What It Isn't

A few weeks ago, George shared his experience with microaggressions, sparking a powerful response from our readers. Since then, I’ve been sitting with what Indigenous Cultural Safety is… and what it isn’t. We always love receiving feedback from our readers, and there was one response in particular that touched us deeply. They have generously given us permission to share their words with you.

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Your story that you shared about George Harris Jr. and the microaggressions he experienced really touched me. I wanted to say that it has changed how I am in public. I am an older white woman and carry lots of unearned privilege as I walk about in public spaces. I have never been followed in a store or had someone cross the street to avoid passing near me. After I read George’s story a couple weeks back, I was walking in downtown Victoria. Reflecting on his experience challenged me to notice and feel my judgements about the people around me. Who did I instantly deem ‘safe’? What stories did I tell myself about folk as they passed me?

I felt sad and full of emotion from reading George’s story. But I also was surprised and a little disheartened in noticing how instantaneously my mind filled with assumptions about people I saw. I know I have a lot of work ahead of me, but I am trying more and more to interrupt my thoughts and look into each face and see a full, worthy human being. I am working on not judging myself for having judgements but being curious: what story am I telling myself? Who taught me to think that? What truer story could I tell myself? What commonalities do I share with that person?

I wanted to tell you this because what happened to George is awful and not an isolated incident for him. But his story touched me and impacted me and did some good in waking me up some.

There is something important in this kind of reflection. Not perfection. Not certainty. But a willingness to notice, to question, and to stay with the discomfort rather than turning away from it.

One aspect of the work we do at Culturally Committed is something we call a Community Call. During these virtual gatherings, community members can submit questions in advance for the Mentors to reflect on. Recently, as we prepared for one of these calls, we noticed a strong theme in the questions that had come forward. Many were centred on what it means to do this work in a good way, how to approach it, and what to consider when engaging with Indigenous Peoples.

As we gathered with the community, our treasured Mentor, Jared Qwustenuxun Williams of Quw’utsun, shared a perspective that landed deeply for me:

Before our gathering, we sent out a survey asking people what they wanted to know or hoped to learn through this experience, and it sounded like everyone was eager to learn about our history, our language, and how we operate. And that is meaningful. It matters.

At the same time, I think it is important to acknowledge that cultural safety is not really about our history or our way of life. It is about how you see the world. It is about creating space to reflect on your own viewpoints, your expectations, and the biases or stereotypes you may carry, and then doing the work to move through them.

I often turn to philosophy, and there is a line that stays with me: between a thought and an action, there is a space. We have an internal reaction, whether it is bias, frustration, or assumption. That part is human. There is no judgment in that.

But between that internal reaction and how it shows up in the world, there is a small space.

To me, cultural safety lives in the careful, intentional exploration of that space.

~ Qwustenuxun

There is a common pull in this work to gather knowledge. To learn more. To understand. And while that has value, Indigenous Cultural Safety is not something we arrive at through information alone.

It is not a checklist.

It is not about saying the right thing.

It is not about proximity to Indigenous people or communities.

It is about awareness.

It is about interruption.

It is about what we choose to do with what arises within us.

George offered his experience with honesty and generosity.

The question that remains is not what we think about it, but what we notice within ourselves as we take it in.

That space between reaction and response…

is where this work lives.

In learning,

Kim