An Honorary Doctorate – My Heart Sings

Something I never even dared to dream, has happened. Many, if not all who knew me “back in the day” as the saying goes, would have ever believed that an Honorary Doctorate from Ottawa University might one day be presented to me at a grand ceremony honouring over 700 graduates in its ‘Education’ sector.

It is with a humble heart indeed that I write to heap a universe of gratitude on all who felt I was deserving of it. Imagine, a man with a Grade 7 education (received an official high school diploma from Hillcrest High School in December 2022)  getting such an honour! A rare occurrence to be sure!

At the Honouring Ceremony, after I had read the speech I prepared (see attached to this blog) I spoke words on the topic of oppression. I pointed to the fact that most settlers who immigrated to Canada in the 1800’s didn’t bring kindness in their hearts with them for the Indigenous Peoples living here. It was these settlers who created the ‘Indian Act’. The Indian Act signalled in a time of great misery and untold sorrow for the First Nations, Inuit and Métis people living on their traditional lands. I mentioned how a human being living under oppression, feels like they have suffered some kind of amputation, not a physical one, but one that impacts you spiritually, mentally and emotionally. I told the graduates about how the oppression of human beings by other human beings is something foreign to the human heart.

I implored the over 700 graduates present to renounce oppression wherever it is taking place on our dear planet. When I mentioned this request, someone in the audience shouted “Free Palestine”! It seems to me at this time that the only thing with the ability of “freeing Palestine” is the love and energy of Creator. We need to be reminded sometimes that all of us have a bit of Creator’s energy in our hearts. In my circle of friends I see it in abundance.

‘Oppression’: If ever it were to disappear from our world in my lifetime, I would be the happiest human being on the planet.

A friend, Lisa Howell, who works at Ottawa University and who was also part of the group who put my nomination forth, said to me, “Thank you for all you do.” My response was, “If my actions have done anything in bringing peace to anyone’s heart, then it was because I was inspired and motivated to do so by people like you.” The list is long!

If I am brave, it is because I remember the heartbeat of my mother. If I take a stance against tyranny and oppression, it is because I do not want anyone else to experience what I and other people of Indigenous bloodlines have endured in the past and even today, continue to live through oppression! Whenever human beings oppress the ‘rights’ of other human beings, rebellion and bloodshed will surely follow. It is impossible to count the millions upon millions of people who have died, either at the hands of oppressors, or been killed fighting to end oppression of their fellow countrymen. I condemn oppression, whether it is taking place in Canada, the Congo, Ireland, the Middle East or anywhere else on this planet. We all should. The love and energy of Creator instructs us to do so.

I want to extend a special migwech to Sylvia Smith (also supported my nomination), founder of ‘Project of Heart’ and Lindsey Barr, founder of ‘World Changing Kids’. I admire these brave women because they stand against racism and oppression! The world needs more human beings like them in it. In my heart of hearts, I know that it is women, like my beautiful granddaughter Kyrstin Dumont, who will lead the change in ending oppression in the world. Let us do all we can to help them make it happen.

I am attaching below the speech I wrote and delivered at the Honouring Ceremony. I hope you connect with its message.

Speech

I am at peace and I wish everyone well.

I began my life on worksites with only a Grade 7 education to assist me on the road to success. Success though, is something rarely achieved when the tremendous weight of racism and oppression is constantly present in mind, body and spirit. It leads you, oftentimes into a reckless lifestyle. I fell victim to severe addictions, mostly alcohol at the age of 15. I live every second of every day with back pain, so great that there are times, I can barely rise from a chair. Crushed and cracked vertebrae are not fun things to experience.

The lessons given me by ‘All My Relations’ have taught me that if I shun thoughts of self pity from my life’s trail, I will in the end, enjoy a good life! I prefer to soar on the blessings one receives through a hard work ethic rather than crawl day after day, in the slime of self pity.

The forest is the greatest teacher! The common garden snake as an example, has taught me to shed all negativity from my life. In the shedding of the old skin, it instructs me.”Get rid of it”. The snake teaches me to be gentle in my interactions with Mother Earth. In soft caress of the soil under it, the snake moves forward. What amazing teachers snakes are!

I am the father of daughters. When my daughters were teens, I would advise that they do all possible to find someone who is honourable to make their life with. “If you are living under the same roof as someone who is honourable,” I would tell them, “then this old dad of yours won’t worry too much about how you are being treated in your household.” The lessons I learned through the traditional teaching stories of my bloodline have always guided my councils with them.

I learned long ago through stories, many thousands of years old that things will go from bad to worse in the fast lane when one over-reacts to other people’s shortcomings or one’s own dysfunction. I learned through the spiritual force of the sharing circle, that if you hold by your side, anger, jealousy and vindictiveness, you greatly weaken the Nation you claim to love. 

I learned over many years that trees are the wisest of all gifts Creator gave to humankind. I know a place where at the top of a high gravel hill, there stands today, a great maple tree. Because of storms washing away the gravel under the tree, its roots are exposed. Only the roots on its side and those at the back of the tree hold it in place. One day in the future, the tree will no longer have the ability to stay where it has stood for several hundred years. It will topple over and its life will end. Not so for us. We as human beings possess the ability to bring into our lives what will assure we do not fall.

To bring my spiritual bundle into the forest and place it on the skin of Mother Earth in ceremony assures that for me, I will find peace and wellness more and more in all the remaining days of my life.

Keep the Circle Strong,

South Wind (Albert Dumont)