. You, you would do anything for them.
There's the family that we're born into,
there's the family that we married into.
- Okay, avec la, okay.
Even though my ex-wife and I are divorced,
we still act like a family
because we love these kids so much.
- Eh, dansez-vous!
- I mean, it was a good night, though. I ain't gonna lie
like, we had fun, to an extent.
I mean, they had fun. I had--
- You didn't have fun?
- Hmm, I enjoyed seeing my Grandma.
So, I haven't seen her in like three and a half, four months.
So, it was definitely a good thing for me to see her.
Dad asked if my Grandma was there, I already told, um,
I would've dipped out so quick. I wouldn't have stayed.
My Grandma, she's my OG, yo! - Yeah?
- Ever since my Grandpa passed away,
I just had to be there for her and like,
my Grandpa was the, my day one. Yo, like,
I'll show you my Grandpa, y'all.
This man,
he's straight Native, you know what I'm sayin',
like, this is my Dad's Dad.
I could straight up consider them like,
a second set of parents, pretty much.
Maybe even a third or fourth set of parents, if you wanna,
go, like that, but that's another story.
From the moment that,
honestly, from the moment that my parents got separated,
'til like, 'til now, yo, my Grandma, my Grandpa
have been like, literally the closest, beside my homies.
Oh, yeah, this is, this is my,
this is one of the first times Papa ever went to Haiti.
I think this is like, their only time they've ever went.
That was like, one thing I was actually upset
when he passed away is like,
he really wanted to go back to Haiti again.
You know, he was definitely one of a guy, one of a kind guy,
like, yeah, he was special.
He was really special to me.
- I saw this guy downtown, this white guy,
with the worst dreads. I was just like, "Oh, my God."
- He was white?
- First of all, white people shouldn't have dreads, but-
That's what I'm saying, white people don't get dreads.
- But- - Yo, they're ugly.
- Because their hair doesn't lock, right, properly.
But also, they were really hideous looking.
- So disrespectful. So racist.
- That's, yeah, he shouldn't be wearing--
- So racist to have red dreads like that, you ugly ass.
- I think--
- I like, keeping hollers to be like, "Who does your hair?"
- Uh huh! I know!
- All I'm saying is that, fuck all that other shit,
my Mom knows what she's doin'.
We don't need all those extra tools.
Y'all got money though? If y'all got money,
you can come, you know what I'm saying?
- Exactly, you gonna pay me? - Ten percent for the boy,
you know, 90% for her, you know what I'm saying?
- Oh, ten, okay, that sounds fair.
Trying to make you look good. Price you pay to be beautiful.
- Well, it shouldn't hurt to be beautiful.
- Well, I know, it shouldn't,
but tell that to every woman who waxes her legs.
You're gonna be so handsome after this.
The thing that he said then, and he said as he got older,
Dad shouldn't have left us.
Everybody leaves.
Our divorce was extremely hard on him
and he has taken that on as a bit of an abandonment.
And so, then being rejected by the Indigenous community
and that basketball community that had been important to him,
there's been a lot there that he has to work through.
Everybody's always looking for where do they belong
in the world, and that was a place he belonged, right.
What about this stings the most,
I mean, this idea that you're, you're not Native enough
to participate in the tournament?
- Even though I have status
and I've been part of the community for a long time now,
and I lived out there with my Grandma,
just not being able to go up there this year with the boys,
to see them, everything just hurts.
It made a scar on me, you know what I'm saying,
like, it definitely let a mark.
Who are you to tell me that I ain't Native?
As a Black person adopted by a non-Black family,
he's already had to contend with that side
of his identity and figure out who he was.
He came into our family by adoption and not by birth,
doesn't make him any less legitimately Heiltsuk.
The blood quantum rule,
if you carry it to its logical conclusion,
it will eliminate and erase Indigenous people down the road.
That's a colonial concept
that has been imposed on Indigenous people.
Kinship and family is so important to us.
It's nobody else's business to tell us
who belongs and who doesn't.
It's kind of one of the last things we have to protect
is who we are, and our way of life, and you know,
kinship and that part of our identity
is crucial to our survival.
I decided I wouldn't let it pass
and tried to engage some communication
with the All Native Basketball Tournament committee,
and they wouldn't talk.
So, I took it to the British Columbia Human Rights Tribunal
and lodged a formal complaint.
So, it's important to read the question over
a couple of times. Especially on a final exam.
So, 12,000, arrears were, divide that by 12 months.
The adjustment amount would have been $1000.
So on future test or exams ask yourself
what period am I preparing this financial statement...?
It was very traumatic,
like it just had me questioning so much and just like,
it just had me all fucked up.
It was around that time too, was when I really started
becoming a stoner, and whatnot.
I definitely used weed like,
to cope with a bunch of that bullshit.
Doing that, that was definitely keeping me distracted
and whatnot, and trying not to think of all this negativity,
and all that bullshit, and all that.
- Yeah, a lot of like, the fats, and lipids
and like, the toxins that you would find.
Like, I don't know, like you don't get the heavy tars
from burning it, like when you smoke a bong,
or when you smoke a joint.
You can like, feel the like, heavy kind of resins and tars.
Whereas you do this, it's already, it's all kind of,
all that stuff's been removed, so, you're just kinda getting
all the good stuff in one little bunch.
I'll be flying like, in February though,
because I have to go to a basketball tournament in BC,
for like, this whole thing. - Yeah.
- So, it's like maybe. I don't know if I'm gonna stay
up for the whole tournament, yet.
I just wanna go see my cousins and my homies,
and all that stuff, the family.
And then, deal with the stuff I gotta deal with.
It's crazy how packed it gets. It's wild.
It's honestly a good time though, it's just like,
a huge gathering of like, Native clans,
just to play ball. It's honestly like,
it's a good time, that's all it is.
But I mean, that's what it was.
It was supposed to be, but they fucked up.
But who knows.
Only time can tell, I guess.
A washing ceremony is a way, culturally,
we take away the negative influence and impact
of a bad experience on someone
and we wash it off of the trauma
and the negativity of that.
- Yo, what's goin' on? - How you doin', Big Papa?
- What's goin' on? - I'm good, man. How ya doin'?
- Good to see you. - You too, Boss.
- What ya doin'? - Man, we're just goin' up to Rupert.
- You playin'? - No, not this year.
- I'm playing. - You're playing?
When my dad first told me about the washing ceremony,
I was like, "What?"
