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Antoine Mountain
Guest columnist
Monday, June 11, 2007
No sooner than we hear of the esteemed Gwich'in elder Bertha Allen winning an Aboriginal Achievement Award on behalf of her Mackenzie Delta peoples than we now learn of her being awarded an Order of Canada, no less, for her tireless work in bringing to light the rights of women in general.
Well, good for you, Bertha, and this kind of brings to my mind what Smith's Landing First Nations Chief Gerry Paulette had to say upon the passing of the Chipewyan great Frank Laviolette.
Chief Paulette went on about all that "Big Frank" meant to him as a person and as a First Nations Chief, and that his would indeed be "big shoes to fill."
As a Dene here in the North who lived for many years in the household of the Chief of Radilih Koe/Fort Good Hope I have seen a lot of changes in the way our leadership behaves, or misbehaves, is more like it.
Our so-called leadership is constantly at each other's throats, and/or making private deals of their own with big business, all in the guise of doing some good for their own people. It is no wonder that the North is the ultimate loser in all of this.
I for one find that we are also losing sight of the bigger picture in our rush to get paid. Of course there are treaty and other pressing issues that have to be dealt with to resolve the devolution issue, for one. But we are definitely not going to get anywhere by making these problems a personal one.
So, and back to Bertha Allen, in my long struggle to affirm my own artistic goals I have always found Ms. Allen to be more than simply supportive.
Because of the type of person she is she always took the time to show up where we, the artists, were to lend a word of support, and to buy something.
And it has been a struggle, for all of the First Nations and for women's rights, that Bertha Allen has long fought for. At one time, during the first pipeline debate, the word "Dene" itself, which we pretty well take for granted today, was never to be heard. People were really surprised to note that we even existed and were even demanding to now be heard.
Because of the people like Bertha Allen we have a Native Women's Association and the Status of Women Council.
To me this is indeed some advance, in an "enlightened" age when in some places in the world women are just now finding out they can go to school, to work and to even vote. So, to me, Bertha Allen is indeed one of a dying breed, a genuine hero, through and true!
- Antoine Mountain is a Dene artist and writer originally from Radilih Koe'/Fort Good Hope. He can be reached at www.amountainarts.com