Haida mask
Written by: Julie Ovenell-CarterMy old J-school pal Stuart (who apparently feels personally responsible for keeping my ego in check) will no doubt give me endless grief about this, but tonight I will happily don pantyhose and silk for a gala soiree at the River Rock, hosted by Aboriginal Tourism BC.
It seems I am the winner of the inaugural ATBC media award–an honour of which I am particularly proud because I didn’t set out to win it. It recognizes a body of work that began more than a decade ago with a profile of Chief Sophie Pierre in Canadian Living, and ends with a couple of Globe and Mail pieces about the Haida Heritage Centre in Haida Gwaii and the Squamish Lil’Wat Cultural Centre in Whistler.
Here is what I plan to say tonight:
Last week, when I told my best friend, a woman I have known since the age of 12, that I had been recognized with this award she responded as I feared she would: she laughed out loud. She just could not believe that her friend, who for so many years had lacked any sort of compassion and curiosity for the stories of the First Nations people, had apparently made such a dramatic about-face.
This award is less about anything I have done, and more about what you in this room have done for me. I owe a debt of gratitude to the many people–elders, youth, Natives and non-Natives–who have patiently helped me adjust my story-telling lens to more sensitively reflect a culture and a world view that I had largely misunderstood for the first three decades of my life. It was Chief Sophie Pierre who started me on the road to understanding, Nora Weber who pushed me to keep going, and men and women like Jason Alsop and Deanna Lewis who attended me with grace and patience on my slow journey–which is still so far from over.
I hope that my writings and the work of other media colleagues help to advance the general public’s meagre understanding of and appreciation for First Nations culture, and to support First Nations tourism initiatives in Canada. When we come to you so full of questions, please remember that our ignorance is often neither deliberate nor willful. It is just an emptiness that needs filling. We must each approach the other with an open mind and an open heart. Thank you.
Chris Corrigan
on March 19th, 2009Congrats Julie…and this is a lovely speech too…I wish more Canadians could make the switch and see that our cultures and communities are not just dying curiosities but vibrant cradles of new thinking, innovative enterprise and a deeply important world views. That is certainly not to negate all the shit that goes on and all the stuff we have to work on, but there is so much more to Aboriginal Canada than just what people think they know.
Sohpie for example…I was running a meeting at St. Mary’s just after it opened for a bunch of Tribal Councils from across Canada. Sophie welcomed us to the territory and the community and hosted a performace of Ktunaxa dances in a private room we had just off the main dining room. At the conclusion of the performance she caught herself by remembering that the room had been the chapel in the residential school, and this was the first time traditional Ktunaxa culture had been allowed in this room. It was a moving moment and a testiment to how much things can change in one life time. Dances that would have resulted in corporal punishment or worse just 50 years ago are now practiced openly and fearlessly today.
I’ll bet your recognition is in part due to that way of seeing that legitimizes our communities and people in some small way. Enjoy the evening!
Stuart Colcleugh
on March 19th, 2009Sweetie, keeping your ego in check is more than a one-stuey job, as your husband Bradford and the kids can attest, but in this case I say take a big, theatrical bow. You most assuredly deserve it. I’m surprised, though, that you didn’t mention your treaty process communications work with Indian Affairs, which surely had some influence on your sensitivity to aboriginal concerns and culture. (I acquired mine almost by osmosis, growing up a stone’s throw from the Squamish Nation’s Capilano reserve, the source of several now lifelong friends I went to school with and/or later partied with as a young dude at the late, great Big O and the St. Alice hotels in North Vancouver.) Anyway, girl, good on ya once again.
Susan Munro
on March 19th, 2009Congratulations, Julie. I like your speech, too.
Have I mentioned how much I like your blog? I’m working on a theory that although lots of people blog, many of those blogs aren’t worth reading, largely because their authors can’t write. (Statement of the obvious, I guess.)
Your blog is one of the best … why? Because you have good ideas and a real ability to get them across!
Cheerio,
Susan
(I like Chris Corrigan’s blog, too …)