VICTORIA MARTINEZ
News Editor
On Aug. 23, her excellency Michaëlle Jean began her first-ever visit to Saskatoon with a talk at Egadz downtown youth centre, where the audience awaited her arrival with shimmering excitement.
The Egadz occasion invited members of the Saskatoon community young and old to share their perspectives on local issues.
The stories shared were of lost languages, of shared histories, of addiction, of teen parenthood and above all of treaty frustrations and education.
Treaty 6, the treaty covering Alberta and Saskatchewan, was a frequent concern. Colby Tootoosis, like the Governor General herself, emphasized that treaties are not just a First Nations concern.
“We never made a treaty with Canada, we made it with the Crown,” said Tootoosis. “We are all treaty people.”
Class disparity, drug abuse, lack of housing and education along with the foster system were cited as serious problems both of treaty miseducation and continuing the cycle of racism.
A woman named April described her youth in foster care. She cited the imbalance between foster workers and caseload, and a lack of in-family care as core issues in the Treaty 6 area. She did not finish grade eight. Her children, however, will.
“I pass that on to my kids. I push them to get education. Get out of the hood.”
Nearly every youth pleaded for more education at some level and similarly criticized the lack of affordable housing in Saskatoon.
The Governor General closed the assembly with encouragement to create change.
“If we are indifferent, we become a shell of a people… together we decided to break down the indifference and to hear each other.”
The meeting finished with a reception and the next day Jean visited the Canadian Light Source.
She finished her time in Saskatoon by attending the university’s discussion, “Women’s Rights are Human Rights,” which was followed by a short reception outside the College Building.
The discussion marked the beginning of U of S celebrations for the 50th anniversary of the Canadian Bill of Rights.
The Governor General has a long history of working for women’s rights and cited inspiration from the members of the Quebec feminist movement, along with her mother and grandmother in Haiti, who made it possible for her to become an educated woman.
Along with a panel featuring acting dean of law Beth Bilson, professors Pamela Jordan and Pamela Downe and president of the Graduate Student Association, Omeasoo Butt, Jean spoke of her experiences and hopes as a feminist.
The women provided historical and local perspectives to the twin concepts of feminism and human rights, with the floor opened to audience questions following.
Throughout, there was an emphasis on equality, not domination. Jean calmly and eloquently put to rest one questioner’s fears of “male genital mutilation” and other horrors if women were to achieve a feminist society.
“I would say that domination is so destructive, and more than that, so boring,” said Jean.
In her closing remarks, she again mentioned the pain expressed at the youth discussion.
“I am sorry to say we are not equal in Saskatchewan. We have a dream of equality but we are not (equal).”
She left the dialogue with encouragement to take ownership of Saskatoon as a community, by refusing indifference with more dialogue.
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