I ani't never heard of something like that before,
but then he explained it to me, and I was like, you know what,
this could be something we could do.
Over there, I don't know if you can see the lights,
there's like, that's the city, Bella Bella.
But like, we just take them up, and now we're goin',
now we're goin' like, up north.
It's like, it's Natives.
- Jos!
- Oh, come here, kid! Oh, my God!
I've been lookin' for you this whole time.
How you doin', girl? - Good.
- The Rupert people that kicked me outta this shit,
saying I can't play because I'm Black, know what I'm sayin'.
But they didn't say those words, but
we all know that's what they meant.
See a Black man dunkin' around and stuff like that,
and actually you know, you can't play, bro.
But it is what it is, you know what I'm sayin'.
That's why we on this trip.
Not knowin' what's poppin'.
So is it that you just like,
you wanna meet people.
- Yeah, the main thing. I just wanna see who these niggas is.
- Oh, y'all didn't hear about that, huh? Y'all didn't hear,
you didn't hear what was happenin' with that?
- What happened? - Oh!
Yeah, we're not getting it no more.
It's like, 'cause I didn't come up last year
because of my surgery, like, as if it was my fault right,
because you know like, I planned to get surgery.
So, if you can't do that man, you a bum nigga.
That's all I'm saying.
But hey, like I said,
we'll see what happens when we get up there.
- I'd like to call on the
Intermediate Coach and Manager.
So, you know, we had a problem with getting Josiah
on the basketball team,
and we're thankful for all our people
for standing up for Josiah, the Hereditary Chiefs,
Tribal Council, and all our people.
You know, he was adopted in the traditional way
and we've always accepted him
and we're so thankful for him to be coming to play
with his team, the young men that he played with
over the time at the All Native Tournament.
We all know that Josiah's from Haiti,
that's where he's originally from,
but he only knows Heiltsuk, you know,
and that's the important part.
So, we wanted to do this here today
because the All Native Tournament committee
wouldn't allow us to do it in
the All Native Tournament,
which is unfortunate.
So, if we can stand up in front of our people
and just let him know how happy we are to,
to have him back here today.
He knows how much you care for him,
because he can feel it.
You know, he knows he's around family right now.
- Thank you.
Thank you.
I just wanted to say thank you to all of you,
for all the support and all the love
that you guys have shown throughout the last four years
since I got kicked out.
Um, it's been hard on me and my family,
and I know it's been hard on my teammates and my community,
but I just wanted to say that you guys stood behind me
and was with me the whole time,
so I just wanted to say thank you a lot, for that.
It means the world to me.
- For those of you that don't know the words of this song,
it says "We are Heiltsuk, We are strong.
We are proud. We are good-looking." Woo!
So, that's to you, Josiah.
- Thank you very much. Thank you so much. Thank you.
It's just tough for him because he got robbed.
Like, it hurts him. Like, he'll never forget this.
He got robbed of what, three years now?
Four. - Four years,
four years of basketball.
One of things that got him excited was to go to the...
All Native, to us, is the biggest thing for us.
It's the most exciting thing, one time of the year.
We call it second Christmas, right, like,
that's how much we love the All Native.
He got an unfair shot right, like,
that's all he's ever known is Heiltsuk.
He's never known, really, his other side until... what?
- Until I was older. - Yeah, yeah.
- Even then it wasn't like, I didn't,
I didn't know them the same was as I did for Bella Bella.
Like, I'd go to Haiti, but it was like,
my Mom's Grandma has an orphanage over there,
so it's not like I'm going to see my blood family.
Like, they all passed away, and stuff like that.
So, I mean, I don't, when I go to Haiti, it's a trip,
it's a vacation for me, you know what I'm saying?
When I come out here, yeah, it's a vacation,
but I'm coming out here to see family and stuff,
so, it's, it's two different ways I see it.
- It's good to see you though, man.
You too. Good to see you.
- Glad you're good. - Thank you, you too.
- At least you didn't get that bad of a depression anyway.
Could've went a whole different way.
- Mm-hmm. - Right?
- Wasn't too bad, like-- - At least you stayed positive.
- Mm-hmm. I tried to, - That's the good part.
as much as I could. It was an honour being on their team.
- Our team. - Our team.
Yeah, our team.
Amen.
Coming to Prince Rupert is a bit of an ordeal.
If there was going to be a public apology,
that totally makes it worth it to come all this way.
What is disappointing is the lack of willingness
to take accountability for what they've done to him,
to his family, to his Nation,
to our elected leadership.
They actually threatened to ban the Heiltsuk team
if we included something like a welcome back gesture,
for Josiah, and or, a washing ceremony.
Defence!
- Let's go! Go! - Woo!
Defence!
- They're switching everything. That's what we've gotta do
every time on that top side, right.
We've gotta make them make decisions, right.
If you're having to pick up the ball,
they're making sloppy passes now.
Continue to fight through. Call those screws.
Count on everything.
This was like the big, the big year for me,
you know what I'm saying, like I,
I got a couple years they said I couldn't play.
Like, just a lot of work, and time,
and effort came to like, this year.
And then, I thought they was gonna do the ceremony
and all that, and now they're not.
Nothing. They didn't even follow through with nothing.
Other than saying that I can come back and play.
They put a big damper on me, like,
I've low-key kind of lost hope for it.
Like, I don't, I have no idea what's happening anymore.
- Man, you playing? - Huh? Not this year,
I got surgery over the summer, so I'm in recovery.
It's alright.
It's, in the cold it hurts because I mean,
I've got a metal pole in my foot,
so when I get cold out I feel it a lot,
but right now, I'm okay.
It's just more recovery,
but hopefully I'll be playing next year.
- Hello. - Hey, what's up, man?
- How ya doin'? - How ya doin'? Good.
- I'm good. How you doing? I like your trainers.
I'm not, not on TV right now, but it will be.
We're filming for the future.
- Filming for the future? - Yeah, man.
- That's cool. - Yeah, I know. - That's lit.
- Check out my nigger, Mark. Ha ha.
My nigga--
- What the hell?
Honestly, it's gotten to the point
where everybody be using the word nigger nowadays,
like I know so many people that ain't niggers, they be like,
bro, you the pastiest thing alive, what do you mean?
They all used the word, trust me.
I've kind of just accepted it.
- I'm guessing, yes.
Any dip in there, Ken, for veggies?
- Whoa!
