Both Chief Clarence Louie and Tom Broadbeck are ignorant about the teachings of the sweatlodge, the teachings are about self confidence, motivation, inspiration, and respect for all people. If people are able to develop self respect they can become good citizens. Both Chief Louie and Broadbeck have not learned this type of teaching of respect when they continue to talk about why residential school systems have failed first nations. To ridicule about the concept of teepees and sweatlodges is like ridiculing the beliefs of the Christian people and Jewish people because of their bible teachings. There is no argument about relative employment training at prisons whether its trades or technology in today’s age. The type of training that has been available in prisons over the years, and has been a watered down type of employment training. In other words, standards are not comparable to the real needs of employment. As indicated, first nations as well as prisoners require proper and adequate training to gain meaningful employment not only in reserves, but outside as well.
Chief Louie is from the Osoyoos band which is located in the middle of the tourist-rich southern Okanogan Valley near Kelowna, BC. The business motto location, location, location, means that a business could be successful if the location is right. The Okanagan valley is in the interior of British Columbia which has beautiful landscapes and is ideal for business and tourism. The business’s that Chief Louie started, a winery, golf course and tourist resort is ideal for successful business. His reserve only needed a motivator and mover and shaker to get it started. Louie is no more a superior leader than any of our other leaders. Place Louie in any northern reserve like Shamattawa, up north, and he wouldn’t talk the way that he talks.
Chief Louie appears to brag about his success while at the same time degrading other first nations who do not have ideal locations. The point is that Louie is successful because his reserve is located in the most ideal business environment. It is not his magic or leadership but I’m sure that anyone could have done it before or after him. The problem is that his image is being advanced by solely business oriented people. These people who see work, work, work as the way to succeed in business .Chief Louie tries to lecture First Nations people to get off their asses and work instead of looking for government handouts. As indicated above, Chief Louie would not be able to say these words if the location of his reserve were in isolated areas with multi-entrenched social problems. People like Broadbeck, with a far-right conservative view, don’t like social programming for people like first nations. The concept this represents isonly the fittest can survive, and the fittest will walk over the poorest to obtain their goals. Broadbeck himself makes money by providing a negative image through his newspaper articles. One can only guess how much he gets paid for his articles, likely up to 80 cents a word. Broadbeck is a classic example of making money at the expense of poor people. To most First Nations, Chief Louie is not the proper role model, and not what Broadbeck implies he represents. There are thousands of young people today who don’t need advice from Broadbeck or Chief Louie to succeed. These youth are the ones who attend university and recieve graduate, with university and doctorial degrees. They become professionals like lawyers, doctors, nurses. These youth have captured their own spirit to advance their own dreams and visions. These people don’t need Broadbeck to lecture them who, like Louie, preach about getting off your assesand work. By his own admission, Louie still says there are a lot of people in his community who will just not work no matter how much money you offer them. Broadbeck, with his right-wing views, implies first nations people are taxpayers’ burdens and misfit in society and even appears to be racist. Does Broadbeck talk about first nations who are successful in their own right here in Manitoba or anywhere else, or the thousands of young people who attend university or colleges and succeed?
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