Blazing the Trail with Katie Johnson Pt. 1: Rooted in Community

Produced by the Reconnection Vision, this special episode of Châyù with Skaydu.û is the first to be shared in two parts. In Part 1, Lasänmą (Katie Johnson), the new Executive Director of the Reconnection Vision, shares her personal journey of reconnection—what it means, how it feels, and how it has shaped her path. Rooted in a deep connection to her home and community, she reflects on the moments and teachings that called her into this important healing work.

To learn more about this work, visit Reconnection.vision or follow along on Instagram at @reconnection.vision to stay connected with upcoming projects, stories, and ways to get involved.

Transcript

SPEAKER_00 0:16

No matter where you are, you always have a place to go. And we go back to our relationships, we go back to our community, we go back to our clan systems and how we live life. And so lucky to have that.

SPEAKER_01 0:40

Season two of Cha Yu with Skyda U is produced by the Reconnection Vision. Skydao Aya Aksayi. My name is Skyda U, and this is Cha Yu with Skyda U, where you can join me for a cup of tea or water or whatever floats your boat. This podcast is a grassroots series that invites you to join with a cup of tea, Cha Yu, sit with us around our virtual campfire, and hear stories of disconnection, reconnection, and everything in between. This season, I'm joined by our wonderful Reconnection Vision ambassadors, leaders, and elders that live in relationship with the land, water, trees, animals, insects, and with one another. I have the honor, Shtuka Chateti, I am so grateful to talk about their Dush Gashnik, their stories, and experiences of reconnection, what it means to them, what it can look like, and their teachings for a better tomorrow. What is reconnection, you might ask? The RV is an Indigenous-led approach to climate action. Developed by 13 unified Yukon First Nations youth, embarking in 2021, the RV is a societal transformation tool that helps showcase teachings for all people to live as whole people in good relationship with ourselves, each other, and the earth. We are focused on nurturing and evaluating our collective well-being, establishing a sustainable governance structure, and passing on the teachings of the RV to current and future generations. I'd like to take a moment to ground ourselves. Plant your feet on the earth. Yeah, ye shhaw. You all get comfortable in your space. Ye shitun. Breathe in through your nose. And breathe out through your mouth. Breathe in through your nose. And breathe out through your mouth. Ye that ad ought to. I hope there's peace with you all right now. I just wanted to start today in a good way. I felt like I needed that a little bit myself today, running around. I just really want to acknowledge on this beautiful day the traditional territory of the Kwan Lin Dun and the A'anghuichan people. I look out the window to see the white, snow-capped mountains watching over us in this crisp winter valley while we do this important work. Shikatya Khaten Tuadak Yekugach to ste all this land and water, because of it, we exist. And for all you amazing listeners for joining us once again. My heart feels full that you all have come here. At this time, after starting in a good way, I want to introduce and welcome today's guest. I always try to begin in this way by introducing and acknowledging our guests for the important work they do in communities, showing up time and time again. As is shared with me by a lot of our speakers, a lot of our elders, a lot of our teachers, that we must walk in humility, that we should try not to speak too much about ourselves. And that is why I will speak and really hold up Katie today as one of our leaders and the executive director of the Reconnection Vision. I just want to recognize her in the many ways she has showed up for her past work and the work that she continues to do day in and day out for her community. I'm sitting here with my friend today. She is of the Agunda Wolf clan and a citizen of the Kowani First Nation peoples. She is a creative visionary who has worked with northern communities for over two decades. My community included the Teslan Klinkett Council. She's done a lot of amazing work for us. She is committed to advancing positive outcomes for Yukon First Nations through community-led initiatives across the Yukon, through our governments, our nonprofits, and our Indigenous businesses. La Sadma is our new executive director of the Reconnection Vision, a youth-led movement grounded in Indigenous knowledge that restores our relationships with the land, the water, with each other, while advancing our Yukon First Nations approach to climate action. She renews her energy and spirit by being out on the land, surrounded by her traditional territory, the mountains and lakes of Ase Kaii, Kluani country, and by spending time with her family, her daughter, her elders, her community, and her people. I have known Katie to show up for community time and time again. I have always looked up to Katie as a leader for all Indigenous peoples, especially our young women. She is someone who has worn many hats and has continuously put in the work to be where she is today. Gunashish, so much for being here today, and welcome to Chaiu Iskaidu. Thank you so much for giving me your time today. I'm really grateful and excited to have this time with you. Many of our guests who have joined the podcast have shared what reconnection means to them. It is one of those beautifully intricate concepts that means something different to each and every person. For some, it might be connecting with our non-human relatives, like the salmon that swim in our rivers. For others, it could be reconnecting with ourselves or with one another. Reconnection can take many shapes and forms. So welcome, Katie. I just want to start off with asking if you wanted to add anything that I might have missed about Ishago and your history, where you come from, just to be able to give you that opportunity.

