I’m Indigenous Canadian and I remember living with my 90 year grandfather in the 1980s … he was an Ojibway/Cree hunter trapper who was born in the bush and lived on the land all his life and he was a first world war veteran (he never saw action but he was the first in our family to see Europe). He only spoke our language and knew just a few English words (which is amazing because he had been to England and back and never bothered to learn English). Our whole family spoke our language so we were freely able to listen to all his stories. We took lots of pictures back then but for some strange reason, we don’t have many photos of him. We just took for granted that he was there and that someone, somewhere was taking pictures … but it turned out that not enough people did.

I only remember bits and pieces because I was a wild kid that never sat at home … now I just wish I had spent more time with him, taken photos and even video recorded him. I’ll always remember him sitting outside our front door in the summer in his warm wool clothes soaking up the warm sun. We live in a cold part of the country so the sun and warmth were always important to him. He had so much history, so much information and so much to share … I will forever feel bad about losing all that.

Which is why I want to say … take lots of photos … record a video … record her voice, even if you don’t understand … record as much as possible and often … those recordings, the pictures and the sounds will become precious memories you’ll treasure for life. I remember what my grandfather sounded like … but I just wish I could hear him again.