The One Who Stands in the Centre BY TREVOR GREYEYES Juliana Lesage-Corbiere F or Juliana Lesage-Corbiere, her connection to the land, her community, the language and commitment to speaking for youth are of utmost importance. At 23, Lesage-Corbiere is from Batchewana First Nation and is currently in her fourth year at Trent University in the Indigenous Environmental Science/Studies program. She is also a representative on the Ontario First Nations Young Peoples Council (OFNYPC) for the Chiefs of Ontario. She holds the Education and Environment portfolio on the council. The OFNYPC was established in 2004 by the Chiefs in Assembly as the “official youth voice for First Nations in Ontario.” Lesage-Corbiere found the 2017 Youth & Elders Gathering on Climate Change held in Thunder Bay particularly notable. First Nations Elders and youth from Ontario met to discuss climate change and its effects on First Nation communities, cultures and Mother Earth. The event brought climate change perspectives from Elders and youth in communities and regions across Ontario to the forefront. The gathering gave Lesage-Corbiere an opportunity to hear Elders share their wisdom about the land, connect with other youth and share her perspectives on climate change. “I think it’s so unique that we have access to our water. Our nibi,” she says. “And that’s where we got our fresh salmon. We got so much access to our traditional foods.” At the gathering, Lesage-Corbiere gave a presentation “examining women’s roles in resurgence and resistance move- ments in Chiapas, Mexico, while drawing parallels to women here on Turtle Island where the men are often perceived as dominant.” In it, she illuminated the Indigenous Resurgence and recognized “the women who have always been at the front lines and who continuously weave rebellion in the midst of the barriers that have been set in place” for Indigenous women. Lesage-Corbiere created a YouTube video, titled “4050 Digital Story: My Journey Through Indigenous and Non- Indigenous Alliances.” In the video, she opens with, “Aaniin, Boozhoo. GetaGabow Ndish Nikaaz. Mai’ingan Ndodem. Obadjiwanang ndoo nijibaa. Ojibway Anishinaabe ikwe ndow.” Lesage-Corbiere goes on to explain that her spirit name is “The One Who Stands in the Centre.” She continues, “I am YOUTH PROFILE Poem #2 By Juliana Lesage-Corbiere I am exhausted but not the exhaustion you feel after a long day the kind of exhaustion that took years months days to build up exhausted of the validation I constantly thought I needed to show peers, strangers and even friends The kind where you question the work Is what I am doing really worth it? Until I realized, I am feeding this dark cloud lingering over me by giving myself to the wrong people by giving too much that is sacred I often feel like I am the only one to understand but I look back and realize I am not the one who feels this there has got to be an explanation that can only be found within the land within the stories of my cousins aunties sisters who are fighting the system that was meant to break us never question yourself brown girl you are a daughter of a million marches that is part of the revolution SUMMER/WINTER 2018/19 – Chiefs of Ontario Advocate magazine   46  l