Speech given at the Keewaytinok Native Legal Services Annual General Meeting on November 27, 2002  by Seetal Sunga – for release on internet

Thank you for introducing me and welcoming me back to Moosonee.  I am thrilled to be back here, visiting with my friends at the clinic, and seeing people from the community.  I like to live a life without regret, but I know that I do regret one thing, and that was leaving Moosonee much too early.  And so here I am, visiting again, because I have to come back.  This is one of my homes.

Paul wanted me to give a speech that is short and funny.  Unfortunately, all the funny stories that I have are pretty long.  So I thought about it, and I thought I would just keep it short.

When Paul suggested that I give a speech, I thought about what I wanted to say.  I guess the thing that I want to talk about is what I learned here in Moosonee and what I have learned since then, in Ottawa, in Halifax, and in the other places I have been.

In working for the federal government on legal aid policy, in working on dispute resolution, in working on the institutional abuse inquiry, through my graduate work, and in my current position at the Ethics Centre at the University of Montreal, I constantly find that I refer back to things I learned in Moosonee from clients, from my friends and colleagues at the legal aid clinic, and from just being in this environment. 

I am forever referring to Moosonee when I speak to people, and when I think that people need to hear about what life is like here. 

I have attended conferences at Harvard and at the University of Pennsylvania, and now I am at the University of Montreal. I have discovered that people NEED to hear about James Bay, because these are people who have power and who make decisions that affect a lot of people, and they need to learn about life in regions that are more remote, and about other value-systems and ways of living.  These scholars that I meet at these places need to understand that there are other forms of knowledge besides the one that they know.  There are other ways of knowing the world and understanding how things work.

But now that I have said that, I think there is something far more important that having someone like me talk to these scholars and decision-makers.  It is to have them your voices.

I was only here for a short time.  I am not from here, and though I was privileged enough to learn a bit of life here, and to make some friends here, and to enjoy this part of the earth, I am not you. 

Too often – from what I have seen in regions where people feel marginalized – is that people stop believing that who they are and what they have to say matters outside of their communities.  People start to think that the big world out there, in Toronto, Ottawa, Washington, London, Tokyo or whatever, doesn’t affect them, and isn’t affected by them.  But that isn’t true.  Decisions that are made in Toronto and Ottawa affect your life all the time.  Decisions made in Washington affect the decision-makers in Ottawa and that affects you. 

But what makes their knowledge in Ottawa, Toronto and Washington and other places so much better that they can make decisions that affect you?

Why shouldn’t you be part of that decision-making and a part of the knowledge that is the foundation for decisions?  Shouldn’t legal aid policy makers in Ottawa and Toronto have to listen to you before they decide how people get access to legal services in the whole province?  Shouldn’t people be learning from what you know?

I think they should.

So how do you have a say in what goes on?  Well, I guess the biggest part is having a voice, and being able to speak from the heart with a big enough voice to be heard.

Now I cannot give any sort of instructions on how to do this, because I have found that the people I know in this region are the ones who have taught me to speak from the heart, and are the ones who have shown me what it means to have the strength to stay whole when trying to say something important. 

The only thing that that is really challenging, is having a big enough voice to be heard. 

So I guess I just want to say, that you have things to contribute from this region that people should hear in other places.  When the occasion arises to enter into negotiations with the outside world, whether it be over legal claims for compensation, with big corporations over resource management, or over economic development issues, it is important to be well-managed internally and to be ready to speak with one voice.  If you are not ready within your community, demand the time to be allowed to get ready.   An enduring result for both parties requires that both parties be able to have strong voices.

And that is what I have learned since leaving Moosonee.  Thank you and Meegweetch.  Enjoy your meal.