SPEAKER_00 8:51

So honored to be with you today and just to have tea with you and to share, share a bit of my story, but also why I'm I'm on this path. So I really appreciate the introduction.

SPEAKER_01 9:10

Thank you for coming here today. So just begin, we really want to look to the past, this past work, uh, even where this the fruition of the reconnection vision came from, together today for our children tomorrow, from those ancestors really paving that way for us to be here today and to have that opportunity to discover what reconnection means to us, that it's not uh to have that autonomy and that self-determination to be able to find the room to figure out what that means to each and every one of us and to each and every one of our communities. So looking to the past, what does reconnection mean to you?

SPEAKER_00 9:56

It means reconnection for me is like returning to the way of being. And when I say that, I think of um my upbringing and uh being raised in Kloanman, Burwash, Haynes Junction, and within our traditional territory. I was surrounded, and I am still surrounded uh by family, by aunties, by uncles, cousins, uh very strong grandmas. And there was a sense of who we are always uh growing up. And we know we knew who we were in terms of our history, our culture, our teachings, and our responsibility to one another. I have such awesome memories of uh going to different seasonal cultural camps, to, of course, our traditional potlotches. We spent so much time harvesting and going on the land growing up. And so those memories are instilled uh with me. And so I am so grateful and honored to have lived that life. And I feel like um reconnection to me is coming home and and feeling who we are as Kluanman people.

SPEAKER_01 11:19

Goodness, Chish, for sharing that. I really resonated with what you were saying with returning home, especially something that I always try to tell our young people is that you really have to go out and see some of the rest of the world to know how good we have it here.

SPEAKER_00 11:37

Okay, most definitely. I mean, of course, travel and meet different people and go and be with different cultures, but at the end of the day, we can come home. And so that's one of the things that my dad always shared is you can work anywhere and go anywhere, but you'll always have a home. And so I didn't realize that until you get older, that no matter where you are, you always have a place to go. And we go back to our relationships, we go back to our community, we go back to our clan systems and how we live life, and so lucky to have that growing up. And so as we continue with this work, and as a mother myself, I have a daughter, Bella, and she's 15. And I feel that that responsibility of ensuring that she has similar experiences, uh, ensuring that we go back to Kluan Mun so she can be a part of that and know that she has a home as well. So it's it's powerful. And yeah, I always encourage youth to to explore that. And I think that's what reconnection is is making sure that we have that constant connection.

SPEAKER_01 12:54

Yeah, definitely. I think of uh, you know, being able to go home and just like running into people at the at the post office and chit-chatting, and you know, you can't go anywhere without running into people, and just I always feel so loved when I go home. And uh being able to be greeted by our mountains where we go home in our water. I always feel so I always tell my elders, I'm like, man, we're rich. Hey, we're just rich. We're able to go out and go get food and you know, get stuff that we need to make clothes, and we really have everything out there. And so I got a good picture of Tuan Man when you were sharing it and really beautiful traditional territory. So Gansheesh for sharing that. I think to start off the next one, to really give the the listeners, you know, uh a description of what reconnection looks like and paint them kind of a picture from your own experience. Can you describe what reconnection to you like looks like or feels like and even sounds like?

