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When our grandson was born in Australia, my mother, who lives on the Opaskwayak Cree Nation, was concerned about what would happen to her great-- grandson's umbilical cord. Her concern was not allayed until our son Shawn and his wife Helen assured her that the cord would be brought back to Canada and buried appropriately on our reserve. Her worries about this were over only after we conducted a ceremonial burial of the cord in a special place near our home. The same concern was expressed when our granddaughter was born in Edmonton. Our son Jamie and his wife Kristen kept the cord and placenta for a ceremonial burial on the reserve.
Indigenous people's sense of self is planted and rooted in the land. The sacred bond with the land is more substantial than a propertied relationship and entails responsibility to all living forms that are sustained from the soil: grasses, medicinal plants, fruit bushes and trees, insects that live off the plants, birds that in turn eat the insects, four-leggeds...