b'GLOBAL INSIGHTGAINING GLOBAL PERSPECTIVESBy Emily KerrHow travelling the world taught Judith Hamilton about Canadas Indigenous peoplesI expected to learn a great deala tiny village selling trinkets toA LIFELONG COMMITMENT about the countries I visited. Whattourists. They had been removedWhile immersing herself in the I did not expect was to learn aboutfrom the forest area, their childrencultures of the world, Hamilton also myown. sent to schools downriver. Thereembraced a personal commitment A s a lifelong traveller andwas a language barrier and Im sureto learn about Indigenous histories proud Indspire supporter,a short discussion would neverand contemporary realities in Judith Hamilton hasprovide a fulsome picture, but itCanada. Books like Valley of the amassed an impressive collectionmade me sad. Birdtail and 21 Things You May Not of stories from across the globe.Know About the Indian Act have From Komodo Island to BorneoHamilton remembers a conversa- been instrumental in that learning and beyond, Hamilton has spenttion with a young Aboriginal manjourney, sparking meaningful her retirement immersing herselffrom Komodo Island in Indonesiaconversations within her family and in the cultures, languages, andabout his language: I expressedinspiring her to act.histories that bring our sharedconcern that his native language world to life. But what she didntcould be lost. He was adamant thatNow retired, Hamilton has anticipate was how these journeyswould never happen I worry. channelled that awareness would ultimately deepen herinto something tangible: the understanding of the countryAnd in Jordan, Hamilton foundWaywayseecappo Bursary for she calls homeand of theyet another echo of home: I metIndigenous Students, established Indigenous peoples whose storiessome Bedouin people, gloriouslythrough Indspires Building Brighter form its foundation. proud of their nomadic history,Futures: Bursaries and Scholarships now mostly lost. It reminded me ofprogram. The bursary honours the When visiting Nelson Mandelashome and our Indigenous people,Indigenous students who attended prison site on Robben Island,where the notion of land owner- Rossburn Elementary School along-Hamilton recalls, the guide toldship was a foreign concept. side her in the 1960s, many from the group [that] apartheid policiesEach experience became a mirror,the Waywayseecappo First Nation, were modelled after Canadasreflecting the resilience andlocated just four kilometres from treatment of First Nations!! Howhistories of Indigenous peoples inwhere she grew up.did I not know this?? Canada through the lens of culturesI grew up four kilometers from It was a moment of reckoning Hamilton encountered abroad.Waywayseecappo and saw one of many on her travels thatThe more I travelled, she says,firsthand how difficultdare I shifted how Hamilton saw Canadasthe more I understood how deeplysay nearly impossibleit was for history. When visiting Borneo,colonial systems have shapedWayway students to get an educa-she continues, we saw the oncenationsand how much strengthtion 60 years ago, she recalls. As a nomadic forest dwellers living init takes to hold on to identity. child I knew things were not right, 32indspiration2025'