Supporting Survivors with Culturally Safe Housing with Qwuy’um’aat Elliott
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (00:01.004)
Hi, Qwuy’um’aat! Thanks so much for being here today!
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (00:04.354)
Hi Jenna, yeah, it’s a thrill to be here.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (00:07.414)
I’m so excited to speak with you. I’ve heard different things about you, exciting things. I’m really, really excited to pick your brain today and have you on this series. So thank you so much for being here.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (00:18.72)
Excellent. Yeah, I’m excited to have this conversation.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (00:21.65)
Awesome. So, in this series of She Is Your Neighbour, it’s all about celebrating strong Indigenous women moving beyond violence. And we’re also going to be talking about the impact that domestic violence and gender-based violence has on Indigenous communities. So, we’re again, we’re thrilled to have you here to talk about this. And I’m hoping that you could just start by sharing a little bit about yourself.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (00:45.784)
Yeah, definitely. So my name is Qwuy’um’aat. I am a proud member of the Cowichan Tribes, which is located on what is now called Vancouver Island in British Columbia. My professional background, I hold a master’s in community planning, a degree in business centering around human resources. And then I’ve also completed a certificate in First Nations housing management. So I know at the onset, that’s a very dynamic background, but for me, my passion is community and people and how we navigate systems. So for me, my background is rooted in Indigenous planning, centering around housing. currently, yeah, I am thrilled to work with on many different projects, really enhancing self-determination, inclusion, equity, Indigenous engagement and really uplifting communities.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (01:47.514)
That’s amazing. Thank you for sharing that. Yeah, and you do have a really diverse portfolio. That’s why I was excited to talk to you today too with the community planning, the HR, First Nations housing, like you probably have such an interesting lens on the landscape. So, I can’t wait to hear more about that today.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (02:04.952)
Definitely.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (02:06.542)
So we’re based here in Waterloo region in Ontario. It’s about an hour from Toronto. And I wanted to talk to you a little bit about affordable housing because in our region, there’s a real lack of affordable housing. And that combined with the cost of living crisis is making it increasingly difficult for women who are experiencing domestic violence.
And it’s even more challenging for women who are moving out of emergency shelters into longer term housing. And I know just for women in general who are vulnerable and seeking safe places to stay. So with your experience in the housing sector, I was just curious, you know, is this something that you’re seeing right now? What does it look like there?
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (02:34.444)
Mm-hmm. Yes, definitely. This is a critical issue that I encounter regularly, both professionally, personally within community. And I would say that the intersection of the housing crisis, the systemic barriers, and the cost of living crisis disproportionately affects Indigenous women most particularly. And I feel that affordable and culturally appropriate housing options are scarce.
And making transitions from emergency shelters to long-term shelters is extremely difficult. Recognizing the limitations, the barriers, the lack of like wraparound supports and services is because it’s not holistic or interconnected. And this like further compounds the issue because as housing without access to community, mental health services, culture leads to instability.
And so, for me, I found over the years that this issue like increasing or becoming more apparent. And I feel like when talking about this issue, I just, my heart goes to individuals and families, because I feel like we all know someone who may be affected by this. And I would say that most people are maybe one or two paychecks away from housing instability or one bad accident or scenario, whether it’s like a disaster or a health issue or needing to support a family member or a parent. Like it just, these things I think happen more often than not. So how is, how as a community can we work towards striving towards solutions?
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (04:31.67)
Yeah, I think that’s so true and so important. I think there’s so many layers to it too, right? I mean, it’s difficult for women. It’s difficult for women experiencing domestic violence. It’s even more difficult for Indigenous women and then Indigenous women compounding the domestic violence there too. So like you said, and I just think it’s so important, like you said, the access to mental health support, whether it’s addiction support, to culture too, all these things are necessary and they can’t be in silos, right? We need to look at them all together. I wanted to ask you, you touched on a little bit, but just more specifically, I was wondering about the intersection of gender-based violence and indigeneity. How do you think this compounds to make it even more difficult for women securing housing?
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (05:00.512)
No, definitely.
