Nzhishenh Ron uncle Ron McGregor Migizi Ndoodem (Eagle Clan), Wiigwaaskinaga Ndoonjibaa (Birch Island) As an uncle who takes care of his family, what are the stories of the sacred, proud and protective role that you hold in embracing the safety of family? Having people come up to you and say hi and I’m trying to place them and they say I know you. They ask about my wife and I am wondering how they remember me from way back from somewhere. Having people come up to me like that, I must have helped them somewhere but I don’t remember. A lot of times helping someone, for them, that was probably significant that they would remember that I helped them. Maybe it was a phone call or some visits or those things that are there. To be that sacred uncle is being an uncle in a good way that helps that individual to grow. I share some of the things that I’ve experienced in my life to help me get to where I am. I’ve had to go see other people to help me get to where I am. So passing down what was given to me, in a good way, that they were there for me to be where I am today. Who is your favourite uncle and why? I have to share a dream in regards to that question. Quite a while ago, this man my uncle came to me in a dream. I remember seeing him riding a little bicycle. I was wondering about that. When I went to go talk to my aunt, he was her brother; she mentioned that he came to help you look at something. He forewarned me that I was going to be going through something and which I did. When I did go through that, my health and having to have an operation, and that was the uncle that came. So having that man in my life, he did a lot of things for me as I grew up with him and you know showed me a lot of things. He had his own life though, there are things that you separate as in this was good and some things you question but he was my uncle, that is a family uncle. Excerpt from the interview with Ron McGregor by Elizabeth Eshkibok, Cultural Practitioner at the Shkagamik-Kwe Health Centre.
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