- I don't know what that is.
- White people food. - Mm-hmm.
- You are what you eat.
- Oh, brother!
Oh! - How are you?
- Oh, it's nice to see you. - It's good to see you, too.
- You doin' okay? - Yeah. - So am I.
- Good stuff. Yeah. - Uh huh.
- Well, I'm happy to see you.
- Do you know what time I've been up since?
- I know but--
- Yeah, a 12, 24-hour boat ride. - Good.
- Initially when I booked my flight,
there was this plan that there would be something happening
actually with the tournament itself, like some sort of,
they would provide some time before, after, or during a game,
sort of officially with the tournament.
With the committee refusing
to acknowledge anything publicly,
it doesn't feel done to me, but that's frustrating.
How long did it, what time were you guys there,
like half an hour? - Where, in Bella?
- No, no in like-- - The room?
The ceremony, yeah. What about, not the ceremony,
but you know what I mean. - I don't even know.
Couple minutes, like, 10, 20 minutes maybe.
- Okay. - It wasn't the longest thing.
- No, but it was nice. - It was just a quick thing.
- Oh, that's good!
- No, I am so grateful for what they did.
Because I just wish I could've been there.
- That's awesome. Yeah, me too. That would've been neat.
I'm not, I didn't really miss the like,
19-hour ferry ride, to be honest.
- - You didn't miss nothin'.
- Thank you, thank you, thank you
to everybody for coming and being here today.
Something that my daughter and I talk about all the time
that we're lacking, we're missing here
is just this family connections.
- Love you all, and thank you for supporting my boy,
and with what he's been going through.
It's been a very um, it's been quite the rollercoaster.
- Yes.
Yeah, I'm glad we can all be here.
And Liette, flying all the way from Calgary today,
Li getting up at four in the morning.
See, your parents,
you might think your parents might love you a bit.
- Yeah. -
- I think it's, I feel like maybe it's in the summertime.
- Huh?
- I think it's maybe in the summertime,
but I have no idea. I'll have to check when I get back.
- Okay.
- Jasmine.
Jasmine can you come here for a minute, please?
- They're struggling without you.
They'd like to hear Creole,
so can you two talk about something?
- Or hey, you and my Dad go ahead.
Yeah, you and Don go ahead,
because you guys are better than me.
- I understand. I understand it; I don't speak.
- Uh, A, took me out of my beautiful country
and brought me to the Badlands.
Nobody speaks Creole here, yo, how am I supposed to speak?
Because we wanted them to have that linguistic connections.
So, it's ironic like, I speak English, French,
Haitian Creole, uh, a fair amount of Spanish,
and American Sign Language,
and tiny bit of Heiltsuk.
I just wish I could speak my original,
my Aboriginal language better than I speak it,
but no opportunity. I had way more opportunity
to learn other languages than my own.
- And that's what they did to me.
They took me out of my native language place
and brought me up.
- Josiah, that's why you speak French, and then,
when you go back to Haiti, people can understand you.
- Well, they look at me like, man,
what are you talkin' about? - Yeah.
- It's sad. It's not the same.
- Oh, that flash was...! -
- Did it work?
Okay, Josiah is the hard one to see.
My opinion, they're just failing to recognize
the human beings on the other side of those rules.
Rules are, they're necessary,
you can't have a functional tournament without rules,
but on the other hand,
there's sort of a rigidity
and a lack of compassion
regarding who is on the other side of those rules.
This whole experience has been eye-opening, you know.
- Tell me about it. - Indigenous politics are,
are complicated to begin with,
and then you add Nation allegiances
and personalities,
it's all, it is what it is.
- Wow that sun is really killing you.
- It's hitting my eye, like right in my eyes.
- Jos, you're gonna get black.
- Hopefully.
- You're gonna get darker. - Hopefully.
See, if you keep wearing that jacket you're,
you're gonna run out of Vitamin D.
You need the sun on your skin to get Vitamin D.
- I'll take medicine.
- This is, this is your doctor father speaking to you.
- He might know a thing or two. - I think you guys need
a little bit more Vitamin D, than me.
It was nice to be back and see
all the homies and everything, but at the same time,
it was like, I don't know if I wanna be part
of such a negative thing, you know?
Our Hereditary Chiefs are not satisfied
at leaving it there.
Their desire and preference is
to have a proper washing ceremony for Josiah done
in Bella Bella, in the fall of 2019,
to do it in our own territory.
In some ways, it's gonna be that much more powerful.
- Ariane, this one's even better! Come check this!
- Hey, Mariah, I'm in a really big rush.
I have leave in 10 minutes. - Man!
Josiah was the cutest one out of all four of us.
Then, I don't know what happened.
At least he's actually legit smiling 'cause like,
there are times that honestly,
smiling for Josiah was like, not a thing.
I guess every child that gets adopted,
they seem to have different reactions.
Sometimes they have different way of coping
through different situations, and for Josiah,
he's never really been great at expressing himself.
That's Josiah with his Papa.
That's who he was closest to.
I guess probably his favourite person.
They always knew, and we always talked about it,
and we talked about how they came to join our family.
Mariah always had her biological father in Haiti;
we used to be able to go and visit him
and spend time with him. And Josiah,
both of his birth parents had passed away,
so there was definitely a sense of, sort of,
a real sense of loss in his life.
I think that's pretty normal for adoptive kids
to have to work through that in various stages of their life,
as they mature.
It's like an onion, you don't just deal with it once.
I didn't even get to really talk to my Mama
because I mean, she passed away so quick.
I've always just had an image that my Mama and my Papa
are always watching over me. So, I mean,
I believe they're watching over me.
- Anything that my biological children would have
according to Canadian law,
my adoptive children also have the right too.
So, that's why they all have status,
and people are like, "Oh, I never thought of it that way."
- And I think the other thing is like, Indigeneity
is not necessarily blood. - Blood, right.
- It's not blood, it's like, involvement in your community.
It's like, informing people, it's having like a pride
and like, knowing your culture. - Yeah.
- It's not just, "Oh, I'm full Native,
I'm 100%," like, that's kind of weird.
Blood just doesn't constitute being an Indigenous person,
fully to me.
And a lot of like, our questions about um,
being Heiltsuk are always gonna come back to us being,
white passing. - Yeah.
- For sure, because to me, I do feel
a responsibility to my community
but I also almost feel like I don't have a say,
and I don't want to centre myself in these discussions.