Yeah, I, so when I was in my graduate studies, this was something of big interest for me because, again, my worldview is to be able to speak from my own experience and my own experience being a young mom, being a young Indigenous woman, navigating career post-secondary studies. I believe the lived experience propelled me to being like, why is it like this? Like, why do I have a different experience than my peers, my colleagues? These are beautiful houses and homes and vacations. And me, this is a new chartered territory. And big reports like, you know, centering around missing, murdered, Indigenous women, the calls to justice. Here in BC, we have the Red Women Rising Report, which talks about the downtown Eastside.
And the richness in recognizing that Indigenous women face unique challenges due to historic and systemic inequities about what women could do or couldn’t do, how they had status or no status, access to culture and community, and what happened if you lost your status or maybe those connections to community, again, segregates you. And so these inequities are rooted in colonialism, racism, and the patriarchy.
And those are big words. And I think there’s more like really deeply rooted policies about like voting, education, health care, and all of these areas. And so therefore, gender-based violence, I feel, intersects with these housing insecurity for women, which amplify discrimination because we hold on to these norms, policies, stereotypes, and they perpetuate harm. And the lack of understanding
And I will admit, like sometimes these are just so broad where folks, it’s a lot to grapple, but this has been happening for so long and they become socialized as normal. And so I’ve seen cases where women are hesitant to seek help due to fear and fear of maybe not fitting the norms, fear of potentially, y’know, stepping too far into the light of like, you know, am I a good mother? Am I a good woman? Am I a good parent? Like it’s, just, there’s so much to unpack and there’s mistrust. And so how do you seek help and support when there’s historical mistrust as well? So I think there’s so many aspects which have caused marginalization.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (07:57.794)
Yeah, I think that’s so important. Glad you touched on that. And I think even though those are big words, colonization, the patriarchy, I don’t think we can talk about gender-based violence without talking about it, especially when we’re talking about violence against Indigenous women. So I’m really glad you bring it up because even though they’re big terms and big concepts to unpack, I just, I think it’s true. We can’t talk about the issue without breaking it down and talking about those things. And it makes me think too, you you said a bit about your experience and you look around at your peers and why is it different? And to me, it makes me think too, like, who were these services and who are all these things built for and who’s missing, right? And I feel like for so long, that wasn’t questioned. And it’s led to all these problems. Now we need to deal with them. So that’s what makes me think of.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (08:46.926)
100%.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (08:54.374)
Now, I know you do really interesting work when it comes to connection and community. I’m wondering first, before I get into some more questions, could you tell us a little bit more about your work? It’s so interesting, all your background. I’m curious kind of what you do in the housing sector, how you use your HR background, if you don’t mind me asking.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (09:10.786)
Yeah, definitely. So I work at BC Housing as a Senior Strategic Advisor. I, in this space, have worked primarily within the equity and reconciliation realm. given the complexity of the systemic and the lack of inclusion, most of my work is about promoting inclusion. Connection and community are foundational to my work. My HR background has enabled me to introduce culturally safe in trauma and foreign practices into the workplace to cultivate Indigenous recognition and engagement amongst staff to have mentorship, leadership.
And I also teach at Vancouver Island University, teaching Indigenous planning. And that is a complex space where I feel like we need to go so much further than we are now because the construct of land, the construct of housing it’s a whole paradigm shift because the indigenous paradigm is not about ownership control economic benefits and capitalism We’re really the worldview of housing of what I see and experience a community is that community usually opts for a housing for all which is so contradicting to Okay, how much is the infrastructure? How much are the units? How much is this and like, you know adding a dollar to it.
So for me, I feel that my work centers around cultural humility, training, inclusive leadership, because I feel that Indigenous equity and reconciliation equity lead to equity for all, because it’s about recognizing we’re all Indigenous from these lands. We all exist because each other exists. And so when we link arms and work in harmony, I feel like it would lead to better outcomes.
But I feel like what dominates society is this scarcity mindset where like, if I give something for you, it means less for me. But like, what if we put our heads together and maximize outcomes for both? I know it’s a bit lofty and philosophical, but for me, I’ve just worked on really great projects of, you know, listening to others. What does reconciliation mean for you? Inviting conversation, exploration. And what I learned through that is that we all want belonging. We all want connection. We all want community.
