MARK HUME
From Tuesday's Globe and Mail
For Tewanee Joseph, these experiences have given him the training - and the scar tissue - he needs to handle the demands of his current job, which in 2009 will make him one of the most influential native spokesmen in the country.
As chief executive officer of the Four Host First Nations, Mr. Joseph, 36, is responsible for co-ordinating the Olympic involvement of aboriginal groups across
To do that he has to stickhandle his way through a complex political landscape where aboriginal relations, three levels of government and the Vancouver Organizing Committee for the 2010 Games intersect.
Perhaps the most amazing thing about his job is that it even exists.
A year after Vancouver won the bid for the 2010 Olympics, Mr. Joseph, a former semi-pro lacrosse player with the North Shore Indians and member of the Squamish band council, approached Squamish Nation Chief Gibby Jacob and asked him if anybody was co-ordinating the four bands in whose traditional territories the Games are being held.
The simple answer was no, but there is nothing simple about aboriginal politics.
The Lil'wat, Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh bands, whose territorial lands extend from Vancouver to Whistler, all have their own governments, each of which has a fierce pride in its autonomy.
The world of aboriginal politics is notorious for the myriad currents at play.
It's a place where family lineage, historical slights, cultural nuances and sense of honour all have a part to play.
Mr. Joseph throws back his head and laughs as he recalls the audacity of his meeting with Chief Jacob, at a Tim Hortons in
"He just said, 'It's a great idea. Go for it'," said Mr. Joseph, who was the youngest band councillor ever elected in Squamish when he took office at the age of 21.
Nobody had ever tried to get the four fractious bands to work together before, but Mr. Joseph, who has a business diploma from Capilano College, succeeded with a simple pitch.
"Why don't we come together? We'll be stronger," he told the band councils.
They went for it, largely because they knew and trusted Mr. Joseph, who formed a single society to represent them all. The Four Host First Nations then approached VANOC.
"VANOC had already been reaching out to all four bands individually," Mr. Joseph said, "but they really welcomed the idea of dealing with a united group.
"I think for anybody, government or business, the idea of having one group to deal with is a real positive because it streamlines the process."
Mr. Joseph quickly negotiated a formal relationship with VANOC that recognizes the Four Host First Nations as the organization that speaks for aboriginal involvement in the Games.
"For the first time in the history of the Olympics, an indigenous group is an official partner," he said.
Now he is busy nailing down agreements with aboriginal organizations in every province and territory in
So far, he said, every native leader he's spoken to has enthusiastically agreed to be part of the Games.
"It's big. It's overwhelming," he said of the groundswell of support that is rising for the Games among native organizations across
"The Olympics are going to be the biggest potlatch the world has ever seen ... aboriginal people are going to be everywhere."
Mr. Joseph's vision for the 2010 Games includes a big, centrally located pavilion that will feature aboriginal singers, dancers and artists. It will be a place where native and non-native people can mingle and get to know each other.
It will be a showcase of native culture. And it will bridge the old world to the new.
Not only will there be traditional drummers, there will be contemporary acts as well.
Among other things, the Four Host First Nations will hold an open competition for performers by asking them to pitch themselves on YouTube. The best will be asked to appear at the pavilion.
"And we're going to be offering free downloads of aboriginal music and comedians.
"Yeah, comedians. There are some very funny aboriginal comics out there and it's about time
He envisions an Olympics at which natives and non-natives are laughing - and cheering - for athletes together.
"The Olympics are a once in a lifetime opportunity to showcase who we are," he said. "This is our time."
*****
WHO
Tewanee Joseph
Why to watch him
He's co-ordinating aboriginal involvement for the 2010 Olympics with hopes of turning the Games into "the biggest potlatch the world has ever seen."