Kolin Sutherland-Wilson—Indigenous activist, father, and aspiring storyteller and videomaker from the village of Anspayaxw—speaks about the revolutionary act of naming. Born into the Fireweed Clan of the Gitxsan Nation and the son of Hereditary Chief Art Wilson, Kolin reflects on how choosing to give his daughter a fully Indigenous name became an act of breaking chains that have bound his people for generations.
He speaks of the long pattern—born from colonization—of Indigenous families giving their children English names in an attempt to survive, to blend in, to avoid punishment or shame. A pattern that carried the heartbreak of identity fracture, leaving many young people suspended between worlds: Indigenous in their bones, but unnamed in their own languages.
By choosing an unbroken Gitxsan name for his daughter, Kolin describes stepping into a new lineage—one that refuses erasure. One that tells a child from the first breath: you belong. He names this as an act of restoring Indigenous identity, of weaving cultural memory back into everyday life, and of helping the next generation avoid the turmoil of growing up in a colonial society that tries to sever them from who they are.
In the context of cultural suppression, language loss, and intergenerational identity crises, his words land with profound resonance: naming as reclamation; naming as resistance; naming as a future-shaping act of love.
Kolin’s voice carries vision, courage, and devotion to his people—guiding us into a truth that is both intimate and deeply political: sometimes revolution begins with what we choose to call our children.
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