We are all accountable to the communities we belong to, and our community at The Healing Collective feel that to actively participate in reconciliation, we must be accountable and listen to Indigenous community members and work to support them on their terms.
In March 2022, Emily Blackmoon asked us to update her Healing Collective profile to remove mentions of her Indigenous identity. She asked us to do this short term, while she worked to establish membership in The Algonquins of Ontario as a part of Weskarini Algonquins. This group is not part of The Assembly of First Nations, and many who identify as Weskarini connect their Indigenous lineage to a shared ancestor, Marie Miteouamegoukoue, a woman who lived in what is now Quebec in the 1600s.
In June 2022, three of Emily’s Indigenous clients came to us to express their concerns about Emily’s ties to Indigenous communities. We appreciate the research they put in before bringing them forward. We know it took a tremendous amount of effort to educate us and call this out. As a result of this situation and their information, we have asked Emily to leave our group.
Ultimately, reconciliation is the responsibility of settlers, and questions about community membership should be part of every institution’s process when on-boarding those who will represent and support Indigenous communities. Going forward, we will work with Indigenous community members to ensure we understand these connections as part of our on-boarding and that members of The Healing Collective who claim connections to Indigenous communities as part of their practices meet their community’s requirements for membership.
If you are a client of Emily’s, we encourage you to reach out to her with any questions you may have and reach out to us at info@healingcollective.ca if you have any questions about our membership policies moving forward.