June is National Indigenous History Month in Canada, and Coun. Michael Moses is taking the opportunity to celebrate every day.
For each day during the entire month of June, Moses is hoping to post an educational video on a topic related to Indigenous history.
The initiative actually began last year, when he first attempted the project, but once he began to campaign for the role of city councillor for Williams Lake, the project fell by the wayside. This year, he’s determined to try to keep up the posts, each of which has a unique topic or theme, helping to educate, inform and engage folks on Indigenous history.
Having had the project on his mind for so long has probably helped, as he has been compiling ideas and he has plenty to make the month, but as new ones come up, some might get bumped.
Moses researches, writes, edits and records each 60 to 90 second post in about 30 minutes. He’s using them as practice for both public speaking and speech writing.
“By the end of the month I’ll bet you I’ll have it really down — and then I’ll be done,” jokes Moses about the process.
He said the longest part of the posting is uploading to the various social media platforms. The videos are uploaded to You Tube and then links are posted on his own TikTok, Reddit, Instagram, Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.
“I’m hoping that each day a few more people will see them,” he said, noting he really hopes they help inspire people to look into other Indigenous History resources.
While there is a lot of heavy material available, Moses said his goal is to post uplifting information to do his part in sharing some positivity.
While he doesn’t want to diminish people’s trauma and anger, which as an Indigenous man, he acknowledges he also shares, the posts are meant to be a vehicle for celebrating positive history.
“I want to promote that there is strength and goodness and positivity also to be heard,” he said.
“If I can spread that even a little bit I’ll feel like I’ve had a really good month.”
So far, his posts have included information on the Friendship Centres across the country, the use of the words Inuit, Inuk and Inuuk, the city of Vancouver endorsing and implementing UNDRIP, the Wampum belt, Louis Riel, what to call Canadian First Nations peoples and the designation of National Indigenous History Month.
Most of his social media profiles can be found under @michaelmoseswl.
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