What is this white girl doing?
Talking about our issues,
centring yourself on our issues,
when she's not living the same experiences as us.
Obviously, in terms of like, my ancestry and my Dad,
like I am in Indigenous person but I don't look like one.
I can very easily navigate like, the world,
in way that I could pretend that I am not Indigenous at all.
- I had this teacher in elementary, I think,
that didn't believe me I was First Nations,
for some reason, just super strange.
And like, the next day I brought my status card
to school, she was like, "Oh, like..." you know,
because I don't look it, right. So, I mean, it does happen.
But there's a sense of like, resentfulness
when it comes to being white. Do I personally want
to identify more with or whatever, right.
And it's a tough question and I feel like I always
kind of struggle with it.
- Josiah, you were very cute. We were watching baby pictures.
- I know I was cute. Y'all always tell me that.
- Why you always so mad? Just be happy.
- Yeah, and I was lying on the ground and you were next to me,
Josiah, and I just put my arm around you like,
"Josiah," just gonna lie there.
- Josiah, you actually used to love me.
You were always, you were playing trucks in my face,
and you were trying to get me to play trucks.
- Yeah, yeah, the keyword, they keyword, "loved".
- Isn't that sad, though? - No, not really.
- I'm sad about it.
- Like, I remember in high school, he would like,
protect me from like, the big, scary people who would like,
make fun of me, or they would like, say things to me
that were offensive, and he'd be like,
"Oh, you're gonna talk to my sister like that?
And [grumbles]" And kinda like, scare them away.
So, he definitely cares about me and I know that.
- If anything happens in this thing, you know what I'm sayin',
it ain't 'cause of her, it's 'cause of me.
- Josiah. - So just know.
- This would not have happened without Dad
and us pushing you to do it to begin with.
- My nigga, it would've happened either way.
You know why?
'Cause the world needs to know that I am--
- This is not your attitude!
You're just stunting for cameras.
- I'm just talking outta my ass. - Stunting for the camera.
- Always talking outta my ass. She's been knowing that shit.
- Okay, well, you promised me a hug from this morning.
- No, I didn't. - Yeah, ya did.
- My nigger-- - If I change numbers.
Yeah, you did! You promised. Oh.
- Now, hey, listen to me. - I love you.
- Get outta here! - Gotta get one more!
- Come on! That was your turn!
- Oh, can I get one on the, when I'm back?
- We'll see how ya did!
See what I mean by tough love?
- Anyway, I love him. He's my brother, so.
- And he puts on like, a brave face for everything,
like he won't, even like,
I don't think I've seen him cry
since probably my Grandpa passed away,
and even that was like, one tear. He just like,
he might have cried in private and stuff,
but he's like, like really, really private
and he doesn't really share his emotions, at least with us.
♪ Jesus loves me
♪ Yes, he does love me
Ah, ici, Ariane. - Ariane! Hey.
Hey. Ariane!
That's not nice.
- Hold up. Hi, hi, hi! -
- Ah! - Yeah! - Ah!
- Whoa, Jos!
- Um, I've asked you a few times
but can you talk about your Dad?
- I mean, we can maybe talk about him. Not today.
- Not today? - Maybe another day.
- Okay.
- I don't know we, we had our differences.
You know, I dunno, stuff happened in the past.
We kinda, I kinda just didn't accept stuff
and got upset.
And I, I just kinda did my own thing, really.
But... I dunno, life happens, really.
We fight too much, honestly. Like, I, I'm honestly,
I'm just an instigator with my family.
I'm always starting some shit, yo.
I don't even know why half the time, I just, I dunno,
I'm an instigator for some reason.
I'm always, there's always some shit goin' down
and I'm always in the middle of it.
It's always Josiah and this, Josiah and that.
But so, we figured out that like,
the best thing for us,
I just stay away from them and we all be good.
I don't go out instigating everybody,
just like really my siblings mainly.
But I don't know, there's something about the way
they react it just, oh, it gets me.
Makes me happy. I dunno.
Me and Mariah, we had thing goin' on when we was kids
like, we was like, we was honestly OG's and then,
these white things came around.
Changed the whole game.
- And who? What are, what are white things?
- Ariane and Tevan! Yeah.
Me and Mariah, Liette and Don,
were living good, y'all. Know what I'm saying?
Life was good. We was out in Vancouver
doing our thing, me and Mariah would eat some Cheerios
behind the toilet at like 5:00 a.m. sometimes,
you know. Just the way it was, you know what I'm saying, like.
And then we had some more kids.
Well, not we, but them. What?
And then the house just got packed, like,
people everywhere and always just, there was so much,
there was just too much goin' on all the time.
Like, there was just never a quiet place.
It was kind of annoying honestly, sometimes.
Honestly, I think ever since my Grandpa passed away really,
I was definitely that hurt, that hurt a lot.
But he was like the main, he kept me in order, yo.
He, he didn't like when I, when I fought with the,
with the other kids, and stuff like that.
So, he'd always keep me straight. He'd be like, "Hey!"
Whenever I'd start some shit, he'd be like, "Josiah!"
So, like, he kept me in order. And then, like...
don't mean I don't like him, though.
He's always gonna be my blood and whatnot,
but that dude piss me off sometimes. I tell ya that.
I might be playing now.
So, I don't know what's happening really,
but I was on the phone with them just now, so.
We'll see what happens.
- Okay. So, you'd be playing with the Heiltsuk team?
- Yeah, I guess so. Okay, yo, um,
I got a call today saying that they want me to play
for the tournament now.
Okay. Bella Bella?
- Yeah, but I'm figuring it out. Like, I messaged him.
I messaged the coach yesterday and he's like,
"Oh, I'll get back to you this afternoon, so."
- I would, I mean, I would love to see you play
in the tournament. That would just go.
- Yeah, I mean, I'm cool with just going too,
but alright, okay.
- I know, but it's better if you can play.
- Let's get it! - How does it feel?
- I mean, I don't know. Good, I guess.
I don't really have emotions for it. Doesn't really faze me.
It is what it is.
It was meant to happen. I don't know.
I'm not gonna say that like, I'm overly excited or like,
out of joy just for the... no.
Cool, I'm playing ball.
That's that.
- Oh, it be like that, though. - It be like that.
- I just, I literally was chilling one day
and I seen a nigger and I was like,
that kid right there, that's my bro.
And that's how it went. - Is that how it went?
