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Kinew shares stories, spirituality
 Media Credit: Adam Masloski Peter Kinew speaks to a packed room Tuesday in Atwood’s Glacier Room. Kinew, an Ojibwe from Winnipeg, Canada, spoke to the crowd about spirituality.
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Peter Kinew, whose American Indian name is Tobasonakwut, was visited by one of his elders in a dream.
In this dream, his elder told him that at a Lakota gathering he would see a young man that looked exactly like his dead son.
Kinew was to approach this man and talk to him.
Kinew is a respected leader and elder of the great Ojibwe Nation. The Ojibwe language is very important to Kinew and he makes a point to speak it as often as he can. He spoke his native language Tuesday at 11 a.m. in Atwood’s glacier room as he discussed Anishinabe spirituality to an attentive crowd. Anishinabe is what the Ojibwe call themselves. It translates into “original men.”
Kinew attended the Lakota gathering shortly after his dream. While there he did notice someone that looked exactly like his dead son. He approached the young man with an offering of tobacco and they proceeded to talk for a couple of hours. At the end of their conversation Kinew asked him if he would become his adopted son.
The young man said that he would consider the offer, but would have to talk to his parents first. He said that he would find Kinew when his parents came later in the evening.
Kinew left law school one year before graduation. He had recently lost two sons in a car accident as well as three other children within five years. After this tragedy he decided to go back to his native roots.
“It wasn’t what I wanted to be doing,” Kinew said. “I made the decision to go back and embrace the teachings of my people.”
He then began concentrating on his native culture and language and helping others rediscover it also.
A gifted orator, Kinew told many stories to the crowded room; one was about how he dealt with the grief of losing his sons.
Shortly after his meeting with the young man Kinew was approached with an offering of tobacco by a man that was around his own age. The man told him that he looked exactly like his dead brother. They talked for a while and then the man asked Kinew if he would become his adopted brother.
Kinew said he would be honored to.
In Ojibwe culture adoption is a way to deal with grief.
“When we love somebody, that love needs to be accepted,” Kinew said.
He went on to explain that when a loved one dies, those left behind still have love inside of them that they had for that person. The love still needs to be accepted by someone. Through adoption, people can find a healthy outlet for their love and, in turn, go through the grieving process more easily.
As a result of his spirituality, Kinew developed a relationship with the Lakota that allowed him to go through all of the grieving cycles.
“What is it inside of us that make us see? What is this force inside of us?” Kinew asked the audience.
After the man who had asked Kinew to become his adopted brother left, the young man Kinew had first spoken to found him and said that his parents were now there and that Kinew could come meet them.
Kinew met them and was amazed that the young man’s father happened to be the man that had just asked Kinew himself to become his adopted brother.
“It’s amazing how things come full circle. Everyone has their own concept of spirituality,” said non-traditional student Sheryl Stimpson. “I found the presentation very interesting. It made a lot of sense.”
Kinew ended his presentation with parting words for the audience.
“Something is at work in all of us,” he said.
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