Chippewas of Rama citizen presented with honourary degree of Doctor of Laws

By Rick Garrick

LONDON—Former Lieutenant Governor James Bartleman highlighted a convocation address of former Quebec Premier Jean Lesage during his address at the Law Society of Ontario’s Call to the Bar ceremony at RBC Place London. Bartleman, a Chippewas of Rama citizen who served for 35 years in Canada’s Foreign Service as an ambassador and high commissioner, was presented with an honourary degree of Doctor of Laws (LLD) during the June 20 ceremony.

“He spoke about the fact that the people of Quebec were not being given their rightful place in Canada and that they were going to achieve that,” Bartleman says, noting that Lesage delivered the convocation address during his graduation ceremony at Western University about 60 years ago. “I listened to him say that so many years ago, but now, I was speaking to the lawyers graduating and I had a message for them as well. And that is that the Indigenous people of Canada, just like the French people of 60 years ago, are demanding equal treatment under the law and will fight just as hard for their rights in Canada and abroad as the people of Quebec back in the 1960s.”

Bartleman told the 111 law graduates about how “shocked” he was when he travelled to First Nations across northern Ontario as the Lieutenant Governor.

“I never had seen such terrible conditions as I saw up in the north,” Bartleman says. “I discovered that all through [Nishnawbe Aski Nation] territory, children in particular were giving up, had no hope and were dying.”

Bartleman also gave the law graduates a history lesson about how First Nations people were treated by the government since Confederation, such as the implementation of the residential school system.

“I said: ‘Think of the parents in those years, that [residential school system] went on for 100 years,’” Bartleman says. “Every year they saw their children leave for school in September and they lived in communities with no children.”

Bartleman was recognized with the LLD for the contributions he made to the province of Ontario and the country throughout his career, such as working to help eliminate the stigma of mental illness, to fight racism and discrimination and to encourage Indigenous youth during his term as Lieutenant Governor from 2002-2007. He also launched the first Lieutenant Governor’s Book Drive.

“The only thing I knew that I could do to help these kids who were killing themselves was to expose them to books,” Bartleman says. “So I launched a massive campaign to establish libraries in all First Nation communities in Ontario, not just up north, and collected 2.1 million books.”

Bartleman also raised $1.5 million to establish a book club so every child in the Nishnawbe Aski Nation territory from Kindergarten to Grade 6 would receive a new book every four months.

“And I established a creative writing program,” Bartleman says. “I knew the kids wanted to write stories and poems, which has been hugely successful. The kids who win the [James Bartleman Indigenous Youth Creative Writing Awards] prizes are heroes in their communities.”

Bartleman also raised about $500,000 to initiate an Indigenous Summer Literacy Camps pilot program in five fly-in First Nations in 2005.

“And I raised $8 million and gave it to Frontier College and they then ran summer reading camps in every fly-in community in the province,” Bartleman says. “And after I retired as Lieutenant Governor, chiefs from across Canada heard about the program and pitched in to participate.”

The Indigenous Summer Literacy Camps program has since grown to serve thousands of children and youth in more than 100 Indigenous communities across Canada each year.

“I left a message to all these lawyers who are about to start their careers,” Bartleman says, “that one determined person can make a difference in the lives of Indigenous children and youth even if the government isn’t doing anything.”

Bartleman previously received recognition as an Officer of the Order of Canada and a Member of the Order of Ontario as well as many honourary university degrees. He has also written numerous books, including As Long as the Rivers Flow and A Matter of Conscience.