- Pretty much. - Yo, literally like,
ever since we was young
we either was gonna become athletes
or was gonna get into the music industry or something.
Like, I mean, we stuck by.
For the longest time we were straight, we played,
we played sports. Like, the weed and all this shit,
the lifestyle you guys see now, man,
this came like years after fucking high school, bro.
Yeah, no I'm going back now. - What, to play?
- Yeah. I got a call today. - Have fun with your lungs.
- Fuck me. -
- Better start that cardio. - Better play half court, then.
- Oh, Josiah, you're actually trying to hoop again?
- Hoop? Oh, like, it's goin' down.
Like, I'm going up. - Yikes.
- I wanna come watch. WE should just go to watch.
- Fuck you, guys.
Can I just say, bro, I'm sorry, I'll give you a hoop mix tape.
- When he plays he's gonna beyond fitted out of his mind too,
so like, you know, like--
- I don't work out, I don't run, I don't hoop,
I barely eat, I smoke weed.
- Whadda ya mean ya barely? That shit.
- Um,
I think it's definitely like harder when you're younger
'cause you're a little bit more unappreciative.
'Cause I mean, for me, 'cause I was always thinking
that I still wanted my family there
and this wasn't really my family here until like,
I grew up and I started appreciating
what they actually do for me.
But for the most part it's pretty good.
- It's kinda, it's kind of, with the all Native shit,
I don't, I didn't really know any different,
you know what I'm sayin', like this is how it was.
Like, I had no other choice.
So, it's like, it is what it is.
But like, I don't know,
I'm not even gonna talk bad about my parents or nothing,
like I fucks with them but...
I don't know there's definitely,
I dunno, something different about it, y'all.
Something's weird about it.
- I don't think me personally, I would do adoption though.
Just from knowing how I went through.
- I don't think I would personally.
I've always thought about doing it just because I feel like,
okay, yeah, there are those struggling kids out there,
and all that, that want, like that need a family,
but at the same time it's like,
I don't know if I wanna do that to a kid.
Like, I don't know, it's that weird feeling like yeah,
no, there's all the love and everything there, but like--
- It's not the same.
- I feel like there's different energy it being like,
your legit blood, you know what I'm saying.
And I could be wrong, but I mean, that's how I feel.
I just feel like there's something different there that's like--
- I just felt like it's like,
like especially like for us,
you're not really gonna know what that real Mom
love feel like, or real Dad love feel like.
- 'Cause you know how whenever--
- Straight from your own blood, you know what I mean.
- Cuz, you know, how every Mother says there's like,
that motherly love? Like-- - Yeah. We don't have that.
- What mother? I don't know? I haven't met. Cool.
- What is it, like you know what I mean? Like, you know.
- I got the love that I got.
And I'm not saying it was shitty,
I'm not saying there's like, any better or wrong way,
but I mean like-- - You only knew one thing.
- Yeah, so I mean, you never, - It was regular.
- There's a feel, there's a tension, or something.
- Yeah. - At the end of the day,
you know like, we're different
- There's that image of niggers, you know what I'm saying,
and I am a nigger. And the way that I dress.
Like, the people, like just my lifestyle,
I've got that image portrayed around me, so it's like.
And then you've got my siblings that are the good white kids,
you know what I'm saying. So, it's like,
am I competing against them, or what? Like--
I'm not gonna say they treated us differently, but I just,
I don't know, just like, the energy around us,
and like at times I've just, I've noticed some.
But I don't know, I guess it is what it is.
Back home in Bella Bella,
when we were growing up, if you did something wrong
with your fishing skills, or whatever,
you got called a farmer.
So, I never dreamed I would be doing this.
But it matches my philosophy of raising your own food
and I'm a meat eater,
so I like the idea of knowing where it comes from.
I grew up in the 70s, in Bella Bella.
When I was growing up,
most of my exposure to religion was the United Church
because we lived literally across the street
from the United Church building.
Missionaries have been involved in,
in my Nation since the 1800's or maybe even earlier.
There had been uh, influence
of more Evangelical Christianity
that had some kind of an impact on social norms
or social values becoming a little bit more conservative
in that domain.
Religion became a bigger thing for me
after I left Bella Bella and um,
left and went away for high school
and got more deeply involved.
If you were LGBT,
which I actually didn't know that I was
when I left Bella Bella at age 14,
it took about a year before I consciously realized
that I was gay,
but I couldn't accept it.
And just as I became aware that I was gay,
there was this big debate over whether you were acceptable
as a person, or not.
And so, I wasn't about to come out of the closet.
And then I got in my relationship with my ex-wife,
with Liette, and we fell in love
and it was legit, and got married,
because that's just what you did back in those,
in those circles.
You didn't prolong a relationship um,
and move in together without being married.
That was prohibited by the church.
And that kinda took precedence over my,
my Heiltsuk identity.
Um, and it wasn't until 13 years into marriage
when I just couldn't, couldn't um,
pretend to be something that I wasn't anymore,
and then, came out and we separated and divorced,
and sorted all of that out afterwards.
Come here, Bella.
But I feel like I was railroaded
into that path of life
where you had to just follow the evangelical
uh, script.
I've completely discarded and rejected all of that
because I feel like it was so damaging.
Like, why can't you be who you are?
If there is a Creator,
the Creator made me who and what I am,
and I'm not, I'm not gonna try to mess with that.
As a gay man with two partners,
a polyamorous triad relationship,
well, that's my family.
In a lot of ways, I, I live with that decision
to not come out of the closet for so many years,
and how it impacted people,
especially Liette and my children,
but on the other hand, like, she's a remarkable person.
I, I just think I, I, I don't know,
I won the lottery of the universe
having her as the Mother of my children,
because she's done such a good job
getting through all of that, moving on with her life,
while maintaining a relationship with someone who,
in a lot of ways, although unintentionally,
it was a betrayal.
So, you know, I feel bad about that, even to this day,
I probably will to the day I die.
So, in a lot of ways, I felt very unburdened.
And then, in other ways, by doing so,
I just destroyed someone's life,
namely my ex-wife, right,
and threatened the sort of psychological stability
and well-being of my children by initiating a divorce.
I don't doubt that Josiah loves me.
I, I know he does,
um, but whether it's a,
it's a conflicted thing that he has to go through,
that's his journey.
My, my journey was conflicted as well.
So, I, I just hope that eventually at some point
or other, he just comes to realize that you don't,
you don't always get to pick your family.
