‘The voice of the people is what I carry,’ says Michipicoten Gimaa Kwe on the Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement

By Cindy Males

SUDBURY – Michipicoten First Nation Gimaa Kwe Patricia Tangie believes Anishinabek First Nations must work together if they are to remain strong and independent communities.

“We see that with other cultures all over Canada,” she says. “But we as First Nations, we still have a lot of the residential school and government policies and laws that held us back. It’s difficult for us to go back to the way our ancestors intended us to be. And that was strong, independent people who could survive on their own and survive in a group. We have a lot to learn to get back to that place in time.”

Gimaa Kwe Tangie believes the laws set out in the proposed Anishinabek Nation Governance Agreement could work towards creating strong First Nation governments “if we have a strong plan”.

“The citizenship, language and culture, elections and First Nations government management, these are critical pieces that we as First Nations need to re-learn. It’s really sad when we see a lot of our people are not fluent in the language anymore. We don’t often understand what the culture is. And, it’s hard to be a good government when you don’t know those basic things.”

She was unsure about the proposed Governance Agreement, at first.

“I see the need for the Governance Agreement. I understand the reason we have to come together and we have to be united. But, I am still struggling with some of that colonial mentality. I have to see ourselves as a Nation, not First Nations but the Ojibway Nation, the Anishinabek Nation. And, I work hard to do that,” she explains. “It will be the people that will make the decision, whether or not Michipicoten is really involved in the Governance Agreement. What we have to help our citizens understand is they’re the actual leaders. We are here to serve them. Me in particular as the Chief, it’s my responsibility to make sure that the voice of the people is what I carry.”

“I never lived on a reserve when I was growing up. Our house was the ‘off-reserve reserve’. People used to come from all directions on the train and come to Chapleau. The language was so vibrant. I loved it because you could hear people laughing every time they spoke. I would sit there and I would listen to them,” recalls Gimaa Kwe Tangie.

“I’d ask my Dad to teach me how to speak the language. He never wanted to because he had a really difficult life being who he was, an Anishinaabe man. He didn’t want that for his children. He didn’t want us to be ridiculed and to have the racist comments put towards us. I believe if he would have known at the time what the alternative was and what it would bring, he would have taught us the language.”

Her childhood experience has helped lead Gimaa Kwe Tangie to focus on laws to strengthen language and culture as one of her priorities moving forward.

“I think that is absolutely primary,” she says. “I have 1,200 citizens who have to reclaim their voice because of the residential school system and the government policies and laws — their voices were very stifled for a lot of years.  Now it’s helping them to realize this is your voice and you have every opportunity and responsibility to speak it.”