My new Native hero, Chief Clarence Louie.

[petros]

Where can they go?.. Really?

The library?

 

[Machjo]

Where can they go?.. Really?

Are you somehow under the impression that Cree culture can only be practiced in one specific location?.. Impossible to teach and celebrate in someone's home? Taught by parents to their children?

Man, you sure do have some kinda high regard for Nanny-Statism and the omnipotent goodness of gvt legislation

Language and culture are not so easy to maintain in a minority context over many generations.

I wonder which version of Cree he expects us all to know?

Let the cree decide that?

Legislate all dialects.. That's only fair.

And just so everything is all equal-like; perhaps we can legislate that all business in Canada be transacted by those with at least a little Cree blood in them. The Feds can mandate a program of Cree blood transfusions to any people for economic and cultural preservation purposes.

Does does bloodline have to do with culture?

The library?

Yeah . Go see how many cree books are in your local library.

 

[petros]

Language and culture are not so easy to maintain in a minority context over many generations.



Let the cree decide that?

The opportunity to learn is available. There is even n App to learn Cree on your iGadget. https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/creedictionary/id381010402?mt=8

Which Cree? I vote for Plains

Yeah . Go see how many cree books are in your local library.

Hundreds if not thousands.

Albert Branch
1401 Robinson Street
Regina, SK

S4T 2N7

Phone: 306-777-6076
Fax: 306-949-7265
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Albert Branch is an inner-city branch that serves the North Central area of Regina. A significant segment of the population in this area is of Aboriginal ancestry; the Branch offers an extensive collection of adult and juvenile items that focus on Aboriginal peoples. The Branch also offers programming that develops knowledge and understanding of the diverse cultural groups in Regina, while highlighting the Aboriginal community.

The Aboriginal collection includes fiction and non-fiction titles, CDs and cassettes, periodicals, and Cree language material. The Cree language material consists of workbooks, dictionaries, flashcards and children's picture books.

Regina Public Library :: Locations :: Albert Branch

Want to hear Canadian Tire ads or news in Cree and Dene? Welcome to MBC Network Radio Online

 

[captain morgan]

Language and culture are not so easy to maintain in a minority context over many generations.

Yet, so many other cultures have managed to buck-the-odds and keep their cultures alive despite being so far away from the home land.

Say... Didn't Ukrainian Christmas just pass by?

You'd almost think that was an impossibility as the Feds didn't legislate its existence.

Let the cree decide that?

Nope... Favoring group over the other would ultimately lead to the passing of the others... All dialects MUST be legislated for.

Does does bloodline have to do with culture?

... About as much as legislating one's culture

 

[petros]

Say... Didn't Ukrainian Christmas just pass by?

8 days ago. Malanka (New years) was on Saturday.

 

[Machjo]

Being far away from your homeland is not as big a deal if your homeland has a populous nation behind it.

And don't we legislate in favour of English and French, or is that our sacred cow?

As for Petros, thanks for the info. I didn't realise there were so many publications in the cree language. Thanks for the education there. Captain, maybe you could learn from Petros here.

 

[captain morgan]

8 days ago. Malanka (New years) was on Saturday.

Well, I for one refuse to believe that this alleged event occurred here in Canada... Why, I've scoured the Fed regulations and legislation and there is no reference or laws passed that require Ukrainian Culture (let alone Christmas) be celebrated, it is therefore impossible that this cultural tradition exists in Canada

Maybe you're thinking in Kiev, but certainly not here.

 

[petros]

As for Petros, thanks for the info. I didn't realise there were so many publications in the cree language. Thanks for the education there.

Ay hay

 

[captain morgan]

Captain, maybe you could learn from Petros here.

Sorry... As per my above comments; it is impossible that these books even exist as there is no Federal legislation requiring such.

