Chief Clarence Louie took his band from rags to riches
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BYMICHAEL PLATT,CALGARY SUN
FIRST POSTED:MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2013 08:50 PM MST| UPDATED:TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2013 07:07 AM MST
Chief Clarence Louie
Idle No More? Chief Clarence Louie was never idle in the first place.
That’s not to mistake one of Canada’s hardest-working First Nations leaders as a fan of Canada’s Indian Act, or an apologist for lousy federal land deals, broken promises or residential schools.
When it comes to First Nations getting the smelly end of the stick from Ottawa, the leader of the Osoyoos Indian Band is about as scathing a critic as they come.
He recently branded the federal Department of Fisheries “a bunch of idiots” for allowing fish farming along a fragile Okanagan river, and he says the Harper government could use a good tongue lashing.
“Sometimes that’s the only way — every government needs to be hollered at once in a while and every individual does too,” says Louie.
“We all need to be scolded — I still get scolded; the old timers scold me. Everyone needs a kick in the rear now and then — it doesn’t matter who you are.”
What makes Louie different is his refusal to place all the blame outside the reserve, using past injustices and historic misery as an excuse to wallow in poverty.
If he has barbed words for the colonial past which sent Canada’s reserves into a downward spiral, Louie often saves his sharpest criticism for the defeatist attitude which continues to hobble Canada’s natives.
“If your life sucks, it’s because you suck,” he’s been heard to say at First Nations speaking events. Ouch.
It gets better: Louie doesn’t shy away from telling other chiefs and band members that the days of blaming the federal government for your woes are over — and the time has come to help yourselves.
“With Idle No more, it’s great to talk about treaty issues and land claims and the environment and all that,” he tells the Sun.
“But there also has to be talk about jobs and the idleness of unemployment and the great depression of unemployment rates that exist on most of our First Nations. That’s half the problem, right there.”
It’s one thing to have a sharp tongue — but Louie has also shown he has one of the sharpest minds in Canadian politics.
Last fall, the Osoyoos Indian Band landed a $200-million federal prison contract, bringing another 240 full-time jobs to the reserve’s new industrial park near Oliver, B.C..
It’s great news, though jobs aren’t in short supply on the 32,000-acre south Okanagan reserve.
The arid reserve is home to 470 band members and holds the distinction of owning the most businesses per capita of any first nation in Canada — so many that it has imported workers from 35 less-affluent bands.
Under Louie’s leadership, which started in 1985, Osoyoos Indian Band has gone from rags to riches, from Indian Affairs bankruptcy management to economic self-sufficiency.
A First Nation forced to labour on U.S. fruit farms is now an enviable power in the Okanagan, pumping millions into the local economy and employing hundreds of people.
Since Louie founded the Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corp. in the early 1980s, the reserve has launched more than half a dozen major projects, including a luxury resort, golf course and a construction company.
The band’s vineyard, planted before Louie was named chief, now operates as Nk’Mip Cellars, and has won awards as the top winery in B.C. — and proceeds go towards helping the reserve’s desert ecosystem.
Critics have blasted Louie for forgetting his culture and heritage — but the money earned through business helped the band open the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, to promote traditions.
Chief Clarence Louie took his band from rags to riches
BYMICHAEL PLATT,CALGARY SUN
FIRST POSTED:MONDAY, JANUARY 14, 2013 08:50 PM MST| UPDATED:TUESDAY, JANUARY 15, 2013 07:07 AM MST
Chief Clarence Louie. (Photo provided)
Article
Idle No More? Chief Clarence Louie was never idle in the first place.
That’s not to mistake one of Canada’s hardest-working First Nations leaders as a fan of Canada’s Indian Act, or an apologist for lousy federal land deals, broken promises or residential schools.
When it comes to First Nations getting the smelly end of the stick from Ottawa, the leader of the Osoyoos Indian Band is about as scathing a critic as they come.
He recently branded the federal Department of Fisheries “a bunch of idiots” for allowing fish farming along a fragile Okanagan river, and he says the Harper government could use a good tongue lashing.
“Sometimes that’s the only way — every government needs to be hollered at once in a while and every individual does too,” says Louie.
“We all need to be scolded — I still get scolded; the old timers scold me. Everyone needs a kick in the rear now and then — it doesn’t matter who you are.”
What makes Louie different is his refusal to place all the blame outside the reserve, using past injustices and historic misery as an excuse to wallow in poverty.
If he has barbed words for the colonial past which sent Canada’s reserves into a downward spiral, Louie often saves his sharpest criticism for the defeatist attitude which continues to hobble Canada’s natives.
“If your life sucks, it’s because you suck,” he’s been heard to say at First Nations speaking events. Ouch.
It gets better: Louie doesn’t shy away from telling other chiefs and band members that the days of blaming the federal government for your woes are over — and the time has come to help yourselves.
“With Idle No more, it’s great to talk about treaty issues and land claims and the environment and all that,” he tells the Sun.
“But there also has to be talk about jobs and the idleness of unemployment and the great depression of unemployment rates that exist on most of our First Nations. That’s half the problem, right there.”
It’s one thing to have a sharp tongue — but Louie has also shown he has one of the sharpest minds in Canadian politics.
Last fall, the Osoyoos Indian Band landed a $200-million federal prison contract, bringing another 240 full-time jobs to the reserve’s new industrial park near Oliver, B.C..
It’s great news, though jobs aren’t in short supply on the 32,000-acre south Okanagan reserve.
The arid reserve is home to 470 band members and holds the distinction of owning the most businesses per capita of any first nation in Canada — so many that it has imported workers from 35 less-affluent bands.
Under Louie’s leadership, which started in 1985, Osoyoos Indian Band has gone from rags to riches, from Indian Affairs bankruptcy management to economic self-sufficiency.
A First Nation forced to labour on U.S. fruit farms is now an enviable power in the Okanagan, pumping millions into the local economy and employing hundreds of people.
Since Louie founded the Osoyoos Indian Band Development Corp. in the early 1980s, the reserve has launched more than half a dozen major projects, including a luxury resort, golf course and a construction company.
The band’s vineyard, planted before Louie was named chief, now operates as Nk’Mip Cellars, and has won awards as the top winery in B.C. — and proceeds go towards helping the reserve’s desert ecosystem.
Critics have blasted Louie for forgetting his culture and heritage — but the money earned through business helped the band open the Nk’Mip Desert Cultural Centre, to promote traditions.
“Everything costs money — talk is cheap, whether it’s environmental cause, cultural causes, spirituality, religion. Everything costs money,” says Louie.
“Unsettled land claims and broken treaties, those things still need to be addressed. But at the same time, we have to focus on creating jobs and making money.”
Louie demands for natives to improve their own lot might be branded racist if it came from anyone but a successful First Nations leader — but Louie doesn’t downplay the Idle No More protest movement.
“Idle No More has accomplished a lot in the sense of awareness and the media, and it’s in every newspaper I’ve had in my hands today — so it’s good that it’s raised First Nation issues in this country,” he says.
“Normally, it gets swept under the rug.”