Twenty Years An Outsider

Tribalism rears its problematically-ugly head everywhere. No less so in instances where members of one First-Nations tribe resist the legitimate equality of a member of another.

All the more puzzling when that 'other' has married into the tribe, has resided within the tribe's community for decades as an outstandingly-competent and highly-respected educator. But whose qualities are grudgingly brushed aside nonetheless because, it is claimed, she does not speak Saulteaux, the Ojibway language, despite that English is in universal use within the community.

Hmmm, reminds one of the never-ending frustration of French-language entitlements dominating the national discourse, where inordinate amounts of tax dollars are wasted on an ongoing basis in futile attempts to amend a situation of personal distaste to an entitled language minority.

Who insist on being served in the language of their choice - despite often being more than proficient in the prevailing language, English - while residing in isolated communities whose French-derivation contingent remains sparse.

In this instance, however, we have the situation of a woman, Jean Bignell-Malcolm, of Cree derivation, marrying an Ojibway man and settling with him in his community, in 1982. She worked at the Ebb and Flow community school as a secretary, then as a teacher in 1995. She acquired a bachelor of education degree and fifth-year certification in education and administration.

Whereupon she took up a position as director of education in 1999 with the Western Region Tribal Council in Dauphin, Manitoba, undertaking the 80-kilometre commute from her Ebb and Flow residence. Some years later, the Ebb and Flow band sought a director of education, and Ms. Bignell-Malcolm applied for the position for which she was obviously well qualified, and she was offered the job in 2003.

Then it transpired that there were second thoughts; the chief and council attempted to dissuade her from accepting the position by lowering the salary, and when that ploy was unsuccessful they rescinded even that possibility by informing her that she was unfit to take the position as she was unable to speak the native tongue; a poor disqualification since English remained the lingua franca of the community. And despite that language was never posted as an issue in the original application.

It's a pity that the Canadian Human Rights Tribunal had to step in and give the band a metaphorical rap on its human-rights knuckle. Even the Indian Act prohibits discriminatory practises by native groups in matters of employment. And so, despite that the community elders had circulated a petition to disqualify this woman on the grounds that she was "not one of our people" and "does not even speak our language", the tribunal ruled otherwise.

And ordered the band to pay Ms. Bignell-Malcolm her lost wages, and another sum for pain and suffering, along with additional living expenses, and half of her legal fees. Some $70,000 in total compensation in fact. They would have been better off sticking with the original agenda.

The ebb and flow of distressed human interactions.