Reawakening, not revitalization
by Autumn Godwin
Photo: Buckskin Babes
This piece was originally written by Autumn Godwin in May 2023. In it, Autumn discusses the experience of running a moose-hide tanning camp, which took place at Batiment 7 in Pointe-Saint-Charles. Autumn runs Buckskin Babes, a SHIFT-funded partner team that works on relearning cultural practices within urban Indigenous groups living in Tiohtià: ke/Montreal. Buckskin Babes provides workshops across the Greater Montreal Area and collaborates with other organizations under the guidance of Elders and Knowledge Keepers to facilitate traditional practices for and by Indigenous students.
The piece has been edited lightly for clarity by Autumn and by the SHIFT team.
I do not like to use the word revitalize within this context because our practices are not new, many people living in their communities and still working on their traplines have continued to tan moose hides for generations. However, they are not highlighted within mainstream media nor do they have a platform like we have here. This past week, we had guests from Kitigan Zibi and Indigenous youth/students from Dawson College who joined and taught us how to pluck and cook geese. They shared with us about our food systems and explained what kind of foods we eat during each season. They hold the knowledge so I would consider them our teachers. They understand natural law and they practice it daily so to say we are revitalizing would be an insult to them. These practices have always been there, just not visible to us Urban Indigenous community because many of us have been disconnected from our lands, traplines and the bush life due to various reasons. What we are doing is asking people to share what they know so we can understand and connect to our lands, our languages, medicines, food and our culture.
Photo: Buckskin Babes
Photo: Buckskin Babes
We learn collectively and we must share roles and responsibilities so that each person has the opportunity to learn. It was a great honor and privilege to be able to observe and be a helper to an experienced hide tanner this week. We learned many lessons this week, both in tanning a hide and in organizing an urban camp. We will carry these teachings forward and we will continue both practices in order to get better.
This hide camp was special to me because we invited residential school survivors/Elders t