Pete is having some fun here at your expense

 

[petros]

Well, I for one refuse to believe that this alleged event occurred here in Canada... Why, I've scoured the Fed regulations and legislation and there is no reference or laws passed that require Ukrainian Culture (let alone Christmas) be celebrated, it is therefore impossible that this cultural tradition exists in Canada

Maybe you're thinking in Kiev, but certainly not here.

I missed the bash downtown this year but friends and family say a good time was had by all.

 

[captain morgan]

I missed the bash downtown this year but friends and family say a good time was had by all.

I used to get invited to friends' homes during that time.. Great people, great fun, great food.... I sure do need to make some Ukrainian friends here... I miss it terribly

 

[petros]

I used to get invited to friends' homes during that time.. Great people, great fun, great food.... I sure do need to make some Ukrainian friends here... I miss it terribly

If you want the ultimate experience, go to Uke Fest in Dauphin MB.

 

[captain morgan]

If you want the ultimate experience, go to Uke Fest in Dauphin MB.

I'll have to keep that in mind. In the past, we used to travel to Dauphin (in the area) to go fishing.

 

[petros]

I'll have to keep that in mind. In the past, we used to travel to Dauphin (in the area) to go fishing.

At Clear Lake?

 

[captain morgan]

At Clear Lake?

Forget the name, but it was in Riding Mountain National Park

 

[petros]

Forget the name, but it was in Riding Mountain National Park

Clear Lake would be it.

 

[Mowich]

'Indian Time doesn't cut it' for innovative chief with on-the-edge humour


ROY MacGREGOR
From Thursday's Globe and Mail.

FORT McMURRAY — The man with the PowerPoint presentation is miffed.

He is speaking to a large aboriginal conference and some of the attendees, including a few who hold high office, have straggled in.

“I can't stand people who are late,” he says into the microphone.

“Indian Time doesn't cut it.”

Some giggle, but no one is quite sure how far he is going to go. Just sit back and listen:

“My first rule for success is ‘Show up on time. My No. 2 rule for success is follow Rule No. 1.”

“If your life sucks, it's because you suck.”

“Quit your sniffling.”

“Join the real world — go to school or get a job.”

“Get off of welfare. Get off your butt.”

He pauses, seeming to gauge whether he dare, then does.

“People often say to me, ‘How you doin'?' Geez — I'm working with Indians — what do you think?”

Now they are openly laughing ... applauding. Clarence Louie is everything that was advertised — and more.

“Our ancestors worked for a living,” he says. “So should you.”

He is, fortunately, aboriginal himself. If someone else stood up and said these things — the white columnist standing there with his mouth open, for example — “You'd be seen as a racist.”

Instead, Chief Clarence Louie is seen, increasingly, as one of the most interesting and innovative native leaders in the country — even though he avoids national politics.

He has come here to Fort McMurray because the aboriginal community needs, desperately, to start talking about economic development and what all this multibillion-dollar oil madness might mean, for good and for bad.

Clarence Louie is chief — and CEO — of the Osoyoos Band in British Columbia's South Okanagan. He is 44 years old, though he looks like he would have been an infant when he began his remarkable 20-year-run as chief. He took a band that had been declared bankrupt and taken over by Indian Affairs and he has turned in into an inspiration.

In 2000, the band set a goal of becoming self-sufficient in five years. They're there.
The Osoyoos, 432 strong, own, among other things, a vineyard, a winery, a golf course and a tourist resort, and they are partners in the Baldy Mountain ski development. They have more businesses per capita than any first nation in Canada.

There are not only enough jobs for everyone, there are so many jobs being created that there are now members of 13 other tribal communities working for the Osoyoos. The little band contributes $40-million a year to the area economy.

Chief Louie is tough. He is as proud of the fact that his band fires its own people as well as hires them. He has his mottos pasted throughout the “Rez.” He believes there is “no such thing as consensus,” that there will always be those who disagree. And, he says, he is milquetoast compared to his own mother when it comes to how today's lazy aboriginal youth, almost exclusively male, should be dealt with.