Sometimes you do, but you don't usually.
So, it is what it is.
This is Bella Bella.
Honestly, for me, this is the closest I get to Haiti,
'cause like, you've got water, the weather's beautiful,
you got a little bit of sunshine.
Calgary, you got nothin' of that.
So, I mean, honestly, feel, being here,
I'm like, this is like, pretty much my second,
I'd say this is probably like second closest home to Haiti.
So, for me, it's definitely a vibe coming out here.
And I mean, just my Grandpa, like, my Grandpa was like,
really the backbone of me and all that.
So, just being here is like, it just make,
I feel like I'm closer to him, and all that.
And I mean like, his burial is over there, so,
I mean, yeah, no, I flex with this place.
It's definitely, it's definitely a spot.
Like, these people are homies; they family, and all that.
So, it's dope.
I dunno, growing up, after my parents got a divorce,
I was a really difficult child.
Went through a bunch of rough stages.
Fucked shit up. Was really angry.
Just not happy with life and just everything.
So um, ever since then,
I definitely pushed away from my parents,
and I just like, I don't know,
I definitely made it a weird situation with them, like,
from like, the age of probably like, 12, 13,
'til I was like,
shit like, 18, 19,
maybe 20, 21, something like that.
I was just a, I was just a shit.
They pretty much like, ignited the rowdiness in my life, yo.
If anything, it was on them. I blame you!
Like, if it wasn't for them, yo, I was a chill kid.
Somewhat chill, you know what I'm saying.
Like, I was somewhat chill. Life might've been different;
life might've not been different.
Who knows what would've happened
if I didn't go through the way, life as I did,
you know what I'm saying, so.
And I've said this multiple times,
if you ask me when I see a family, I see,
I picture Mama, Papa, junior, and sissy,
alls chillin' under one roof, you know what I'm saying.
That's how, that's how when, and if you asked me
when I was 10 years old or when I was younger.
If you ask me now, if you ask me in like, 50 years,
when you ask me when I see a family, that's what I see, like.
Or you could've asked me how, how I would've wanted it to go,
I would've been like, no, don't, like there's no break-ups,
like, shut the fuck up, like, that's stupid.
But I mean, I, I can't tell them to do that, you know.
So, it is what it is, but yeah, no, yeah,
no that's pretty much it, like.
- So, how did your, what was the conversation like,
when your Dad, like, came out to you guys?
I don't know, you'd have to ask him.
I try not to keep--remember that shit in my life.
I just toss that all out really. I don't, I don't care about it.
Like, you'd have to ask him if you really wanna know.
He could tell you, probably. I honestly probably left
halfway through. I did, I did leave halfway through,
so I really wouldn't know. - Really?
- Yeah, I just, I was like, nigger this is stupid as fuck,
like you're breaking up with my Mom? Like, alright peace out.
I was just pissed off and I left.
So, if you wanna know, you can ask him, but...
I just dipped out.
It took him a lot of work to get me to like,
start talking up again, because I would not talk to him,
I wouldn't answer his calls. Um,
I was just disappointed.
Coming from my situation, not having parents
and just like having a Mom pass away and all that shit,
and just finally getting a family and all that,
and then, that just not working on it and all that shit,
I'm not saying it's my fault, but it's just fucked up.
So, I mean, it was just the whole thing
that was kinda fucked up for me.
But yeah, that's kinda why I just do my thing,
'cause like, I dunno, it's kinda fucked up still.
I'm still, it's all fucked up.
I ain't gonna say I ain't got love for the man.
You know, he helped me get my, beat this case.
You know, we filed for the right shit and all that, man.
We out here, doing shit and all that, so,
so I definitely still have love
and I still fucks with that nigger for that shit.
No, that was a lot, you know what I'm saying,
it was a long process.
The fact that he did that, you know, means he's like,
his heart is in the right place and he want,
he wants to do good, but...
with the big picture,
we both standing on different corners of the temple, so.
Don't mean we're enemies, or nothin'.
Can someone call Josiah, please? Dad?
Can you call? I can't call. - Why?
- 'Cause I don't know.
- I don't think he's gonna answer.
Dad, can you call Jos?
Procession in starts at 10.
And it's five after nine now.
So, we're all here now just waiting on you.
Okay, okay.
A bientôt. Okay, bye.
Why is my whole family spread out?
Tevan's right there, Mariah's over there,
Liette's over there. Who knows where everybody's at, man?
- Get someone to come talk to you.
- We're turning a page on some of the dark chapters
in our people's history,
and we're coming together here to celebrate
the opening of our new
Our people have been waiting for this moment
for a long, long time,
and it was the belief of our Elders
that it was the missionaries who intentionally destroyed
the last Big House
that stood here in our community,
our territory.
The churches that were here at the time.
So, how ironic is it that we're here on a Sunday
celebrating this again.
- Okay.
- Why did you ask me to do your hair?
- Especially living here, in Bella Bella,
like now that I just moved here, I'm like okay,
there's no hair product stuff here.
I'm like, like literally the only Black people
in Bella Bella.
So, then like, who taught you to, to do hair?
- Honestly, YouTube.
- Yeah.
- YouTube, more than anything. I'm not perfect at it.
My Mom did my hair a lot.
Um, my Dad would a lot of ponytails, too.
I guess growing up
we didn't really um, like me,
I, I wasn't taught exactly like,
how to do like, cornrows and things like that.
Um, but now I find that I've been practicing
doing a few things, so they're not super perfect,
but I've been, I've been practicing because I'm like,
oh, when I have my own children,
I wanna try this, and I would love to do that.
So, I kinda feel sometimes like I've sorta missed out.
a little disappointed that I'm like, oh, yeah,
I didn't get to learn to braid hair, and all that,
at a young age,
or have that many people teach me
how to braid hair.
Um, but now I guess like, it's better...
to do, late than never.
So, I'm learning, little by little.
Um, I'm so happy that I moved here,
but I'm also like, ooh, I hope I don't like lose,
like, lose my Black-ness a little bit.
- Yeah? - You know,
like I'm loving like, the culture that I'm learning
and um,
and I do, I do take a lot of pride into,
into my heritage and um,
especially the Heiltsuk side.
It's amazing just to learn a lot of,
a lot of things. Like, especially this weekend,
like there's a lot of things I didn't know.
