“Every person on their journey has to learn things in their own way,” says Ryan Dwight MacTavish, a student at the University of Waterloo and a social worker. He’s Mohawk, a member of Turtle Clan and a member of Six Nations of the Grand River. He grew up on reserve until he was six and his mother and had to move away for safety reasons to Brantford. His biological father was deeply impacted by trauma and caused a lot of harm. His mother remarried someone who embraced MacTavish and his brother as his own children. Living off reserve brought challenges in terms of separation from language, culture and community, as much as it brought physical safety and security. Later in life, he reconnected and reawakened his connection to culture.

As far as his education, MacTavish went to high school in Brantford, involved in athletic council, student council, was the valedictorian and received band funding to go to university to study psychology. He wasn’t academically ready and ended up dropping out. He worked in restaurants for a decade until someone asked him what he was planning on doing with his life and he decided to go back to school for social work. He paid back the band for the courses he didn’t pass and received funding to try again. The University of Waterloo instituted a waiver program to make tuition free for students from his nation which was helpful. Now, he’s beginning his Master’s program at Laurier for an Indigenous specific program.

If MacTavish could send a message to his younger self it would be, “Just try to be humble.” He wished he had asked himself deeper questions about why he was going to school and not just gone because his friends were going. “Find something you care about and invest in that. If you let your heart kind of guide you in that way, there's no failure. It's all going to be beautiful lessons,” he urges. He also ran into problems because he was offered help and didn’t take it. He also felt disconnected and let his pride get in the way. Now, he’s the one making connections and offering help while building relationships.

Helping along his journey primarily are his family and his partner who encouraged him to chase his dreams. MacTavish has also been supported by people working with places like Crow Shield Lodge, Willow River Centre, The Healing of Seven Generations, and Anishnabeg Outreach. Working with elders and knowledge keepers has helped him grow.  “Don't be afraid to connect with people that challenge who you are and push the boundaries of who you are, because that's where growth is,” he advises.

His advice for a young person deciding what to do next is, “find a tree, a big old tree, and go and sit under it and just feel its energy, get connected to the land. Just really sit with yourself before you start to go and ask the creator, or before you go and hand some tobacco to an elder and start asking them for these teachings and directions, ‘Where should I go? What should I do?’ You’ve got to sit with yourself. That's really at the heart of it. I find the best place to do that is just putting yourself in nature and listening, just really listening, because I find most of those answers are definitely inside you. I know it sounds cliche, but you really listen to what your heart is telling you, it's not going to lead you wrong. It really won't.”

His other advice is to show up when someone invites you out and offers to help connect you to community.  “Just show up, because I'm telling you, magic will happen, if that's the case. And once you start showing up and the magic happens, you're not going to want to leave. You're going to look for the next event. You're going to want to get connected. Build those relationships, trust yourself,” he encourages.

After failing his first try at university and spending a decade in the restaurant industry, life served up a second chance at following his dreams, he just had to do the work… and he did. He had to learn things his own way and it took some time to come back around, but Ryan Dwight MacTavish became a social worker and is building relationships to help people find their own way. Disconnected and reconnected, he found his way back to culture and community after having to move away to find safety as a child.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.