Behind the Lens: Guardians share stories from the land
By: Chelsie Parayko
February 24, 2021
Dakota and her daughter, Neila
For time immemorial storytelling has been widely utilised as a way of sharing information. From childhood to the moment you are reading this article, your life has been filled with stories. Some are read to you from a teacher or fellow student, some are told to you from an adult, some stories are fiction, some share a lesson or a moral, and some share a little about your history. Stories have been used to share messages, to translate knowledge and to provide learning opportunities. Within Indigenous populations this form of learning and sharing is a critical element that enables knowledge to be passed on from generation to generation.
Today sharing a story has evolved in various ways but two things have remained the same, a person tells the story, in Indigenous space this person is known as a knowledge keeper, and a person receives the knowledge. The relationship between the two is supported through the opportunity to share and learn. It is a relational moment that has the potential to shape how the learner moves forward in life.
Embracing the evolution of sharing stories has never been so relevant as it has been in the last year. We all have been tasked with staying home to keep our community safe, to flatten the COVID-19 curve as we have been told. This means that storytelling and relational experiences have had to shift. We are now leaning into the marvels of technology and the world wide web and have been enabled to continue connecting with one another through video chats, short recordings, and other innovations.
I have been trying to find a way to preserve our stories for years, and I knew that video was the way to move forward, but I had no idea where to begin. When I joined the Community Storytellers project, through the Land Needs Guardians movement, I knew this was exactly what I had been hoping for!
Armed with this understanding, I was excited to connect with the team at Land Needs Guardians. At the time, I was working as a member of the Wahkotowin Guardians programs, and I was given the Storyteller portfolio. Sharing stories across Turtle Island, especially ones that support the act of rekindling with land is so incredibly important. Not only does it provide space to connect with the outside world, allowing others to see the good works that are happening within Guardian Programs, but it provides connection to other like-minded individuals. Through connections with the Land Needs Guardians movement, I have been able to learn about other programs and meet some amazing Guardians. As a collective, our videos have also been able to generate a narrative of awareness around why protecting our traditional territories is so important. Through this work we are also building public support for long-term investment in Guardians programs across the country.
I immediately wanted to tell the story of my sister Dakota and her relationship with the land. I knew that to honour Dakota’s story, it had to be told through an Indigenous-lens. I’ve watched my sister grow into the beautiful woman she has become through her relationship with the bush, her in-depth knowledge of the land, and the act of knowledge translation through land-based learning she shares with my niece. Her story is something that the world should hear about.
I had zero understanding of what it took to create a video that shared all of this, and I was incredibly out of my depth. I had never been behind the camera before, so the whole process was a learning curve. I was terrified to be honest, feeling the pressure for my first time in sharing this story in such a big impactful way. I learned all about the entire process in small bite-sized lessons. I learned about the buttons on the camera, I learned about framing a shot, and I learned how to make the video look professional. During my first shoot, I forgot all about hiding the microphone cord, but it was certainly a lesson I remembered the second time around. The process was tailored to meet my pace of learning and was incredibly supportive.
Our first time out to film, Dakota and I were both so nervous. She's a natural and fell into it very easily after the first couple of questions. We laughed and reminisced about times we shared with our family on our traditional territory, and I learned about new experiences Dakota had along the way.
A cedar branch, one of the traditional medicines featured in the video
Sharing in this way is a transformative experience, one that honours our ways of knowing and that honours our Ancestors and their memories that run through our blood. It provided a space of healing, wellbeing, and a sense of pride in the knowledge that has been passed along to us through being on the land and being together.
I have always been proud of my sister; however, filming has deepened that feeling. Capturing her knowledge and the beauty of her sharing that knowledge in a confident way has been a privilege. But the best part was sharing the end results with her and seeing her being proud of herself. It has been a privilege to watch her share this knowledge with her daughter. The storytelling that Dakota and other Indigenous Storytellers are sharing is so critical and is an act of resilience.
Chelsie Parayko, the filmmaker
After the video was completed, we premiered it through a Facebook Live viewing followed by a panel discussion. I moderated and Dakota and fellow Guardian Isabelle Allen answered questions from viewers. Between the video itself and the live event, an estimated 35,000 number of people have watched her story. Dakota’s story has continued to inspire and connect people across the Nation, including other Guardians who are also sharing their story as a part of the Land Needs Guardians Movement.
Dakota’s story was one puzzle piece of a larger discussion across Turtle Island (North America). Indigenous Guardians continue to work hard to love up Mother Earth and respect the journey that has been passed to us by our Ancestors, this film felt so important. Storytelling is one of the most beautiful gifts and a deep part of Indigenous legacy. It is how we translate knowledge, share meaningful connections with those around us and ensure that knowledge is carried on for generations to come.
Watch Chelsie's Storyteller's video featuring Dakota and the live Q&A