Um, and it's kinda been,
but I feel like this weekend also has kinda been
a bit of a emotional, emotional rollercoaster;
a bit of a struggle, too,
like just being there for Josiah.
Um,
and also actually, even just being there for my family.
And just knowing like,
the hardship that we actually did face, and the stress,
and the negativity, and all that.
I think my Grandpa would be really proud,
how my Dad really, really fought for, for his family.
And to make sure that our culture is not disrespected,
um, and that we really uplift those that are,
that are our own.
- I noticed that Josiah can be a little mean...
- Mm-hmm. - towards you.
- I don't know, I think it's 'cause since I've,
I think it's since, probably since I've been dating girls,
probably is where he's--
Well, he kind of did the same with my Dad, like,
it took him a long time when my Dad came out,
and everything. It was like, super hard on him
and it took a long time to get where he is today,
where he can kinda be part of like,
when we have family dinners and stuff.
But like, he was really angry for a while.
So, I'm assuming that's probably the same thing.
They've really embraced,
you know, my identity and everything, and they,
they just,
yeah, they didn't make it a big deal.
So, yeah, that's, that's kinda how I like it.
For sure.
- Thank you.
I was more sad than devastated,
when Mom and Dad, they both sat us down and said
that they were, they were gonna separate and then,
they were getting a divorce, and that they couldn't,
they couldn't be together anymore, and everything.
- No, we have to take one at a time, you guys.
- Aha! - Okay. Ready?
We need Josiah here, too.
Tim's ears take up half the thing.
- - Okay, let's go.
- This is the crazy thing
when I don't get to come home that often,
and like even just remembering landmarks.
Like, when I know that, there's an opening in the trees,
you can sort of see this little
pathway that goes in.
All those years, and everything, and having to,
having to pluck the courage to, to tell his family.
Like, I know that was like, super difficult for him,
for sure.
That was more sad than you know, like,
my Dad saying that he was gay.
I knew he was still my father and everything,
and that my love for, for him never changed.
- 1 and 46. - Okay.
Wait. So if we see the number - what happens?
- We're good.
- And if we don't see the same number?
- I'm still trying to wrap my head around
why you don't wanna be,
why you didn't wanna go with the, with the Grave Island,
just 'cause I know how you felt about your Grandpa.
and how close you two were. - Mm-hmm.
- Yeah. - I dunno.
I have no, I don't really have a reason for it
other than I didn't wanna go.
That's mainly it.
- Are you gonna try to go by yourself, or what?
- I dunno, we'll see.
There's definitely a reason to but not with them.
I dunno.
My Grandpa and I used to fuck around all the time.
We would, we were always just joking,
and always getting ourselves into some kinda trouble.
What, no matter what sorta stuff it was,
it was always something.
But my uh, I dunno,
I honour him like, every day. I pray to this guy.
I dunno. I have multiple pictures in my,
just stuff of his in my room in my house, so I dunno,
I don't really have, yeah.
And like, I don't like graveyards, yo.
Is it good, Papa? - Yep, really good.
Yeah. We're doing things together.
Ohhh. That's very nice.
Josiah, ou sommes-nous, maintenant?
- A Bella Bella!
What about Papa, any famous last words?
- Yes, I'd like to say that I'm very happy
that my Grandkids are here,
and Christmas and the New Year.
- I'm just happy to be here with our family
and I'm looking forward to all that God has in store for us
in the next, in the year 2000 and beyond.
Happy New Year!
Cheers! Cheers!
- Cheers! Cheers! - Cheers!
- I hadn't been to see my Dad's grave for quite a while,
so that was really meaningful.
And the fact that I had my four kids with me, um,
that is uh, a rare event.
I was telling my kids about my Dad's sense of humour,
and he always used to say this phrase
about in the future,
he goes, "When I'm in the graveyard pushing up daisies..."
and I'm like, I said,
we need to bring some daisies over here
and plant them around his grave.
But they actually take over, so we might not do that,
But...
kinda lightened the mood a little bit
and talked about his, his humour
about when he would talk about when he was gone.
So, and of course,
the kids knew him very well and remembered his humour,
so we got just to share some memories, yeah.
- Um, Jos was supposed to come.
- Um, he just, he decided not to.
So, you know, we, we let him process things
how he processes them.
He's, he tries to be such a tough guy.
And he, and in a way, in a lot of ways, he is.
He's been through a lot in, in his life.
But um, he's also a very sensitive human being,
and so, sometimes it's just too much.
And he and my Dad were particularly close.
So, for him to go
and sort of relive that,
and have all of those emotions brought up again,
I guess he just wasn't in the space to do it.
So, that, that's okay.
Um, he'll have other opportunities, so.
- Yeah. - Yeah.
The whole purpose of this washing ceremony
is to mark a moment in time,
and what we are doing as your family
and as your community is standing um,
with you. - Mm-hmm.
- Is to make a statement
so that you have this moment in time
that you can think back to,
and you will remember that from that moment forward,
you don't have to hold on to any of that stuff.
- Mm-hmm. - Any of it. - Okay.
- Just keep in mind, a lot of the reasons
why people are so good to us is because of your Papa.
- Mm-hmm.
- And how much they really esteemed him
and they love that they had for your Papa,
they're now, that's what they hold for you, now.
So, don't forget. - Yep.
- Okay? - Mm-hmm.
- So, this is how important it is.
And why this washing ceremony means so much to me,
that they're gonna do this for you.
- Okay. - Okay?
So... do you have any, do you have any questions?
- I ain't, I ain't talking though, that's it.
- No, you don't have to.
- That's it. That's, I'm out of here.
- I'm just tired.
I don't even wanna be here anymore, like this is--
Today, we want to thank the Hemas
and the Tribal Council,
for giving us the opportunity to uplift Josiah today
in our Great House.
Josiah is of Haitian ancestry by birth
and was adopted by my brother, Don, and his wife, Liette,
when he was months old,
when they were living in Haiti.
In 2015, Josiah received a letter
that banned him from participating
in the tournament to a blood quantum rule.
This was devastating to Josiah, and in turn,
to our family and our Nation as a whole.
Blood quantum was a policy enacted by the government
to eventually abolish us as Indigenous people.
So, as we began to figure out
how we could challenge this further,
we decided that this was about a human right.
This was about our Heiltsuk right,
our Indigenous rights as people.
In the end, we ended up settling the matter;
that rule was taken away,
it no longer exists within the All Native committee.
