January 9, 2024 • 55 mins
Discover the secrets of economic success of the Osoyoos First Nation with Chief Clarence Louie and host Aaron Pete. Chief Louie delves into the history of Native people's work ethic, leadership, tradition, and modern entrepreneurship.
Chief Clarence Louie is the Chief of the Osoyoos First Nation in British Columbia, renowned for his transformative leadership in Indigenous economic development. A visionary leader, he has been instrumental in fostering entrepreneurship and self-reliance within his community, emphasizing the importance of hard work and cultural preservation.
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Episode Transcript
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Aaron Pete (00:00):
Welcome back to another episode of the Bigger
than Me podcast.
Here is your host, Aaron.
Today I have the honor ofspeaking with the chief of a
Soyuz First Nation.
We discuss indigenous politics,economic development, work
ethic and how to support FirstNation communities in their
economic success.
My guest today is chiefClarence Louie.
(00:21):
It is not every day that we getto sit down with a living
legend, but it is the individualwho inspires so many different
First Nations communities.
Chief Clarence Louie, would youmind briefly introducing
yourself for people who mightnot be acquainted with your work
?
Hello, everyone.
Chief Clarence Louie (00:39):
I'm chief Clarence Louie from the Soyuz
Union Band and I've been chiefof this community for 38 years.
Everybody I know is getting old.
I'm getting old, but I lovewhat I do and I love creating
jobs and making money for theSoyuz Union Band.
Aaron Pete (00:56):
I love it.
There's one area and I'm sureyou've seen it go viral again
and again.
It kind of resurfaces.
There's this Facebook post withwords from you talking about
the mindset you have, thephilosophy you have, around
Indian time, around hard work.
Do you know about the post thatI'm talking about and the
impact that it's had?
Chief Clarence Louie (01:15):
I don't know if it's the same one, but
if it's the one titled Indiantime, which was a Globe and Mail
reporter, roy McGregor, whohelped me with my book.
I don't know if he still worksfor the Globe and Mail, but he
was a writer for the Globe andMail at the time and he just
happened to be in the audiencestuff in Fort McMurray area
(01:39):
where I was speaking to anauthorist to a group, and he
wrote an article and he titledit Indian Time because I was
making an issue about Indiansshowing up late, which they were
doing at that gathering too.
Yeah, so he titled it IndianTime and yet it's still making
(02:00):
the rounds all these years later.
Aaron Pete (02:03):
I found it really inspiring and really important,
because we can so often get kindof siloed within our indigenous
communities and there arebusiness practices that are best
practices that we should tryand align ourselves with in
order to compete on bids, inorder to gain respect and
confidence from othercommunities, whether it's other
municipalities or the province,and so it just was really
(02:23):
inspiring to see you voicingsomething that I don't feel like
we hear very often fromindigenous leaders.
Chief Clarence Louie (02:30):
Well, everyone on I've been on over
300 Indian Reserves, indianReservations both sides of the
border, canada and the States,and wherever you go North, south
, east and West Indian Countryeverybody on the Res complains
about Indian Time.
You know it's a sad joke andpeople still joke around about
it even today on every Res I'veever been on.
(02:53):
So within the Res communityeverybody knows of Indian Time
or Navajo Time or Cree Time andyeah, and it's something that
still sadly happens today, whereyou can't hold a job if you
can't show up on time.
I mean obviously when you're astudent, when you're in grade
(03:17):
school or high school.
You're not going to be a goodstudent if you don't show up on
time.
In fact, that's what gradeschool and preschool is supposed
to teach you.
You know the number one rule.
You know show up on time.
Aaron Pete (03:30):
I love that.
Would you mind taking us backto your roots?
Yeah, your youth in a Soyuzworking in the vineyard coaching
sports.
Can you talk about your earlylife?
Chief Clarence Louie (03:41):
Well, my early life on this Reserv was no
different than most FirstNation Reserves.
We didn't have much.
Everybody was pretty poor.
Actually, the CC band we werelucky to probably I don't know
have any other band that can sayin 1968 that they had their own
(04:01):
band business.
We had a vineyard.
It was a small vineyard at thetime but now it's growing to be
one of the biggest privatelyowned vineyards in the country
at around 300 acres.
