Idle no more!

[steven lloyd]

Chief Clarence Louie, Osoyoos BC speaking in Northern Alberta :

Speaking to a large aboriginal conference, and some of the attendees
including maybe 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.' Don't burn your house down.
'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 it into an inspiration.

In 2000, the band set a goal of becoming self-sufficient in five years.

They're there.

The Osoyoos Band, 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
counseling.'

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.' We can do it!

Going on a hunger strike will not find or recover the 104 million that
disappeared while on your watch Chief Spence.

Get off your hunger strike and start being a Chief for your people instead of yourself!

.. Chief Louie...

[Captain Awesome]

Wow. Strong words.

Chief Louie is certainly to be admired for his hard work and success.

[juz516]

gotta love this man!

[Nebula]

Not that it takes away from the message, but Louie's comments above were from September, 2006.

[Bsuds]

Not that it takes away from the message, but Louie's comments above were from September, 2006.

I have read that numerous times. They are always valid and it's too bad more FN's didn't think that way.

[Bpeep]

He uses that speech verbatim quite often.
And good on him for doing so. He couldnt speak better words.

[flamingfingers]

Seems like his mom put the steel in him. He is one smart guy. And there are actually lots more like him out there. I hope he has inspired and encouraged that.

[GrooveTunes]

Fine for him to say all that considering they need air conditioning rather then heat for their homes. Water at their doorstep 12 months of the year and many jobs in the community. Go try living up there and see how long he would last.

[Captain Awesome]

Water at their doorstep 12 months of the year and many jobs in the community.

I think the point was that he created jobs for the band that was completely broke and brought it into prosperity. I'm sure if you ship him to Chief Spence's hood, he'll turn it around too.

[Glacier]

I think the point was that he created jobs for the band that was completely broke and brought it into prosperity.

Speak of prosperity, the Chilcotin First Nation has been fighting tooth and nail to keep the Prosperity gold mine out of their territory. Meanwhile, the Osoyoos Indian Band jumps on the prison opportunity even though it was a political hot potato. Unlike the folks in Penticton, Lumby, Summerland, etc. who went for emotions over their common sense, Chief Louis recognizes a good thing when he sees it. This is why the prison is going to the OIB even though the location did not meet the government's "requirements."

Both native and non-native people could learn a lot from Chief Louis... it's amazing how many opportunities fall into your lap if you're willing to take responsibility for your own destiny.

[Captain Awesome]

Both native and non-native people could learn a lot from Chief Louis... it's amazing how many opportunities fall into your lap if you're willing to take responsibility for your own destiny.

Yes. And might I add, he became a chief when he was 24. Twenty four! Most 24 year olds these days still live in their parents basements and work on their Call of Duty skills while trying to hold a job at Future Shop, not running a successful Indian band. Amazing, simply amazing.

[SurplusElect]

Not every reserve has that valuable of land as Osoyoos lake, tourist central, wine country.

For many years the east side of the southern valley sat brown and dormant, until land prices went haywire due to vineyard crazies. Yes they took charge, but it's not like the majority of bands hold some of the most valuable/desired land in Canada, let alone during a real estate boom.

He should roll back his photo book and check out pics of his band's land from the early nineties before he speaks into a microphone. ""Pot hole Chief"? I grew up down there. He has a short memory.

'The biggest employer,' he says, 'shouldn't be the band office.'

There are a lot of guaranteed jobs at Border Services Canada (and all over the south OK valley) that the youth of that band enjoy. Probably forgot about them too.

"Indian time"

Talk about self hate bro.

Yes it's good to take charge, and I agree that people need to help themselves but total Uncle Tomish behavior on his part. So what can "Chief Spence" do in order to help get her band members "Boardroom Bobs" in flipping Bumblebee Arcticcircleville?

Move them all down to Osoyoos? Lol.

The problems are broad and this guy was sitting on a goldmine and now speaks borderline racist stuff. The people he does business with need to hear this from him as well. Quell the fear, good for business. Cant invest if there's a chance...

[logicalview]

Sigh. Yes lets denigrate a guy who has made significant strides in reversing many negative stereotypes about natives. Brilliant.

[Ken7]

"SurplusElect"

Yes it's good to take charge, and I agree that people need to help themselves but total Uncle Tomish behavior on his part. So what can "Chief Spence" do in order to help get her band members "Boardroom Bobs" in flipping Bumblebee Arcticcircleville?

Move them all down to Osoyoos? Lol.


The problems are broad and this guy was sitting on a goldmine and now speaks borderline racist stuff. The people he does business with need to hear this from him as well. Quell the fear, good for business. Cant invest if there's a chance...

You first need to have the will to want to work.

I would think fishing and their water resources could be developed as they are in a prime location. They may also be in a prime location for forestry work, possibly a lumber mill.

Although as I said, you need people who want to work.

That is where Louis has made the changes. He calls a spade, a spade and a useless gangbanger just that!

[SurplusElect]

You first need to have the will to want to work

I would think fishing and their water resources could be developed as they are in a prime location. They may also be in a prime location for forestry work, possibly a lumber mill.

That is where Louis has made the changes.

Chief Louie was sitting on a goldmine and it exploded underneath his feet.

To suggest that the only real problem here is "laziness" is a insult. As I said, the problems are broad and encompassing and for the chief to look down his nose at others when 15 years ago that entire valley was a brown wasteland is injury upon insult.

Also to suggest "water resources" to be developed is a joke. Ever heard of black flies and North Western Ontario skagit swamp? The desirable fishing spots in that region are developed, and it's not near the volume "the hottest place in Canada/wine country" draws in tourism. All the bands in that region send their kids to live in dormitories in Thunder Bay where they are experiencing huge problems with racism and crime because of the disassociation and lack of economic opportunity. I also lived in that region and my mother worked as a distance education provider to distant bands and I have a interesting and valid perspective on this beyond just reading headlines. There are no roads to get the logs in, let alone the product out without it being cost prohibitive.

As I said, the bands that do well have the most valuable land. Then you have "white" outside interests looking to bring money into that community and "take" from that land.

When this country was settled, it was populated with the toughest and hard working people there were. Some settled on valuable land and some people settled too far away from population centers, on sour/rocky land that wouldn't grow anything but weeds. No matter how much hard work was put into it, the math didn't fly. Let alone social/economic/cultural factors natives face.

Also, anyone who says "Indian time" is clearly racist.

What would we say if at a Jewish businessman's seminar the head speaker was conveying a message "Not to be cheap like a Jew" when taking clients out to dinner - and that's a lighter equivalent of what he is suggesting.

He's distancing himself to make his business partners comfortable.

He said it himself.

'People often say to me, How you doin'? Geez I'm working with Indians, what do you think?'