On August 27, I went to Ottawa thinking I would see Kevin that I had met a day before, but instead, Michael was waiting in his place. I asked him if he wouldn't mind to be interviewed on the spot if I gave him a few brand cigarettes and a twenty dollars. He greated me with a smile. Not because of the money, but because he was happy that someone came to talk to him. His smile warmed my heart and gave me goosebumps. I knew then and there that I had found someone very special.
After having three strokes, at this point his life, the most essential thing for himself was to heal and to be able to walk without his walker. However, he wished that the world could also heal, from climate change, from too much of a system plagued by the economic inflation that makes us wonder what we are all doing here.
Michael is an Inuit from Pond Inlet in Nunavut. Pond Inlet is located on Northern Baffin Island. He explained to me that his name, Michael, was a biblical name and was a relic of his past marked by clerical colonialism and a residential school he attended for a while. But he said that he had a traditional name or a "Panikpak" in his language. He then presented his name right after. Unfortunately, I couldn't understand clearly what he said. Maybe I was distracted by all the technical aspects of filming. Maybe I should have listened more. Maybe I missed a secret that my ears weren't ready to hear.
The great grandson of an Mohawk and American whaler, Michael is originally from the Arctic and knows what the word community means - telling me how back home his community looks out for everyone and for everything that’s essential from making food, clothing out of caribou and seal skin. Community living is a priority in his culture. It insures protection and it gives a sense of belonging to everyone.
Without the testimony of Michael, I would still have the impression that I'm lost in the world. There would be a page in the book of humanity missing. But Michael, like so many others, is still alive and ready to tell his story, and his name to whoever has an ear. Opioid addiction may have altered his quality of life, but he still fights and believes that at alsmost 61 years old, he can become a better version of himself.
If you want to listen to the interview, click on the following link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7E0Z4VnjruQ
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