But yeah, we had a bandbusiness.
We're located right down by theUS-Canada border so when there's
no jobs on the Res, all of ourgrandparents, parents, they
(04:26):
cross that border and go work inthe States and follow the fruit
.
Some of our people would followthe fruit picking all the way
down to Arizona, california andthen make their way back home.
So most of my people back inthe 60s, 70s, 50s they all work
in Washington, usuallyWashington State.
(04:47):
Sometimes further south we haveband members from Texas.
In fact one of some of thestate's band members were in my
office yesterday and they soundlike Texans because that's where
they grew up, because somehowone of my people ended up
following the food industry allthe way down to Texas.
Yeah, so back in my early days.
(05:10):
I mean everyone worked, eventhough it was hard labor, mostly
in the orchard industry, fruits, apple packing, houses or
logging and forestry, andeverybody on the Res.
When you were old enough to work, your first job, usually as a
teenager, was working in thevineyard, which, when you got
(05:33):
off school, in the summertime,july and August, was get up at
four o'clock in the morning, beout in those fields by five am
and get off at one am.
And all of us back in my eraand even before mine and even up
until probably the early 80swhen we started branching out
into other businesses prettymuch everybody had a taste of
(05:56):
working in the vineyard, which Ithink is a it's hard work.
Most people don't like it Ididn't like it but it teaches
you a lot.
Everyone needs to go through.
Some have a good tough workexperience as a youth.
That's why I'm a big believerin youth summer jobs.
They teach you a lot and theylifelong lessons you can carry
(06:20):
into any other field of workthat you happen to be into.
But doing hard labor is.
Everyone, as a youth, should dosome hard labor, and it's too
bad today that youth are gettinglazy in the sense that they
don't want to do hard labor.
I mean, I look at some of theyouth on this resin.
(06:42):
We have so many opportunitiesnow and even the past few
summers.
Part of our youth have a chanceof their summer job is learning
tech.
Learning technology and sittingin front of a screen in one of
our boardrooms downstairs infront of a laptop which they get
(07:04):
to keep after the end of thesummer, and they get to listen
to people from Microsoft, fromBlackberry, and I always remind
them I said you youth are solucky nowadays you don't even
have to break a sweat.
You're sitting in front of ascreen, you're not in 40 degrees
heat, you're not in the wind,in the rain, in those vineyards
with a shovel or a hole in yourhand.
(07:26):
You're getting all dusty anddirty and you're not having to
get up at four o'clock in themorning.
You come here during the easyband office hours 8.30 to 4.30,
and you get paid.
That's your summer job.
Oh, wow, man, it's a.
My era would have would neverhave thought that, because we
(07:46):
all just did labor work, we alldid hard labor.
And even now every vineyard hasto import Mexicans because
Canadians don't want to do laborwork, so we're having to before
we have a Mexican work program.
We're important Mexicans towork in the fields, so it kind
(08:10):
of bothers me that today's youthdon't get a taste of hard grunt
labor.
Work is a 12-year-old,13-year-old, 14-year-old.
They get to sit in airconditioned offices looking at
screens, getting paid way morethan two bucks an hour.
Well, I got paid it was twobucks an hour to sweat it out in
(08:32):
those fields.
But at the same time it'sevolution and it's kind of cool
that our people don't have tosweat in the fields anymore to
have a summer job.
Aaron Pete (08:46):
You're a person who's very well known for your
work ethic, and so I'm wonderingis this where you developed
this work ethic?
From working in the vineyards,coaching sports, supporting your
community?
Chief Clarence Louie (08:56):
Of course.
Of course I mean anytime youwork in agriculture or forestry
or logging, you're getting upearly.
It's not the easy office hours,easy grade school hours, I call
them.
You're getting up at three orfour in the morning and you're
having to be out there on thework site.
Awesome training program as ayoung person.
(09:16):
Even though I hated it, I'mglad I went through it and
sometimes in life the stuff youdidn't like probably taught you
the most the rough goal that youhad as a youth.
So my people, most of my peoplenot all, but most of my people
(09:39):
have a good hard work ethicBecause that's how they grew up.
There used to be no welfare onIndian reserves.
You had work or you start.