SPEAKER_00 14:03

I had an elder tell me, you know, the work that we do, is it a career or a calling? And that really resonates with me because my work is always a calling, and I feel like it's the creator's work, and there's in terms of creating space for people to come together. So at the heart of everything I do, it's a commitment to community culture, building relationships with one another, and creating experiences that uplift and bring people together in a good way. And I think, of course, I reflect back on the work. I am so like honored to have been one of the co-founders for the Araka Cultural Festival. And that is a seven-day indigenous Yukon First Nation focused festival. And I have many moments of producing that festival every year of such powerful energy, reconnection of like people coming together every year to share art, music, cultural teachings, uh, high tanning to storytelling, and really just bringing people from across Canada. And at one point, we were inviting people internationally to join us. So people really were a part of it. There is a real sense of community here, and when all of us come together, you can really feel that unity and belonging. And so I have such incredible memories of Aduka every year, and it just, and I want to continue that work. I want to be a part of those events that come alive where people are like fully present, they're together, they're singing together, they're laughing together. Those are the moments that I always remember and always uh want to be a part of as I'm moving forward in my calling.

SPEAKER_01 16:11

Yeah, I was just getting so many images of Attica, how much it brings together community and seeing all of our people come together for something really good and and happy. And you know, it's not always times of light. And I think it's times like with Attica that keeps us together and keeps our foundation strong to be able to weather those hard times, right? To be able to have that strong foundation of connection to uh many it's culture, cultural art forms like high tanning, sewing, and all of those tufting, quill, like quill sewing. If you haven't tried it, you should because it's very difficult, but so beautiful and calming and relaxing. And I know that you were a really integral part of that being able to come together and grow. I absolutely love my time with with Attica, just being able to be a part of that indigenous joy I found. It was just very, it made my heart feel really good just to see our people coming together in that way. That form of reconnection, just in terms of and always remembering that connection to each other. Especially, you know, going through COVID. My elder, I forgot what he said it was, but he said COVID was like the sickness that sneaked around. And it's so true, and it really taught us how to isolate, right? And how to be disconnected from each other. And so events like Attica and even Yukon First Nations grad and Moosehide, Hopousty, all of our beautiful events in the summer are really integral to this connection to each other and even to our culture, our people, and of course, our language. And our languages, our eight Yukon First Nation languages, so vast and so different, too. Throughout this work and what you shared in your many different roles and your journey, was there a moment you can remember when everything shifted for you? When you felt called to step into this work and this healing work?

SPEAKER_00 18:34

You mentioned uh COVID. At the time, I was uh, of course, we had to cancel like two Attica cultural festivals because of the restrictions. And I just I there was a calling for me to be like, we need to create space for our artists to create. And so one experience that really changed me was when I helped uh create and produce Dreaming Roots back in 2023. And it was through UConversation Culture and Tourism, because we were they were going to be hosting the Arctic Art Summit, which was leaders from across the circumpolar north. And so I wanted to like, there was a whole collective to create sort of a legacy project, like plant the seed for the next generation of performing artists. And through that process, we were able to create space and nurtured space and safe space for 50 Yukon First Nation artists from across the territory. And we wanted to ensure that artists were ready to share their voice, especially on an international stage. So what made Dreaming Roots different was how we approached it. And usually in doing these types of productions, there's sort of arts protocol, I guess, of like how to work with artists. And instead of telling artists what we needed from them, uh we asked what they needed from us to create. And so it was a year process of um we wrapped supports around each artist with care and love and really deep intentions, and it was such an incredible experience, not only for the team, but also the artists. And we spent days and hours with each artist, and especially during COVID times, it was really healing. Um, there was a lot of restrictions, and we actually didn't pull the show together until the week before the premiere. And so it was grounded in the show, it was grounded in culture and language and what our people wanted to share with not just each other, but with the world, and especially during a time of healing and uncertainty. Um, it was just a powerful production. Through that process, I just shifted on how I see this work. It's not about like managing outcomes or it's about holding space, honoring our people, honoring their stories, and allowing something more deeper, more spiritual as the work came out. And so that's definitely one of my deepest memories of like how powerful art and songs and music and stories and how it translates to like reconnection and healing for our people and for our nations.

