Chief Clarence Louie

[xsbank]

Interesting perspective, one that everyone can appreciate:

Chief Clarence Louie Osoyoos BC

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 other 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 posted 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.'

[iflyforpie]

I've always liked this guy.

What he says is bang on and he is the perfect person to deliver it. I wonder if it will be enough to inspire the natives beyond mediocrity and corruption and to use what they have been given to make more.

[flyinthebug]

Nothing but two thumbs up for Chief Louie! Hes smart, charasmatic, and people sincerely like him. Hes the best thing to happen to the Aboriginal people of Canada since Phil Fontaine! All the best to him in his future endeavours.

[Siddley Hawker]

If Louie ran for Prime Minister I'd vote for him. Even if he was NDP.
Holy shit, I can't believe I wrote that.

[ScudRunner]

If Louie ran for Prime Minister I'd vote for him. Even if he was NDP.
Holy shit, I can't believe I wrote that.

+1 except for the NDP part lol

[Jastapilot]

If Louie ran for Prime Minister I'd vote for him. Even if he was NDP.
Holy shit, I can't believe I wrote that.

Dammit! That's what I was gonna say!(except for that filth about the NDP! )

[Wilbur]

I heard Chief Louie speak a few years ago, and this article is pretty much bang on. One of the first things he did when he became chief was put clocks in the band office, second was firing people who came in late, third was firing people who were not qualified for the job they had.

His message to other first nations people was clear, don't drop the land claims issues, but also don't focus on them at the expense of getting an education, working hard and doing business. He spoke of the socialist mentality pervasive in native communities that holds successful aboriginals in derision with terms like "apple" (red on the outside, white on the inside) and how it is incorrectly passed off as "traditional." He said the real aboriginal tradition is to accumulate wealth and then show it off by sharing with the community. He cited the potlatch as an example in that the clan with the most was able to host the largest feast for the community, showing off their success and building their status.

He said you can't turn back the clock and the reality is that "white" society is and will remain the world within which aboriginals must find their place. His idea was that aboriginals need to evolve, preserve those aspects of their culture that can remain functional in the modern world, and drop those that don't. He believed the best way to do this was to beat the white community at its own game - business. In his view, if a native band is a major employer and economic driver in an area, they will be in a much stronger position to preserve their own culture, and to influence the culture of the broader community.

[Sheila]

Chief Louie has some very good points but there must be compassion for kids with fas and who are put into the CFS system. Society shouldn't allow all the governments, RCMP, court judges and CFS officials to form a mega-force against the kids. Kids are shipped all over the place and yet they have suffered enough already. Some kids are traumatized by rcmp and they don't deserve that. Children have the right to speak but not one of those listens to the child. This is the biggest fear kids have that no one will listen to them.

also, imo, certain people should not be allowed to make a bad recommendation against a nation. A nation who has been showing up, doing the job and has spotless record. What kind of person gives a bad recommendation against a nation?

[Wilbur]

Yes, Shelia, how evil of the various government agencies to step in and remove children from abusive homes where the parents spend most of almost everyday drunk and neglecting their kids.

You have missed the point of Chief Louie's message. That is, aboriginal people should quit wallowing in self pity over the legitimate wrongs that have been committed against them, and instead get to work building their communities and economies WHILE they redress their issues with governments. He is saying THEY need to fix the problems that lead to FAS kids and interventions by CFS, and that the best way to do that is building businesses that provide real wealth building careers for people.

[Sheila]

I'm agreeing with Chief Louie but I'm just adding to his perspective to see if he knows kids are being punished, not the parents. There's a large majority of women that don't drink. And when you ship out to Iraq, you should know who you are shipping out. My grandma tells me long time ago, when guys joined the army they had to get checked out first. If you had flat feet you didn't get in, or if you were too nervous you got rejected . Some people won't agree with him about Iraq and I realize he doesn't really mean to ship them out.

[ronjeremy]

..

[Wilbur]

The remark about shipping people to Iraq is not Chief Louie's, it is attributed to his mother. Perhaps her no nonsense approach, albeit stated a little strongly, played a significant role in helping shape the man her son has grown up to be. A man who is a successful leader in business, his community, the province, and country. He is a role model for anyone of any ethnicity or race.