And so, how do we get there where taking care of our neighbours and learning about our neighbours then leads to like, sure, no problem. You can have X, Y, Z or let’s do this agreement, right? So it’s like learning about each other a bit more. And so it’s a unique space in which I operate, but I really enjoy it through knowledge sharing, collaboration and conversation.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (11:58.444)
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. It’s interesting to hear about. And I think it’s so true, like what you say about belonging and connection to the more you know, a person, I think a lot, it’s a lot more difficult than to blame them for something or not care about what they’re going through. Right. Whereas if you see them as the other and it’s like, them, they’re taking this from me and that from me, you know, it’s easy to not care. But the more we’re connected, it’s like, I care about that person. And I care about all the people they care about.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (12:12.928)
Yes. So easy.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (12:26.926)
So how can we fix this? So I think that’s such a good point. And it reminds me, it’s funny because we live so far apart. You’re in BC, I’m here in Ontario. But in our region, have, you know, our region in Waterloo is working towards similar things when it comes to equity.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (12:35.767)
Yeah.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (12:44.66)
and reconciliation. And we had someone really interesting on the podcast last season, Stephanie, and she worked at the region. She’s an Indigenous woman. And she’s in, you know, kind of a similar role to you, where she’s like a consultant, and she’s working on equity and reconciliation within our region, really trying to bring in Indigenous practices. And one thing that stood out to me, it may just sound a bit random, but to me, it was a cool, concrete way we can start kind of
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (12:54.465)
Mm-hmm.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (13:14.358)
working towards reconciliation and building relationships and bringing in Indigenous identities was, you know, a few years ago Stephanie was telling us that in region buildings in our city, you know, they went had to go through like a long practice to do any sort of smudging. It might not be allowed in the buildings, you know, if you did you’d get permission like a week in advance and go through all these people.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (13:32.11)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (13:41.518)
And she said, you know, it’s just really not welcoming for Indigenous people like myself. Like we like to smudge at the beginning of something. So now it’s really cool in region buildings. They can kind of just go about that. You know, the fire alarms are going to go off. They’re going to, you know, be prepared for it. And to me, that’s just it’s one small, small step. There’s a lot more that needs to happen. But it’s a cool example of how if we just listen to other people and what’s important to them, we can start advancing some of this.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (14:10.542)
Totally.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (14:11.406)
Have you had any examples of things like that? Sorry, I’m kind of just throwing throwing questions at you. But is there anything like that? Like any concrete examples in your work that remind you of something similar like that? Like small steps we can take because I just curious for our listeners to I know it can be hard when we’re talking about these big words and concepts. But I think if we break it down to manageable steps, it’s a lot easier to understand and to want to work towards.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (14:39.67)
Yeah, I feel like this is, I will admit it is challenging, but also at times where some folks who are really along on their journey, it’s intuitive, right? And there’s a way to do the work in a good way, right? And I feel like, and there’s no check box, I guess. And so I say that with hesitance because I know sometimes we’re so early on the journey and so concrete practices. I’m just always going to be a big advocate for first looking at a space. Is it culturally safe? Can we have these conversations or do they perpetuate harm? And so I know we want to rush to the outcomes and the actions, but sometimes our spaces are just not safe, right?
Again, if you have only a few Indigenous employees, it’s going to be challenged to ask those hard questions or it is going to be challenging to ensure that they feel seen, or valid because maybe they’re one person in a room of like hundreds, right? So how do you invite conversation?
But for me, what I’ve experienced in my work is when we do have guest speakers coming in talking about culturally safe or trauma-informed practices, I’m like, pause, wait, let’s bring them into our Indigenous Employee Resource Group and the Indigenous Resource Group employees get a dedicated conversation to them talking about the resilience, the wellness, the self-care, because their experience is different from what non-Indigenous folks need to learn or know. And through those lectures and conversations or workshops, you’re talking about the systemic inequities. And as an Indigenous person, I’m like, I already know, I live this. Why do I need to sit in a one and a half hour workshop?
And so those like a small little pivot, but I feel like it had a really great impact. So instead of talking about the Indian act and you know, the over-representation, we’re talking about like, so what do you do to feel motivated? How do you prevent burnout? You know, how do we cultivate wellness amongst ourselves? And it’s like those small pivots where it’s like, you kind of feel refreshed and it’s about that reciprocity.