SPEAKER_01 21:52

Definitely. I went and seen that actually, and I like I laughed, I cried. It was very, very Very powerful. I actually got goosebumps thinking about it. One of those times of really experiencing our culture in so many shapes and forms. It really shows how diverse we all are, but how we all connect and actually have that, like we all have so many similarities of just where we come from and that certain respect and understanding. But something that I really think about when I think of Dreaming Roots is all of our people and our young people and people who might be struggling with being like, how can I connect? This era of disconnection and cell phones and technology, and it's so easy to stay inside or stay at home and to have that sense of belonging where you see yourself on the stage, you see your language, you see your people. I remember being able to see Shanget up there and seeing it in so many shapes and forms, it shows us it's all possible. And that sense of belonging, I think, is so integral to connection and reconnection. And so I really appreciated you sharing that. Uh, because I think that's events like those and productions like those really bring us our young people in, right? Especially, we're always trying to be like, how do we bring our young people in? And it's it's things like that, like fashion shows and all those different types of we have to speak to them in in many different ways. Something I always try to, and my mom always tells me is that people you have to have a tool bag with many different tools in it. Today you have to have a backpack because you might speak to one person with one tool, but the other tool, it'll work for somebody else, but it might not work for this person. I think looking to the present and your new role as our executive director, our leader in the next chapter of the reconnection vision. And as we move into this next year of this journey, what called you into this work of specifically this climate action through reconnection, this healing work?

SPEAKER_00 24:11

I just feel like being with our young people, it gives me such good energy. The work is deeply aligned with what my values are and how I was raised, the importance of, you know, we talked about like family and community, our traditional knowledge, our language and our responsibilities to one another. And reconnection offers a path forward. I really believe in that. And hope for our young people. We have the responsibility to bring back those values and share it, not just with our community, but to the world. Looking at uh reconnection vision and being a part of some of the circles with the youth, it's so clear that relationships is number one, not just with one another, but with themselves, how they carry themselves on the land and the respect for water, for animals, for all beings. And so, if any time it's now. And so I'm just so honored to walk this path with our young people and to explore what does reconnection like for you? And like you mentioned, how do we get the young people to come into the circle? How do we get them on the land? How do we get them to share their stories? Because the youth have stories to share, and they can, they're the change. And so I want to just create the space for that connection to happen. And so I'm really looking forward to uh being a part of it, and that's why I believe reconnection is climate change. Yeah, a way, that's the way.

SPEAKER_01 26:17

Yeah, and just what you said about our young people and bringing them in, something I always really think about our young people and all of these spaces and how we're trying to bring them into our governments or our environmental work, and in so many capacities, we really want them there. And a lot of the times they don't have a voice at those tables, even though they're the ones that will be around, like your daughter, my little brother, will be around for longer than the people making the decisions about them. And I really try to think of that because the reconnection vision was so beautiful, is that it was guided by youth. It was a message that was given to us from our ancestors to do this work, and we were really just held up to do that work. And I think that's the beautiful part of this next chapter. Is now we're all kind of at that point of being youth in quotation marks, but to train up those and mentor and pass down this these teachings that have been given given to us these last few years. And so you're right, like time, it's so like timely, you coming into this work, and time is something that always arises because time is so precious for our languages, for our earth, and everything. One of my elders said, the gao aya, it is time. What we choose to do with our time means everything. Sometimes the hardest thing is making space in our lives for the things that we care most about. And I have the beautiful honor of witnessing you in many incredible leadership roles, initiatives from Attica to Entrepreneur, and now as our ED of the reconnection vision. So, in this present moment, what helps you create time and stay grounded in your own reconnection while also working in this transformative leadership and community initiatives for Yukon First Nations people, for our four-legged, winged, and Finn relatives. Some might describe it as walking in two worlds or two-eyed seeing, in the words of our Mi'kmaq elder Albert Marshall.

