Mohawk Woman named Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada

 

Roberta Jamieson

 

  

  

I found out this morning that Roberta Jamieson (Mohawk), CEO & President of National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation (NAAF) was being named as one of Canada's Most Powerful Women at the 7th Annual Awards Summit hosted by the Women's Executive Network (WXE). 

 

 From the NAAF Press Release

I was impressed by the news and very happy that Roberta was being honoured for paving the way for future Aboriginal executives, especially females. Her contributions to the Indigenous community are obvious given her background in supporting artists as the founding chair of imagineNATIVE Film Festival, her role as an executive director in the NAAF Awards, her ten-year term as the Ombudsman of Ontario, and her time served as an elected chief of Six Nations. So I shared this great news on Twitter and on Facebook. 

The piece did spark some discussion on Twitter (as noted above). I knew I couldn't address this question in only 140 characters, so here I discuss. I think the full background of Jamieson's work history is proof enough to show how this is helpful to the Native community. Clearly, she is helping pave the way for a whole new generation of First Nations leaders who may want to step in executive director type roles in the future. They could be in corporations or of equal importance, in non-profit organizations like NAAF, that support youth and recognize people for their outstanding efforts in the community. 

So back to the question, 'Is there any relevancy for Native people on the streets?' This question has been posed to me with respect to many issues recently. It seems there is a lack of perceived value in Native advocacy that isn't affiliated with working directly for Native people who live on the streets. I am not questioning that this is a serious issue that needs to be addressed, because it is very apparent, especially if you live in Vancouver. But because we haven't fixed that problem, should we be ignoring the needs and issues of people who aren't on the streets? I say no. 

Having our culture and our people strengthened in arenas across the board will only make us a healthier community where we will be able to make a bigger difference and ultimately support those who are in the most dire need. Our community is only strengthened as a result of having a proud, positive, proactive Indigenous woman as one of the Top 100 Most Powerful Women in Canada. She certainly inspires me to want to do more and aspire to be more. I can only hope to attain the same level of influence that she has had and create pathways for others as she has done for us.

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