Your story has helped others who have been adopted
and to have brought into their place,
to be reaffirmed that you are one of ours.
That's never been a question for us,
and we want you to recognize that today
and really sink that.
- My Son was born
in a rural hospital in Haiti
and he was orphaned at age four days.
When he was two weeks old,
I got him discharged into the care of a lady,
an American lady that was living there.
Never thinking
that I was gonna have anything more to do with it.
And when Josiah was two months old,
my Mother and Father came from home
to visit us down there.
And we have a photo
of my father holding Josiah
when he was a two-month-old infant,
and he didn't know at that time
that this was his future Grandson
until a few months later,
we told him
that we were gonna move ahead with an adoption
of that little baby.
And he said,
"I just knew
that was my Grandson that I was holding,"
and it seems like from that moment onwards,
the two of them had such a bond.
And for me, this whole story
of what he has been through,
it just shines a light on our right as Heiltsuk
to exercise our sovereignty
to decide who is one of us.
Just like any nation has the right to do that,
we have the right to do that.
- Thank you.
See what they're doing for you?
Healing is um,
a necessary process of any kind of damage
done to anybody.
You just can't rush it.
Everybody heals at a different pace.
My family, I guess they would've thought that
the washing ceremony
would help with trauma and everything,
and it was really nice,
and it was really good, and I appreciate it a lot.
When that happened, we just took another turn.
He was like, "I got you."
If it wasn't for him,
I probably wouldn't be here right now, honestly.
You know, I definitely just, I appreciate him for that.
Even though, yeah, okay, I was mad,
or like yeah, we didn't, we hadn't talked,
and all that kind of stuff,
like, we still on good terms. Like, I still got love.
It's like, it's just life tings, I guess.
It's gonna take time. Like, it's not something
that I'm gonna forget about and just move on about
within the next couple days, or whatever.
I'm gonna still think about this for a long time.
Whatever it is, you just gotta let that person heal
at their pace and just let them do them.
Though Josiah's story is unique, it represents
the many layers to our identities
and where we belong in the world.
Joining me now to talk about "One of Ours"
are former Canadian basketball player
and First Nation councilman Michael Linklater
and US Representative Sharice Davids.
Hi, yeah, thanks for having me. I'm so happy to be here.
What were both of your thoughts and/or takeaways
upon watching the film?
I appreciated that we had to
not just explore ideas of identity
but also explore
the concept of healing from trauma.
I was very, very, uh, touched
by the heavy topics that were brought up,
but also the beauty in things like ceremony
and communities coming together to support each other.
Yes, coping and healing.
Uh, Michael, what were your thoughts?
I really felt for Josiah,
his journey, the struggles,
the adversity that he had to face.
You can really empathize with him
and where he's coming from and what he's gone through,
but I think one of the most important things
that I would like to kind of shine some light on
is the fact that, you know,
they're indigenous to a different place.
Let's just take, you know, a non-indigenous family
adopting somebody who is indigenous.
I think it's really important
that you have your -- your family structure
and the culture of your family,
but it's really important to honor where you come from.
Josiah was not confused about who he was
and where his place was within the Heiltsuk community
until he was told he was different,
and how does our view of ourselves change
with outside influence?
A-And should it?
I have thought a lot about
what it means to be native.
You know, I am -- I am Ho-Chunk,
which is a tribe in Wisconsin.
The thing that struck me the most
was it wasn't just Josiah that -- that felt really solid
in his, uh, place in -- in his community.
It was the leaders of his community.
It was the other tribal, uh, members.
It was the folks on the basketball team.
Even when it comes to, um, you know,
other, like, external factors
or making reference to,
let's just say, basketball teams,
you decide who becomes a part of your team,
and that's your team.
Uh, and it's the same thing for nations.
Nations who -- who have that sovereignty
over themselves as First Peoples,
they're the ones that decide that.
The blood quantum --
you know, that's a colonial construct.
It was a construct designed to eradicate us
in hopes that we would eventually fall off,
where there is no blood quantum
for us to identify as who we are.
My great-great-grandmother was Choctaw,
and so -- my great-great-grandmother Ari.
I remember always being discouraged
from following up on that
because, like, "Well, you can't go to a reservation
because you have to prove this amount of, you know,
'blood,'" so to speak, which -- which comes up a lot,
which I didn't even recognize as a huge, you know,
colonialist kind of, like, stigma, you know?
When you look at different religions or different beliefs,
you don't necessarily have to, like,
come from where that religion or belief was founded
in order to practice that way of life.
Even Josiah's white siblings struggle with identity
because they don't "look" indigenous.
Is too much importance placed on appearance
as a part of identity and belonging in our society?
There are a lot of, uh, constructs around
who should be considered native or indigenous
here in North America,
and this story is a great example
of having to deal with issues of identity.
What is the modern Native experience in North America?
We just don't get to see that that often.
Truly, truly.
What are your thoughts on representation
of indigenous people in media, as well as people like Josiah,
whose identities are less identifiable?
The only time you see indigenous people in the media,
majority of the time, it's for negative things.
You rarely see the positive things,
and there are so many wonderful things
that indigenous people do.
It speaks to the misrepresentation
and the under-representation of minorities.
I do think that we're in a time
of racial reckoning and also a historical acknowledgement
of how our country got to the place
that we are in now.
The film shines a spotlight
on the themes of identity and belonging.
How do you personally define identity?
It's a lifetime journey full of twists and turns
and one that is shaped by your -- your circumstances.
I have certainly, um, become more solid
in -- in who I am in a number of different ways
since, uh, since getting into Congress.
I have learned a lot.
I have seen a lot of things
that I never would've seen if I weren't in this position.
You know, there's constant changes within your identity,
and as you grow,
and I think even looking at Josiah's father,
you know, he didn't identify
or even really recognize he was gay
'til a long time throughout his life.
I think that identity is constantly searching
in where you belong and where you fit
or where you feel most comfortable
is where you'll -- you'll identify.
Michael, Representative Davids, thanks for digging into the --
the intersectionalities of identity.
It's been a pleasure having you both.
Thank you so much for having me today.
Thanks so much for inviting me to this.
This was such a great conversation.
Films like "One of Ours,"
which force us to challenge the way we perceive each other,
are the exact kind of stories we need to see more of.
Thanks so much for watching "Can We Talk About This?"
Join me next time for another compelling film
and riveting convo.
I'm Jordan Carlos. Goodbye for now.