And I think that’s something I’m striving for in the new year is like, how do we have reciprocity rooted in all that we do? Because again, sometimes we continue extractive tokenization approaches. So how are we giving back to Indigenous communities so they’re not getting burned out, fatigued? Y’know, again, we’re seeing these same messages for so long. Like there’s tons of books, there’s tons of information.
So like, let’s do the work and then find ways to link arms and work in partnership. And I’m a big advocate for inviting in elders, inviting in youth, because that gives us the past, the present, and the future. And so how can we create solutions that are sustainable and long-term? And their voices are critical to most conversations while they’re talking about a housing, a program, a policy or youth initiative or like a community garden. It’s like those initiatives, you get a balanced perspective, more outcomes, many hands make light work.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (17:57.166)
Yeah, no, I love that. And I think kind of breaking it down and simplifying it, like you say, too, it’s it’s really starting off just kind of asking these questions and getting input from the right people. Like you say, we always want to jump to the action. That’s our, you know, the way we are. But like, we got to break it down and figure out how to get there first. So I think that’s a really important point that you make. And it makes me think of, know, on this
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (18:12.814)
Totally.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (18:24.59)
indigenous series here that we have, which we’ve been talking to so many cool women. It’s been amazing. And, you know, I work at Women’s Crisis Services. It’s an emergency shelter and we have transitional house. And we spoke to someone else named Destiny and she runs kind of like an indigenous version of our services an hour or so from here.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (18:31.736)
Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (18:51.298)
And we learned, we kind of talked about the differences in our practices and why it’s so important to have culture embedded into these services for Indigenous women too. And Destiny had so many great ideas and once someone asked her, what should we do, she was able to implement all these changes into the transitional house that they have. And it made a really big impact for the women there. So it just reminds me of what you’re saying. We gotta ask people these questions because they can lead to really great outcomes just asking what’s important to you.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (18:55.65)
Yeah. Mm-hmm.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (19:18.114)
And it’s so simple. While we’re on the topic of domestic violence and gender-based violence, again, actually, I did want to ask too, since that’s really what She Is Your Neighbor is all about, it’s all about being better neighbors to women, children experiencing domestic violence. I’m curious if you know of anyone who has experienced this, if you encounter through your work or otherwise, if there’s any stories you’d be willing to share.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (19:19.38)
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, I feel like the gender-based violence again is more prevalent than not, especially within Indigenous communities. I feel that systemically we’ve normalized this and there’s this really great book I’m reading is Making Space for Indigenous Feminism. And there’s such richness. I’m reading the third edition and I’ve read the second edition.
But this one author, and it’s completely slipping my mind, talks about gender-based violence, of how we normalize the harm and that we recognize that we all have a relative who may be perpetuating harm. But it’s, again, the interwoven values of we care for our family, we care for our relatives. So it’s like, how do you acknowledge the complexity or the competing truths of what is happening because I feel that indigenous men are also battling identity. What does it mean to be an indigenous man? And as a mom of two boys, there’s so many expectations of men being strong, the masculinity that we see in Western culture, but also like what’s the place within indigenous culture? Like our men support indigenous women. traditionally like a like a matriarch kind of society. And so I feel like there’s so many different things.
And so, when you enter the Western world, men are like, I’m dominant, I can tell you what to do. And this is, you know, masculinity. And then, you know, at home, it’s like, well, no. And so it just, you know, again, and then the inequities that are compounding, you know, housing instability, you can’t leave relationships because you need housing, you can’t leave relationships because you don’t have income, or maybe you’ve spent time and you didn’t go to school.
And so it’s like, how do we create spaces for this and I’ve had you know several relatives which is so unfortunate who’ve been in some situation or another and I can probably have an auntie or cousin who can share their story and you know I’ve experienced gender-based violence I’m you know on the journey of unpacking it and I will admit I’m a bit private about it because it’s like how can I be a woman of leadership and you know educated in a background and being like, yeah, but I’ve experienced this. And so I feel like I’m unpacking the biases of what does it mean? But I feel like I found healing in the hurt and purpose in the pain to saying no, and to really work on my own mindset of like, I’m strong, I’m resilient, I’m brilliant. And I know it sounds a bit…
fluffy and that self-awareness, but a part of me is like we do need to like rewire our brain and mindset. So I’d be on a walk being like, I’m brilliant, I’m strong, I’m capable, because I feel like so much in society tells us that we’re not good enough, that we need to do more, that we need to work harder, we need to be present for others. And so for me, it’s recognizing you can be a good mom, you can go after your career, and you can be an individual. And I know for many of those may not coexist, but for me,they can, and I feel like it’s finding your people and really just listening to your intuition of who you want to be. And no one’s gonna tell you, it’s your intuition and protecting that fiercely because you know who you are meant to be and who you want to be. And that’s what I’ve held onto and kind of kept it safe. And there’s times where I was so lonely or I felt like the world was against me or I didn’t know how to exist in this world.