And I think is one of the oldchiefs told me, one of the worst
things they ever brought toIndian reserves was welfare.
(10:01):
It made some of our people lazy.
It made some of our people notwant to work, even though you
don't get much on welfare.
But still having too manysafety nets in any society, it's
not good.
People should have to work fora living In fact all of our.
(10:22):
I mean, if you go back to priorto the non-natives being in our
territory, we had to provide.
We had to.
Whether it's hunting, fishing,food gathering, whatever you had
to provide for your three basicneeds food, clothing and
shelter.
You didn't have not break asweat again.
(10:43):
Go down to Walmart, which wecall the Indian store.
You can just go down to theIndian store and buy whatever
you wanted.
You know, if you wanted meatyou had to get up and get up
early and go on.
Then you had to skin that deer,pack that deer out, or moose or
elk.
And traditional living isn'teasy.
It's way harder thancontemporary living, way harder,
(11:06):
absolutely.
No one built your house.
You built it yourself.
You didn't just go down and buyclothes that were already made.
You had to make your ownclothes.
In fact, some of the old peoplehere still remember their
grandmas and moms makingmoccasins.
Making moccasins isn't easy andsome of them remember that they
(11:34):
had to wear moccasins as achild.
And you know it's so mucheasier wearing runners, you know
.
That's why one of my quotesthat's hanging in our boardroom
and just for our boardroomnatives have always worked for
11.
You know our people didn't siton their ass with their hand out
(11:56):
.
There was no welfare, there wasno safety.
You worked.
You know, all of our old peopleused to have gardens.
You had to grow your own foodor else you starved.
And yeah, I mean the nativework ethic used to be strong and
(12:20):
it's weakened a bit because ourpeople have gotten softer,
because of, again, the safetynets that are provided by vans
today that our people never had.
Aaron Pete (12:33):
You went to Saskatchewan Indian College and
this is where you fell in lovewith First Nations history and
the culture and the traditions.
It seems like at times ourinterest in economic development
is faced almost juxtaposed toour ability to practice our
culture, and you hear that a lotwithin communities, that these
(12:54):
are somehow at odds with eachother, and I don't agree with
that.
But I'm curious as to what yourtakeaways were from going to
the college and how we find thisbalance.
Chief Clarence Louie (13:03):
I don't agree with it or at odds either.
Traditionally our people had aneconomy.
We had a system of trade.
I mean trade is still used as aword today, back then.
(13:24):
I mean, the oldest ancestralgrave found in our territory,
not far from Osuys, proved to beover 1,500 years old.
And in that ancestral grave, nodifferent than ancestral graves
throughout North America, whatwas found in that grave didn't
come from the Okanagan Nationterritory.
(13:44):
What was found in that gravedidn't come from Washington
State, it came from furthersouth.
So obviously that provesarchaeological evidence proves
over and over again that ourtribes, our nations, had a
system of trade.
(14:05):
Trade is just another word forbusiness.
Our people traded with eachother.
We had a system of trade routes, trade routes.
We did trade with other tribes,other nations.
We have a word for buffalo inour language but there's no
buffalo in the Okanagan.
But we have a word for buffaloin our language because we
(14:28):
traded with the plainspeaker.
We went over those Rockies.
So really we were the firstentrepreneurs of this land, not
the French or the English, wewere the first business people
we had.
In fact, one of the Mohawkstold me, one of the Mohawks
chiefs told me many years agothat they even had a system of
(14:48):
taxation.
They didn't use that wordtaxation, that's an English word
.
They had a system of taxationfor the French and English, the
missionaries.
When they came through theirterritory, they taxed them.
They didn't speak English, theyonly spoke Mohawk, but they had
a system of tax.
Again, that's economics.
(15:13):
So every tribal territory hadbusiness people, we had
specialists, we had a system oftrade and in the modern way, in
the modern resway to me it'sjust.
One of the national chiefs oncesaid it's the economic horse
(15:34):
that pulls the social cart.
Well, yes, it is, but most ofour people don't realize that
they're trying to put the cartbefore the horse.
They all talk about all thesesocial programs, social elders
programs, youth programs,education.
Everything costs money.
Health costs money.
I've never met a teacher thatworks for free.