SPEAKER_00 28:38

For me, staying grounded comes the same teachings of reconnection vision, that we have to take care of ourselves in order to be in good relations with everything. And I truly, truly believe that. What helps me the most is going home, a sikayi, and surrounded by just mountains and like such a spiritual, beautiful country. It's a time for me to like slow down and listen and really just connect with the land, with the animals, and just kind of do a reset. Uh, like I mentioned, I I love going to Kloanman with with my daughter. And going home is just part of being connected and like getting to, like you mentioned, going to the General Assembly and getting to see the whole community really keeps me grounded. And just building on those relationships is really important to me as well. I also try to be intentional about creating space, even in really busy times, whether that's taking a walk with my little dog Charlie during back-to-back meetings. Of course, I love going to the hot springs here just to relax. And I work four days a week because we're not built that way. We need to rest in order for us to be focused in the work that we do and just pausing and like really just pacing life because we have a lot of responsibilities, not just in the community, but in our work, in our family. And so I really honor and try to stay balanced as much as I can. That's what helps me being grounded and remembering who I am and where I'm going. And really, I I mentioned this so many times. I just feel like it's our responsibility to set that up and set example for young people for the next generation. How are we gonna make that shift and change so that our young people can carry this work forward, going back to together today for our children tomorrow? So, really setting the stage and taking that responsibility as we move forward.

SPEAKER_01 31:09

Yeah, what I was hearing from what you said was that you really are able to listen to yourself and your needs without having to actually say it. For a lot of us, it is so important to learn how to set those boundaries to protect those times where you need to go and sit in a sauna and have that time to relax or you need to go home, right? And being okay to to advocate that you need a four-day work week. And having, I think, that balance really speaks to this journey of discovering what reconnection means to you. And like I said in the beginning, these are examples that that you are able to use that helps you stay grounded. And it might be going oat berry picking for some, and it might be sewing moccasins for your grandchild, or sewing, you know, a blanket for somebody. And so the beautiful part is I think taking that time to learn how to listen to yourself and to what you need, and being able to be strict with those boundaries and be like, no, I need this time, I need to do this because this is a part of my reconnection. So I think that beautiful part is being able to learn that about yourself, and it sounds I'm still learning, and I think you being able to share that really helps guide people because it's such a big concept, but so beautiful to hear different stories of how people see it in their own lives. Before we close, I just wanted to say a big goodness to our past leader, Jocelyn, our auntie. She guided us for a long time, and I always just want to hold her up, especially because she still shares her loon song that starts us off in a good way, every single podcast for season two. And of course, I always want to hold my hands up to our guests and our visitors on our podcast. Katie Ganesh again for joining us. I hold my hands up to you for your time, e Gau, your stories, e Shkasneek, your history, e Shagun, and everything that you shared with us today to help guide us and teach us the way that you walk in reconnection. That might speak to a lot of people out there listening who are having a hard time to walk that path. This is the first time that we decided to split the podcast episode into two. As you'll see, this one is a part one, and then we have a part two coming. This is because we really wanted to honor everything that La Sinma had to share. And so that is how come it is coming in pieces today. So, next podcast, we'll get to hear the future, her dreams, her goals, and everything that has to do with a reconnection vision, where she wants to see that to go and to mold into and what this work might look like in the future. The next episode, I'll start off with part two sharing a story of a story. It's of my great-great-great-grandfather, and I'm so excited to share a little bit of who I am and my story and how it all connects. That it's so powerful to be able to wait for something that you really truly care about and that you want to listen to and that you want to be a part of. So I just hold my hands up to you all too. This would not be possible without all of our amazing listeners out there. I always invite you to reach out. And if you need to find out any more information or you're just curious and you want to be a part of this reconnection vision and this transformational guide and be like, how do I use this? What are some people doing in the community? You can go to reconnection.vision to find out more information on how to be a part of this. I feel courage that we're all together. In closing, I want to ask the listeners to really take that time to hear all of these stories, yes. But to really sit down. It could be in your favorite place outside. It could be right by a lake that you always enjoyed going to, a river that you like to go fish at. It could be anything that really speaks to you, but to really think about it, feel it in your heart, with your hands on the earth, dream it, and really think about what reconnection means to you. Because that's what's most important is that reconnection to yourself before you can do that reconnection with others. So please take care of yourself. I welcome you all back for part two of Katie Johnson's interview. Get some rest. See you all next time at Chayu with Skydoo.