But then those are seasons and seasons end. Sometimes they’re a bit longer here in BC. There’s still snow in February, but like those seasons cycle through. And so, you know, hold on, it’s not forever. You find support and find resources. And there’s times where I’ve had to advocate where I felt like I was in crisis and I was supposed to get a phone call from a supportive provider, didn’t get a phone call. So was like, hello, like, can I get some support?
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (23:38.402)
Yeah.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (24:01.282)
Like I need to help navigate. And they’re like, you didn’t get a call? And I’m like, no, I didn’t. So, it’s like, you need to be your own advocate and to just say, wake up, I’m just going to do this. Right. Because I feel like it’s far like I feel like women are just too brilliant and too powerful to just sit back. And I just I my aspirations for each woman, individual person, man, to really cultivate and being like, no, I’m going to be who I’m meant to be. And I’m going to show up as that day in and day out. So I find magic in that.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (24:30.104)
Thank you so much for sharing that. I love your perspective of that. And I think it’s so true. think so many of us have experienced gender-based violence, whether it’s domestic violence or a different form of it. And I think it is such a personal journey to kind of work through too, especially when we live in a world, you know, where women are often portrayed as weak, especially women experiencing domestic violence. And that’s something with this podcast, we really try and challenge.
We really like to get photos of all of our guests and showing them, you know, in colour, showing their name, showing their face, showing that they’re strong and brave and trying to combat some of these images that we sometimes see in the media. Our team always talks about such a pet peeve of ours whenever we see an article about intimate partner violence. And it’s the stock image of the woman crying in the shadows and so weak. like, this is not the women we see coming out of our emergency shelters. We see brave, strong women who, like you said, have to advocate for themselves for services because unfortunately, there’s not enough services to go around.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (25:11.928)
Mm-hmm. Yeah.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (25:34.472)
There’s not enough funding to fund the services. So then it falls on the person who’s experiencing it. And I think you’re right. Women are so strong and brave and resilient. All the words you said, I loved all those. I want to get those and put them on my mirror, my daughter’s mirror, you know? Because I think they’re good. got it. Yeah, we need to say those things to ourselves because sometimes nobody else will in this world, right? So yeah.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (25:36.394)
No. No. Yeah. Great mantra. Exactly.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (26:03.318)
So, thanks for sharing that. And yeah, there’s just a couple tidbits you said that finding healing in the hurt and purpose in the pain. really, I love that. I think that’s such a cool takeaway. And for people listening, I think they’ll be really motivating. So thank you for sharing that.
I also wanted to ask you a little bit about, you know, we’ve been talking about decolonizing different spaces. We’ve been talking about connection and community. And I was wondering how you think we can use connection and community to further decolonize our spaces and make them safer for Indigenous women. We’ve talked about this a bit already, but I’m wondering if you have further thoughts on that.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (26:45.186)
Yeah, I feel like decolonization again is such a big construct and I feel like it’s woven into all that we do. For me, it’s restoring relationships with the land, with our culture, with community and with each other and the connection and community challenge. community challenges the individualistic and hierarchical models that dominate Western institutions.
And so by centering, I would say Indigenous ways of knowing, and again, we’re all indigenous to these lands one way or another, is that we create spaces where we recognize that sometimes things are imperfect. So I’m an indigenous beater too, and so we’re taught culturally, like beaded work, we strive for perfection at times.
