Changing perspectives: attempting to de-colonize the gaze of a Canadian medical student

Sitting in a circle of women, participating in a traditional Indigenous ceremony, I feel my hands begin to sweat. The tobacco in my left palm darkens in color as it sticks to the growing beads. It has come to the time in the ceremony when all women present introduce themselves. I listen as one by one, they speak about their origins, the tribe and clan of their family, and how they came to be here in this room, together. My anxiety builds as my turn gets closer and closer. Myself, a 4th year medical student with no Indigenous heritage, I am faced with the difficult questions of who am I? And how did I come to be here?