Two-Eared Listening

“Elders tell us that we have two ears and one mouth so that we can listen more than we talk.” (Chief Mi’sel Joe, Miawpukek First Nation)

I recently attended a gathering called Two-Eared Listening for Deeper Understanding in St. John’s NL, hosted by Miawpukek First Nation and Memorial University. My team and I were privileged to capture the visual notes of the gathering. It was indeed a learning space for deeper understanding, and a gathering unlike any other I have attended.

The gathering was led by Chief Mi’sel Joe of the Miawpukek First Nation and informed by a committee of Indigenous advisors and the Relationships First Restorative Justice Consortium. Chief Joe invited participants to “listen deeply with the intention of learning and understanding. Deep listening requires the listener to receive new information through an open mind and to suspend judgement with an open heart.”

The gathering used listening circles as an approach to hear first from Indigenous elders and Indigenous leaders, on the inequities faced by Indigenous Peoples in NL and their insights for living in more just and relational ways. And then leaders within the provincial Justice, Community and Education departments responded. Settlers were asked to speak from their hearts, rather than deliver pre-prepared responses.

As a white settler, I am trying to learn and unlearn harmful ways of being, knowing, and acting. This includes a deeper understanding of the Truth and Reconciliation Calls to Action, and how they apply to my life as a parent, business owner, change maker, and community member. It’s not a fast or easy process. I don’t always know what I don’t know, or how to challenge and change my thinking and behaviours. Hearing other settlers at this gathering respond from their hearts with emotion, inquiry, and compassion was profound for my own learning.

We can’t create a checklist of things to do to address the TRC Calls to Action. It requires a shift in the way we engage with one another, and in the way we listen and respond. It requires all of us to be deep listeners, to:

• Be open to receiving new learning
• Suspend judgement
• Listen with intention
• Purposefully engage in (re)conciliation

“We are all snowflakes, we are all unique”, said one of the Indigenous leaders. “Individually, snowflakes don’t make much impact, but collectively we are a storm. We blanket the earth and transform the landscape”. We all have a role and need to be part of the transformation in listening, responding, and acting to right our relationships with Indigenous people.