We want it to look absolutely perfect, because that’s what we see if it’s the threads are frayed or if the beads off, it won’t be good. And that’s what society teaches us, that it needs to be perfect, or you might just return it back and go back to what we do with clothing stores. We return it and saying like, this is not the buttons off, can I get a discount? So we’re socialized for the perfection. But Indigenous beading, it’s not meant to look perfect. It’s meant to mimic and near the land. The land is imperfect. We’re all unique and distinct, and indigenous knowledge is place-based.
And so what if we were to recognize each place, each nation, each community, each individual, and not have these copy paste frameworks? So, I always like to lead into it’s not a checklist, it’s not a guidebook, it’s not the rule or law, but rather a recipe. Let’s have some foundational tools of like, you know, and it’s about making it your own. Some people love nuts, some people are gluten free, some people want to use alternative things like by all means.
And so it’s like the recipe of culturally safe practices, elevating indigenous voices to invite a new way of thinking, to weave together Western and indigenous knowledges and striving to dismantle oppressive systems. Because again, I feel like we’ve all been oppressed in one way or another, but like, how do we just like link arms and being like, actually, let’s create a better future for generations to come for our grandchildren, our great grandchildren, our nieces, our nephews, our friends, or like, are all our relations, right? So to ensure that most particularly Indigenous women feel seen, feel heard, feel valued, and those are big things. And I feel like we can ideally hopefully say that within community and within the organizations that we work for as well.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (29:27.022)
Yeah, I love that. Thank you. for anybody listening and who can’t see the visual right now, I just want to point out that Qwuy’um’aat is wearing really beautifully beaded earrings. So they’re really nice. Did you make them yourself?
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (29:32.461)
Yeah. Yeah, thank you. These ones, no, I do different style, but I always love supporting other artists. And it’s just, it’s a humble reminder, again, like the teachings through art and craft. And it just reminds me of like those small things. And so it’s really nice that I actually remember that as well.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (29:55.926)
Yeah, no, I love it. And I think it just gives a visual to it. Like an interesting concept, and I think an important concept, you know, we are socialized to expect perfection, whether it’s within ourselves, within others. And I think the calm, the, you know, the concept of imperfection, I think that’s something we do need to embrace a little bit more. And especially this idea of a recipe. I love that. It’s not, you know, instead of trying to, you know, have the end result, we’re all going to make this cake. It’s like, here’s your, your suggested recipe. Do what you will.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (30:07.726)
100%. Thank you. Yeah.
And that’s coming from like a mom who is constantly like, shoot, I’m out of butter. shoot, like I don’t have eggs. So you’re like working to substitute, okay, I have applesauce or I have this, I have a banana. Let’s see how this works out.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (30:42.528)
Yeah, well, and I think it’s true even like when you talk about even in the beadwork as an example, too, I think, you know, I think we all have imperfections and it makes us unique and different and interesting. I think that’s the same with the beadwork. And I think, you know, it’s we don’t want everything to be cookie cutter all the time.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (30:55.502)
Mm. No, no.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (31:01.454)
So, I think that that’s a really, really important point. And just having the visual of the earrings, I think helps drive it home even more. So sorry for the listeners who can’t see you, but we can. I also wanted to ask just simply why this conversation is important to you, Qwuy’um’aat.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott t (31:07.438)
Yeah. Yeah. For me, this conversation is personal and it’s professional. As an Indigenous woman, I’ve navigated many spaces where my identity was seen as a source of strength and resilience, but also vulnerability. And I feel like that duality can exist because I feel like my leadership is fiercely resilient, but also…
The imposter syndrome is real where I’m like, boy, am I just this emotional passionate person? But also I feel like in those moments I’m reminded like, you my ancestors are behind me. This is charting a new path forward for generations to come. This is giving voice to those who maybe have not been heard. so advocating for safer, more inclusive environments is not just part of my work. It’s my responsibility. I carry that responsibility with such integrity and it really is the propelling factor on how I approach my work for my community, for my children, and for generations to come. And that’s just really what gets me out of my bed every day.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (32:31.942)
I love that. I’m not surprised. Another part of She Is Your Neighbour, it’s all about encouraging our communities to be good neighbours to women and children experiencing domestic violence, and in this case, Indigenous women specifically. So I’m wondering how you think we can all be better neighbours to Indigenous women and children experiencing gender-based violence.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (32:55.998)
As an Indigenous planner, this question just like fires me up because I do think about it from like a community planning and also a municipal First Nations government lens because being a good neighbour is showing up with empathy, not judgment, not preconceived notions, not with expectations or an agenda. I mean, you may have an agenda, but rather of like, open your heart, open your mind. And elders within my couch and community always share the greatest journey one will ever take is from their head to their heart. So again, working with open hearts, open minds, open spirit, it’s about listening again without those assumptions, advocating for systemic change. We don’t have the solutions.
