Last year a ceremony was interrupted at the Stanley A Milner library in Edmonton. A staff had come to complain that they could smell the sweet grass we were burning (the one tiny braid that you could barely see the smoke coming off of). I was at this ceremony and…was shocked that a library staff would come in to the space designated as an Indigenous ceremony space…which had special ventilation to accommodate the burning of our medicines…and tell us that it was a problem. What was more shocking is that she felt justified and empowered in doing so.

A short while later, our group was gathering again, and the upper management of the library came to formally apologize and she was indeed full of sorrys.

She was asked to sit and hear the impact of what her staff had been permitted to do. And she indicated that she took responsibility for the incident. We explained she needed to set it right. That apologies were in the actions not the words. She agreed to take actions…which never transpired.

Not only that…this incident was REPEATED again.

This would be reason enough for the relationship of trust that had been in the process of being built to be questioned. But, because during the last incident where a ceremony was interrupted so a complaint could be issued about the smell of sweet grass, the matriarch of the ceremony DARED question why this was happening yet again, SHE and the only other Nehiyaw women who was also speaking out about how wrong this was, were the ones intimidated and reprimanded.

The library insisted they were sincere in establishing a relationship of respect with Indigenous people. They loved the sound of being associated with “land back” by designating space for Indigenous ceremony. But in the end…it was just words. Likewise, sorrys are words. And without action, they are exactly the type of lip service that Indigenous peoples in Edmonton are accustomed to.

I am sooooo sad for Edmonton today. We held our last pipe ceremony in that space. Both Nehiyaw iskwewak who worked with the library have quit. It was in that space that I learned to be Notokwew wichihtasow, where countless have received their Cree names, where our creation story was shared, where our teachings were lived. I’m shocked at how badly the library management fumbled a relationship that could have been THE example in Edmonton of reconciliation (or setting things right)…but rather is an example of ongoing systemic racism.

My heart breaks for our brothers and sisters downtown, for whom that space was a safe space to connect with culture and ceremony. May they be supported to continue to connect and have moments of safety.

I’m worried for whomever they take into the roll of Elder in Residence next. The problems haven’t been fixed. And they’ll now be passed to the shoulders of someone else. May they enter into it with their eyes wide open…and may the library be open and honest as to why they couldn’t keep the last one.

WE will continue in ceremony, to grow in language and culture, and to connect with our teachings. We have survived attempted genocide. We will not be stopped by the Stanley A Milner library management or staff (their intolerance of the smell of sweet grass, and desire to maintain systemic racism within their organization).

Despite the fact that we will continue, I’m committed that the attempts of library management to “hush” this situation and have it go unnoticed, will NOT transpire. Our voices matter. It happened. I was there. They can’t hush all of us.