Indigenous women come together
Gathering draws speakers from Alaska, Nunavut, the Yukon and Nunavut
Randi Beers
Northern News Services
Published Friday, November 14, 2014
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
A gathering is giving attendees a look into the experience of female indigenous leaders, among them the then-head of a national Inuit group who explained how she made a prime minister apologize.
Rosemarie Kuptana, indigenous leader and negotiator for Inuit land rights, speaks about experiences she's had being the only woman at the negotiating table at the Dene Nahjo Indigenous Circumpolar Womens' Gathering at the Prince of Wales Heritage Centre on Wednesday morning. - Randi Beers/NNSL photo |
On Wednesday, she was one of more than 20 speakers who came together from Yukon, Nunavut, Nunavik and Alaska to share stories and experiences about being a female indigenous leader as part of the first ever Indigenous Circumpolar Womens' Gathering, organized by social and environmental justice organization Dene Nahjo.
It was 1992, and former prime minister Brian Mulroney had come to the table with Canada's premiers, representatives from the Assembly of First Nations, the Native Council of Canada, the Inuit Tapirisat of Canada, now known as the Inuit Tapiriit Kanatami, and the Metis Council of Canada.
They were there to hammer out the Charlottetown Accord, a failed effort to amend the Canadian constitution.
Rosemarie Kuptana was the lone woman, negotiating on behalf of Inuit Tapirisat, of which she was president.
"It was not a very easy process - there were 16 men - the prime minister, premiers and myself," she told the crowd of 80 during a speech about her career as an Inuit public servant.
"Sometimes Nellie Cournoyea was there. So here I am in a room with these people with years of experience with constitutional law and here I am, a novice. It wasn't easy, because this was a boys' club."
There was a time Assembly of First Nations' leaders wanted a clause changed and Kuptana was trying to speak up on behalf of the Inuit.
"The prime minister thought he could run over me," she said.
"He told me he would address my concerns in private and I said, 'eff you, what I have to say is part of these negotiations,' and I left the room."
She said the deputy prime minister ran out the door after her, imploring her to apologize to Mulroney because her departure had caused negotiations to break down.
"'No,' I told him, 'I will not apologize. He is ignoring me because I am a woman,'" she continued.
"He apologized."
The conference is host to a variety of speakers including 2007 Nobel Peace Prize nominee Sheila Watt-Cloutier from Nunavik to social media expert Chantal Rondeau, a member of the Northern Tutchone who are a Yukon First Nations people.
During the evenings, women came together for a culture exchange, gala and film screening.
Kyla Kakfwi Scott, a member of Dene Nahjo's steering committee, explained the organization's goal in bringing indigenous women from across the North together.
"As a leader, I've been able to travel and build my own networks," she said.
"But the women doing the quiet leadership work in the communities ... if you are that person you don't know who's doing that in the next community. It's a great opportunity to bring women together and connect them with different forms of leadership."
She added that women, particularly indigenous women, are underrepresented in elected positions and she wants this conference to create a safe place for a conversation focused on ways to change that.
Today is the last day of the conference.
The plan is for participants to make final amendments to a declaration drafted during the previous days' workshops. If unanimous agreement exists, the group will ratify the Circumpolar Indigenous Women's Declaration.