As I tell folks in my organization, we are flying the plane and building the plane at the same time. So we’re about to take off, we’re going, this pilot project is happening, but we don’t have a user guide or a manual because we’re dismantling years of systemic inequities and harms and we’re doing something different. And so it’s about challenging the biases that we see in our communities. And I will admit, I’ve kind of wrote a big, you know, the HR and planner and me just kind of wrote out some biases on my LinkedIn because I just, it’s so often where it’s like, hold on, wait, wait, wait, that’s stereotype or that’s a bias, how do we flip it? How do we just see the other side of the coin? And for Indigenous women and girls it’s about recognizing the impact of colonialism and working to create culturally safe and supportive environments. And I think again we kind of talked at the onset is like these spaces were created for people not with people.
So how do we shift the for about and include with and that’s the thing we I think need to consider. It’s not about right or wrong, it’s not about black or white, it’s about occupying a new space, the gray zone or the gray space in which I call it and like you know co-creating and I feel like that’s the era that we’re in is that co-creation, collaboration, self-determination and it’s not about the hierarchy or like those types of things.
It’s really about like, let’s meet each other halfway. And like, for me, it’s about agreeing potentially to work on issues that are so much bigger than ourselves. And at the start of the call, we were like talking about, you know, the instability, the expensive, the inflation and the housing and all of these system things. Those are issues so much beyond ourselves. And I think only through, you know, showing up with empathy and, you know, learning about being a good neighbor is that we can actually tackle these challenges.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (35:37.792)
Yeah, thank you for sharing that. One more follow up question before we go. You mentioned, you know, on your LinkedIn, you had shared some different biases and stereotypes. And I’m wondering if you would mind just sharing a few examples here just for our listeners to make it a little more concrete. And if there’s something that maybe they’ve heard, I’d like to debunk it here too, while they’re listening.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (36:01.706)
Yeah, okay, so it’s been some time, so let me have a think. So I think for me, what’s coming to mind, so unpacking stereotypes and challenges. So I feel like, again, there’s not a single Indigenous culture, right? Again, we talk about Indigenous like it’s this one thing, there’s multiple. So there’s bias, I think, in the way that sometimes we assume all Indigenous communities have the same practices.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (36:20.738)
Mm-hmm.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (36:28.13)
Here in BC, we have over 200 nations, and so we need to recognize that they are distinct and self-determining. I also feel like there’s a bias in terms of thinking we are people of the past, that we want to introduce things of like living in long houses again, or pit houses, or teepees. No, no, no, like we’re modern savvy people. I’m on a savvy house with maybe like a jet tub or like this. Like we can be people of the present.
And then I think a big one, especially in the housing realm, is that we victimize Indigenous folks. As a matter of fact, it’s that Indigenous folks are key players in economic development, in supportive housing, in really taking that leadership role, is that there are systemic barriers preventing economic sufficiency, leadership, education, workforce things. And so that really diminishes leadership and those types of things.
I feel like there’s also like romanticizing Indigenous culture that we think that they’re perfect societies that had no conflict. Of course, we had conflict, had wars, but rather of like, so I feel like those generalizations really through media, through movies, through those types of things, we kind of have these assumptions. And I think there’s probably so many other ones that are not coming to mind right now, but those are the ones that are coming to mind.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (37:51.938)
Yeah, thank you. Really appreciate you sharing those, think it’s so important to kind of break that down and even just a few tidbits for people to take away. I really appreciate your insights today. And yeah, just so grateful for you being here. Thank you so much, Qwuy’um’aat.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (38:05.87)
Yeah, thank you. It was a delight to connect and have chat, chat and making space for this important conversation.
Jenna Mayne (she/her) (38:11.758)
Yeah, I’m so glad we got to. Thanks again.
Qwuy’um’aat Elliott (38:14.574)
Thank you.
