Hear Cree Elder Vern Harper- Asin (meaning stone or rock) later names Chapon Asin (Great Grandfather Stone) (June 17, 1936 - May 12, 2018) in his home where culture remained a priority. Here he shares a simple cleansing ritual and notes why rituals are helpful.
Hear how Elder Vern was a role model, helping the ones coming behind him and became recognized as an “Urban Elder”. Sharing the need to have more spiritual people in the city, he notes the most important thing that he does is to “listen”.
Elder Vern shares how we all make choices. We hurt ourselves, but we hurt our loved ones. Listening to the words offered to him “You are a good man” brought healing.
“We will never allow to be defeathered - to take our culture away”, said Elder Vern. “When we pray we always honour our ancestors. If you don’t know who your ancestors are then you don’t know who you are.”
Elder Vern shares the purpose of being left in the bush for two years by his uncle. The lessons he learned were applied to his life in particular, learning to listen.