Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples
352
Rez Rules: My Indictment of Canada's and America's Systemic Racism Against Indigenous Peoples
352Paperback
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Overview
In 1984, at the age of twenty-four, Clarence Louie was elected Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band in the Okanagan Valley. Nineteen elections later, Chief Louie has led his community for nearly four decades. The story of how the Osoyoos Indian Band—“The Miracle in the Desert”—transformed from a Rez that once struggled with poverty into an economically independent people is well-known. Guided by his years growing up on the Rez, Chief Louie believes that economic and business independence are key to self-sufficiency, reconciliation, and justice for First Nations people.
In Rez Rules, Chief Louie writes about his youth in Osoyoos, from early mornings working in the vineyards, to playing and coaching sports, and attending a largely white school in Oliver, B.C. He remembers enrolling in the “Native American Studies” program at the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College in 1979 and falling in love with First Nations history. Learning about the historic significance of treaties was life-changing. He recalls his first involvement in activism: participating in a treaty bundle run across the country before embarking on a path of leadership. He and his band have worked hard to achieve economic growth and record levels of employment. Inspired by his ancestors’ working culture, and by the young people on the reserve, Chief Louie continues to work for First Nations’ self-sufficiency and independence.
Direct and passionate, Chief Louie brings together wide-ranging subjects: life on the Rez, including Rez language and humour; per capita payments; the role of elected chiefs; the devastating impact of residential schools; the need to look to culture and ceremony for governance and guidance; the use of Indigenous names and logos by professional sports teams; his love for motorcycle honour rides; and what makes a good leader. He takes aim at systemic racism, and sounds a call to action for First Nations to “Indian Up!” and “never forget our past.” Offering leadership lessons on and off the Rez, this memoir describes the fascinating life and legacy of a remarkable leader.
Product Details
| ISBN-13: | 9780771048357 |
|---|---|
| Publisher: | McClelland & Stewart |
| Publication date: | 02/07/2023 |
| Pages: | 352 |
| Sales rank: | 663,970 |
| Product dimensions: | 5.20(w) x 7.96(h) x 0.92(d) |
About the Author
Read an Excerpt
From the Introduction
A book from a Chief is rare. Over the last fifteen years or so, I have been asked by many people, both Native and non-Native, “When is your book coming out?” I have written many articles and have given hundreds of keynote speeches all over North America, as well as speeches in Australia, New Zealand, Germany, and France, but when people asked me about putting my thoughts and what I have learned over those many years of leadership down on paper, I never gave it more than a casual thought.
It took a child to change my mind.
Back in December 2016 I received a letter from Siera, a little girl I had never met. Her grade four class was doing a project on leadership, and at the suggestion of her dad, she had selected me as someone to interview. I imagine her dad had heard of the Osoyoos Indian Band and me through the many media reports on the success of our economic and business development. The Osoyoos Indian Band (OIB) has more businesses and joint ventures on a per capita basis than any other First Nation in Canada, a fact that has turned us into an economic power in the South Okanagan Valley of British Columbia.
In Canada there are over three thousand federal Indian reserves. Some are very small (only a few acres), and the biggest is the Blood Tribe in Southern Alberta, which sprawls over some 350,000 acres. In the United States there are 326 federal Indian reservations, with the largest being the Navajo Nation, at sixteen million acres. White people in the U.S. call where Native people live “reservations.” In Canada, white people say “reserve.” We who live there call it simply “the Rez.”
My Rez, the Osoyoos Indian Band, is one of those rare First Nations that has more jobs than it does band members (540 members, with more than a thousand jobs). We own a golf course, cement company, cultural centre, RV park and campground, two gas bars, winery, vineyard, sewage and water utilities, and forestry operations, plus thousands of acres of leased property in vineyards, a hotel, preschool and grade school, and commercial and residential properties. We have gained national attention through such highly visible business pro-jects as our joint venture with Arterra Wines, Canada’s biggest wine producer. We had Canada’s most famous race car driver, Jacques Villeneuve, build his signature racetrack here on the Osoyoos Rez.
The Osoyoos Indian Band has focused on putting what I call the original “treaty relationship,” based on business and economic and social independence, into action. Not long ago, a Globe and Mail article called it “The Miracle in the Desert.” In a way, it is exactly that. The Osoyoos Indian Band proves that when a First Nation is not dependent (in a welfare state) but independent (in a business state) while contributing to the local, regional, and national economy, it is good for all of Canada and the United States.
In her own little-girl handwriting, Siera asked me five questions, and she said she hoped that I would respond in writing. Now, I had received requests like this before, from students of all ages from across the country. I’m always deeply honoured and I make sure to free up time to accommodate such requests. I have also written multi-page personal thoughts and feelings that I have shared from time to time with Osoyoos Indian Band staff and members. But this was different.
Siera’s questions were excellent. They reminded me of something often said by leadership expert John Maxwell: “Good leaders ask great questions.” I decided to answer the five questions in far more detail than a grade four student would need, as I also wanted to share my answers with my own kids as well as with members and staff of the Osoyoos Indian Band, of which I have been Chief for over thirty-five years. I answered the little girl’s questions on leadership in many pages, and after my grown daughter Sarenna read my answers, she said, “Dad, you really should write a book.” That gave me the push I needed.
Recently, I received a surprise phone call from former prime minister of Canada Brian Mulroney. He told me, “The only thing that lives on in history are books. So write a book so your children and grand-children can read the words you leave behind.” This book is not a biography, but it is about my time as Chief of the Osoyoos Indian Band. It is about the leadership path I have been on since I started organizing sports teams as a teenager, and that continued later as I became a lifelong student of Native issues throughout North America. Most importantly, though, it’s going to tackle issues that have and continue to confront North America’s Native population (racism, multi-generational trauma, economic disparity), and it’s going to do so with some tough talk . . . it’s not always going to be pretty or popular or politically correct, but it’s going to be the truth, from someone who lives the Rez experience every day.
Table of Contents
Foreword by The Right Honourable Paul Martin xiii
Acknowledgements xvii
Introduction 1
Chapter 1 "Indian Magic" 13
Chapter 2 Rez Culture 36
Chapter 3 Rez Lingo 58
Chapter 4 No More Broken Windows 73
Chapter 5 Per Capita 80
Chapter 6 The "Indian Problem" 95
Chapter 7 Indian Residential and Boarding Schools 100
Chapter 8 Native Sports Logos and Rez Life 119
Chapter 9 It's the Economic Horse that Pulls the Social Cart 131
Chapter 10 "It's the Economy, Stupid" 152
Chapter 11 Kings, Queens, Prime Ministers, Presidents … and Other Great White Superior Myths 167
Chapter 12 Reconciliation: Time for Canada and the United States to Tell the Truth 186
Chapter 13 Be a Leader, Not a Politician 208
Chapter 14 Rez Elections 238
Chapter 15 "Listen to the Wind": Traditional Decision-Making and Leadership Lessons 256
Chapter 16 The Terrible Truth about Consultants, Lawyers, and Accountants 271
Chapter 17 Hereditary Chiefs versus Elected Chiefs 285
Chapter 18 "That Hurts the Earth, Papa!" 294
Chapter 19 "Who's Your Favourite Indian?" 304
Chapter 20 Damn, I'm Lucky to Be an Indian 310
Credits 327