Alicia Park

Meet Alicia. She is a Anishinaabekwe woman who has continued to find herself and her purpose through her indigenous culture. She explains that growing up indigenous in Canada has been a challenge and also an opportunity. She experienced a variety of challenges, being born in Thunder Bay and then moving to Stratford, where indigenous culture at the time was not acknowledged or celebrated. She recalls racism and discrimination she experienced, and even made a point to not share that she was indigenous as a way to protect herself from hateful comments. This made it difficult to celebrate her identity and she struggled to know herself and be proud of who she was. This changed as she grew older, but especially when she attended Laurentian University, where indigenous culture was displayed and celebrated which uplifted her feelings about being indigenous and being proud of who she was. 

Reconciliation in general has been a challenging topic in Canada. Alicia and I spoke after this video and we discussed how the political situation had shifted since I interviewed her. The RCMP had been forcibly removing protesters and blockades in order to continue the expansion of the Trans Mountain pipe on Wet’suwet’en territory for weeks and political tension continues to rise. Alicia hopes that reconciliation can be discussed in the future, but as of right now, is a stand still due to recent events. She explained that reconciliation is layered, but is important to pave the way for future generations to be able to have open conversations about the way forward. Alicia feels that the government is failing indigenous communities due to broken promises and missed opportunities. 

Her favourite part of her culture is the overall connectedness she feels. She feels connected to everything and everyone. She reflected on her Naming Ceremony that took place last year in Cape Croker. A Naming Ceremony is usually done at birth, where the indigenous person is given their indigenous name. Since she was not in touch with her culture from birth, she experienced her Naming Ceremony as an adult and she was so happy that she got to experience this in a safe and nurturing environment. 

The strong indigenous women in her life include her mom, her grandma, her nana, and her best friend who has continued to push her to grow into who she is. She also looks up to her inspirational professors who have guided her along her path. There are also prominent community members such as Sarain Fox, Buffy St. Marie, and Jenn Harper of Cheekbone Beauty who have all influenced Alicia. 

An important piece of advice Alicia would give her younger self as an indigenous woman is: 

“be proud of who you are and to embrace who you are and to not be ashamed of it. Although we may face hard challenges of being who we are, I think it’s important that I tell myself to be proud. And I think that’s something that I struggled with and even I can say that most women can struggle with sometimes. So, I think that’s something that I need to tell myself then and continue to tell myself now. That I am proud to be Anishinaabekwe and that I am proud to be an indigenous woman and where I am today.”