Deputy political champion

By Doris Peltier
If someone would have told me a few years ago that Chiefs in one tribal region would one day pass a resolution to endorse the “greater involvement of people living with HIV”, I probably would have been a tad skeptical.
This is exactly what happened in 2012 within the Anishinabek Nation.  The passing of this historical resolution by the Anishinabek Nation Chiefs would not have been possible without the foresight and support of Anishinabek Nation Deputy Grand Council Chief Glen Hare.
The Aboriginal Persons Living with Aids group invited Deputy Hare to last year’s summit “Paddling Forward”. Unlike other leaders, he decided to stay and listen in on our deliberations, and from there he became our greatest political champion for First Nations People Living with HIV and AIDS in his region
The underlying vision for hosting a summit of this type was to create a forum to discuss how to create seamless linkages to care for First Nations people living with HIV within the province. As is the case in other provinces, indigenous care, treatment and support models are still non-existent within First Nations communities due to the stigma and discrimination of HIV at the community level, and hence people are not receiving the care they should be getting and are falling through the cracks.
This year’s summit was entitled Moving Forward:  Navigating the Portage.  In the first summit, we recognized the traditional importance of waterways that at one time, kept our people connected, without today’s jurisdictional divides that keep us separated. This year, in using “Navigating the Portage”, we are essentially acknowledging our connection to the land, what a portage may signify in our journeys as First Nations People Living with HIV/AIDS. It is about acknowledging the barriers and finding ways to navigate and traverse the portage together. For me, at a metaphorical level, “Paddling Forward” and “Navigating the Portage” denotes the journey of life and the act of moving forward on a continual basis. At another level, it is an indigenous worldview, and hopefully resonates as such for others.
Doris Peltier is the Aboriginal Persons Living with Aids Liaison for the Canadian Aboriginal Aids Network.