In celebration of National Indigenous History Month, Metroland introduces readers to 30 Indigenous people who are making a difference. Meet them all online.
Collingwood’s Jillian Morris is using her platform to educate her community on the plight of her people.
Morris, who serves as Collingwood’s poet laureate, is Kanienkehaka and was born and raised in Six Nations just like her parents before her.
She spent her formative years living on the reserve, attending both middle school and high school.
“I’m grateful that I’ve always known where I come from,” she said. “I’m proud of my heritage, my culture, my people. I know how blessed I am to have connection to my home community.”
Morris said her upbringing and background keeps her humble and she’s always guided by the stories of her ancestors saying they’ve allowed her to become more spiritual, and a “better critical thinker.” she said.
She said an example is a piece of advice she received from an Elder, John Rice of Wasauksing First Nation.
“Humility is not about downplaying your strengths and talents. It’s about stepping into them and understanding them as gifts that are meant to be offered as contributions to community,” she said. “It resonates with me because I’m still working on this. I get awkward when complimented or praised. I know many Indigenous people will relate to this — I grew up with a lot of messaging that made me feel less than, especially in school from teachers who clearly held bias against Indigenous people. It takes time and healing to silence those intrusive voices. They still whisper sometimes.”
As a writer, poet and a listener, Morris considers herself a communicator. She facilitates workshops and is also a member of the Collingwood Unity Collective where she works with other members on initiatives that promote diversity and inclusion.
She said she uses her poetry and other writing to tell the “hard truth” but also to share stories.
“I can promote awareness and hopefully create curiosity about the experiences of Indigenous people and other diverse groups,” she said. “I want to encourage people to explore contemporary Indigenous works and creations. There’s so much focus on the history but there’s Indigenous people doing amazing, inspiring things today. I want people to see us, beyond the injustice we’ve faced.”
She feels it’s important for non-Indigenous Canadians to learn about Indigenous history and believes this month is a perfect time to do so.
One lesson that she hopes people learn is “Indigenous people had a number of life-promoting practices that valued the health of the land and all beings.”
“Evidence of the benefits of those practices can still be seen in areas where land was being stewarded by Indigenous peoples,” she said. “Many of those practices and the knowledge were preserved in our stories and teachings passed down through generations. There’s thousands of years of observation and relationship with these lands that are often overlooked.”
