PROFILES
PROFILES
Canadian Aboriginal Women (Part I)
By Essam Farag
During my convocation ceremony at the University of Guelph in February 2004, a special person was to be awarded an honourary doctorate of laws. This woman was Dr. Roberta Jamieson, an Aboriginal lawyer and distinguished Canadian celebrity. Her powerful and moving lecture stuck in my memory and challenged me to write about the great achievements of Aboriginal woman in all aspects of Canadian society - a sector of the Canadian fabric that is seldom recognized. This article is a dedication to Dr. Jamieson and all women belonging to minority groups in appreciation for their contributions.
This article presents the stories of six distinguished Canadian Aboriginal women: Roberta Jamieson,, Gwen Crane, Mary Ellen Turpel-Lafond, Lillian Dyck, Delia Opekokew, and Janice Acoose. These women had to struggle to prove themselves in Canada not only as women but also as Aboriginals; succeeding in reaching great heights and achieving celebrity status. This article seeks to challenge youth around the world to strive to achieve success regardless of the hurdles they might face, with the dream of creating a better society for future generations.
Dr. Roberta Jamieson is the first aboriginal woman to receive her law degree, former Ontario ombudsman , will receive an honorary degree during the University of Guelph's winter convocation Feb.18 and 19 in Gryphon Dome. Some 700 students will receive degrees during three ceremonies. On Feb. 19, Jamieson will receive an honorary doctorate of laws and deliver the convocation address at the 10 a.m. ceremony for the College of Social and Applied Human Sciences. Her career has been marked by a series of firsts. In addition to being the first woman to serve as Ontario's ombudsman and the first aboriginal woman to receive a law degree, she was the first aboriginal commissioner of the Indian Commission of Ontario and the first female chief of the Canada's most populous reserve, the Six Nations Reserve on the Grand River. She's a recipient of the Order of Canada, the National Aboriginal Achievement Award, the Indigenous People's Council Award and eight other honorary degrees. She is also the founding president of the Canadian Ombudsman Institute and helped found the Centre for Research into Women's Health.
Gwen O'Soup Crane was the first elected woman leader of a Canadian aboriginal people in 1955, when she was became chief of the Saskatchewan's Key First Nation located by Kamsack. A political service was limited to a single two-year term. Nevertheless, she maintained an energetic bland of goodwill and frank opinions throughout her life. She had a huge smile that broke down barriers and would light up a room. As a child, she only completed grade 8, because that was the mandated limit for Saskatchewan Indians. She continued to attend school as a babysitter for the teacher's children so that she could absorb more learning. One of her initiatives as a chief, was to organize a fundraising drive on the reserve for the Union Hospital in the nearby town of Norquay. She pushed all of her children to get an education and she was the first woman porter at the Royal Alexandra Hospital. As a result, six of her children earned university degrees; the seventh is a professional craftsman, a tiller. Gwen Crane, the aboriginal leader, firmly believed that education was the vehicle for her people to achieve equality and develop internally on the reserve. She had become disillusioned with Indian politics, and died last August in Regina with a stroke. Other Aboriginal women to be elected as chiefs include Alphonsine Mary Lafond, Chief of the Muskeg Lake First Nation in 1960; Mary-Ann Day Walker-Pelletier, Chief of the Okanese First Nation in 1981; and Laura Big Eagle, Chief of the newly created Ocean Man First Nation in 1991.
Dr. Lillian Dyck, 60, a neuropsychiatrist who received her PhD in biological chemistry at the University of Saskatchewan. She is also the author of a research study that ruled out a genetic predisposition towards alcoholism among aboriginals. She was born of a Chinese immigrant father and a Cree mother and is a member of the Gordon First Nation. She earned the National Aboriginal Achievement Award for Science and Technology in 1999 since she is interested to make aboriginal issues her priority. She works at the University of Saskatchewan looking for a drug that treats stroke, Alzheimer’s, and schizophrenia. In addition to research, she teaches at the graduate level in neuropsychiatry, neurochemistry and the field of alcohol and drug abuse.
Delia Opekokew, educated at Osgoode Law School and the University of Winnipeg, Ms. Opekokew is an experienced lawyer, specializing in Aboriginal and treaty law. She has provided counsel to clients across Canada, most recently as General Counsel to the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations. Other work experience includes being a Commissioner on the Lachance/Nerland Commission of Inquiry; the negotiator for the Tallcree Tribal Government of Alberta's Treaty Land Entitlement; the negotiator for the Eel River First Nation of New Brunswick's loss of use claim; and the negotiator for the Canoe Lake Cree Nation in Saskatchewan settlement. Ms. Opekokew who is also an established Aboriginal writer, whose credits include work on the Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples, 1996, and publications for numerous Canadian universities and the Institute for the Development of Indian Law, in Washington, D.C. Born on the Canoe Lake Indian Reserve in Saskatchewan, Ms. Opekokew, was the first woman to run for the position of the Grand Chief of the Assembly of First Nations in 1994.
Janice Acoose is an Associate Professor with the First Nations University of Canada. She is studying for a doctorate in English. As a writer, she was Saskatchewan's first native affairs columnist for the Saskatoon Star Phoenix. Her roots stem from the Sakimay (Saulteaux) First Nation and the Marival Metis Community. Born in Broadview, Saskatchewan in 1954, she attended the Cowesis Indian Residential School in the early 1960's, and was culturally nourished in both the Saulteaux and Metis ways. As both Professor and Student of Indigenous literature, Ms. Acoose aspires to empower Indigenous peoples through critical reading and writing in the English language while simultaneously advocating for the retention of Indigenous languages. Through her studies within mainstream university she strives to ensure that First Nations and Metis cultures are acknowledged, represented, honoured, and celebrated in all disciplines. Accordingly, in her doctoral work, she is studying the work of Cree, Metis, and Ojibway/Saulteaux writers and debunking the notion that Indigenous people are one big brown blob - singular and culturally indistinguishable from one another. Ms. Acoose is a writer/scholar/producer who has utilized print, video, radio and television to enlighten mainstream society about the beauty, strength, and power of First Nations and Metis peoples.
Essam Farag, BA Honors (Dalhousie), MA (Guelph) is currently the special projects coordinator for the National Council on Canada-Arab Relations (NCCAR). He is the Production Editor of the Ambassadors Magazine. Email: essamfarag@ambassadors.net