“Rent a plane,” she told him, “and fly them all to Iraq. Dump 'em off and all the ones who make it back are keepers. Right on, Mom.”

The message he has brought here to the Chipewyan, Dene and Cree who live around the oil sands is equally direct: Get involved, create jobs — and meaningful jobs, not just “window dressing” for the oil companies.

“The biggest employer,” he says, “shouldn't be the band office.”

He also says the time has come to “get over it.” No more whining about 100-year-old failed experiments. No foolishly looking to the Queen to protect rights.

Louie says aboriginals here and along the Mackenzie Valley should not look at any sharing in development as “rocking-chair money” but as investment opportunity to create sustainable businesses. He wants them to move beyond entry-level jobs to real jobs they “earn” — all the way to the boardrooms. He wants to see “business manners” develop: showing up on time, working extra hours. The business lunch, he says, should be “drive through,” and then right back at it.

“You're going to lose your language and culture faster in poverty than you will in economic development,” he says to those who say he is ignoring tradition.

Tough talk, at times shocking talk given the audience, but on this day in this community, they took it — and, judging by the response, they loved it.

“Eighty per cent like what I have to say,” Louie says, “Twenty per cent don't. I always say to the 20 per cent, ‘Get over it. Chances are you're never going to see me again and I'm never going to see you again. Get some counselling.'”

The first step, he says, is all about leadership. He prides himself on being “a stay-home chief who looks after the potholes in his own backyard” and wastes no time “running around fighting 100-year-old battles.

“The biggest challenge will be how you treat your own people."

“Blaming government? That time is over.”
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv...ront/?page=rss&id=RTGAM.20060921.wmacgregor21

He had me at hello!!!

Chief Louie rocks big time..........have been a supporter of his for awhile now. Great article, Bear.......thanks.

I think "Indian time" as it's called is not that bad of a thing. I think that far too many people are stressed out about getting here on time and there on time and meeting this deadline or that deadline and not meeting someones approval because they are late because a train happened to slow them down or something...something uncontrollable like that.

It's one thing to be legitimately late as per the train reference. It is totally another to be late just because someone can't move themselves to be there on time. Besides being rude, it shows that the person who shows up late has no concern for others left waiting for him/her. Everyone's time is important.

 

[L Gilbert]

Excuse me... You mean we've been a joke for hundreds of yrs, I know a white-wash denial when I hear it.

Nope. That isn't what I meant at all. Give your head a shake. You know absolutely nothing about me ( and obviously not Louie either) yet you judge me like you judged Louie? Grow up, child.
Just for your information, I married an Anishinaabe woman. Not only that I grew up with and am still friends with quite a few aboriginals from various parts of Canada from Sinxt, Dene, Tlingit, Meti, Cree, western Canadian coastal natives, a few southwestern American natives, etc.
As I mentioned before, it seems you failed to grasp that Louie was making jokes about the jokes.

Excuse you? Nope. There's no excuse for hotheaded ignorance. I'd suggest thinking first then opening your fat yap instead of the other way round. You're not doing "your" people any favors the way you're going.

 

[Mowich]

Reclaim the spirit of your ancestors and continue our journey that has brought us this far.

The ancestors of his community are more than likely dancing in the other world, thankful that someone came forward to lead their people out of lives of poverty. Chief Louie is a shining example of what can be done if there is the will and the determination to go forward.

A hand up is always better than a hand out.

:thumbup:

 

[L Gilbert]

Chief Louie rocks big time..........have been a supporter of his for awhile now. Great article, Bear.......thanks.

Ah, finally a post that's on topic.
Not sure who sidetracked this or how it ended up being a topic about speaking Cree in Saskatchewan.
Again, some info about OIB:

OIBDC

Okanagan Training & Development Council - Osoyoos Indian Band

Here's something the band has done:

Canada First Nations, Osoyoos Indian Band | NK'MIP Resort

And here's a little bit more about Louie:

Clarence Louie, Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band - The Globe and Mail