(15:55):
Nurses and doctors don't workfor free.
Everybody wants a paycheck andthere's nothing wrong with that.
That's just normal and natural.
Everybody wants a paycheck,even when I see healers, these
native healers that go around,we have to pay them.
Nobody, unless you're going tolive off of welfare.
(16:17):
The majority of our people wanta decent paycheck and they have
to realize that those paycheckshave come from.
And even if you work in socialservices or our schools or in
education, that paycheck comesfrom somewhere.
I mean the money, the fundedmoney that goes into health and
(16:39):
education, comes from economicdevelopment, comes from
corporate taxes, comes frompersonal taxes, natural resource
taxes, everything.
If you connect the dots, it allgoes back to economic
development.
Because unless you're a thirdworld country depending on
(17:03):
foreign aid which I know Canadaand America and most G8
countries they end up givingmoney.
They end up giving some oftheir economic development money
to these needy countriesbecause they depend on foreign
aid.
But every government I don'tcare if it's the federal
(17:24):
government, provincialgovernment, municipal
governments, first nationgovernments every government
needs money to operate.
And if you connect the dots,where does that money come from?
It doesn't just fall out of thesky.
It just bugs me that nativescan't connect the dots.
They can't connect the dots ofwhere does this money come from
(17:46):
to pay my teachers or to pay oursocial service staff?
Or where's the money come fromfor youth programs, elders
programs, when we bury people?
Where does that money come from?
It comes from economicdevelopment, it comes from
business development.
That's where all the moneycomes from to run the federal,
(18:07):
provincial, municipal, firstnation governments.
Money just doesn't fall out ofthe sky.
It comes from economicdevelopment.
Aaron Pete (18:16):
This was actually one of the lessons that I took
away.
I was a native court worker forabout five years and trying to
help people through the legalsystem, help them with their
court matters whether it was adomestic violence charge or
whether it was a theftundercharge and I was trying to
help them and it just alwaysfelt like, well, we need more
housing, we need more socialprograms, we need more of this.
It just felt like I was in anever-ending rat race of trying
(18:38):
to help people get out from thatsystem and get into a social
program and it seemed like theremust be a solution to this
problem beyond just doing thesame kind of approach every day.
Then I had the opportunity togo to law school in Vancouver
and study this and economicdevelopment, to your point, was
exactly the solution forindigenous communities.
It is the engine, and in so manycommunities, including my own
(19:02):
community, we treat it like it'sanother portfolio, like housing
, like social programs, likehealthcare.
But it's not.
It's very much the program thatallows everything else to be
paid for.
It allows communities to getout from under waiting for
checks to come in from thefederal government or the
provincial government.
It allows that economic freedomto go.
Where do we want our communityto be in 10 years and then to
(19:24):
start to make a budget on how wewant to get there over the next
10 years, and that's freeing.
But when we treat it like it'sjust another portfolio, it keeps
us small-minded and kind ofgets us to check boxes and not
have a good strategy around it.
Moving into your Poor peoplearen't free.
Chief Clarence Louie (19:44):
Dependent people are not free.
So, obviously, do you want tobe an independent First Nation
or a dependent First Nation?
Do you want to be dependent ongovernment grants and programs
and services which have neverworked for our people?
There's not one program thatthe federal government go back
(20:04):
100 years, even this year.
There's not one program thatthe federal government properly
funds.
They never have and they neverwill, because there's just not
enough money to go around.
So First Nations got to startmaking their own money.
You got to start making yourown money and getting back on
your economic course.
It is the economic course thatpulls the social cart, always
(20:28):
has been and always will be.
And, as I mentioned thatancestor Grave I was talking
about, those things in therewere based on economics and
trade.
We got to get back on oureconomic course.
I mean, it's pretty simple.
The dependency model, thedependency trap, was created by
(20:52):
how you colonize a people.
I don't care if it's Africans,asians, north American Indians,
south American Indians orthere's the British, french, the
Spaniards or whoever.
If you want to colonize apeople, the first thing you have
to do is take away theireconomic ability to support
(21:13):
themselves.
You take away their economics.
That's how you make peopledependent and you turn them into
what's often referred to ashang around the Fort Indians.
Indians were turned into hangaround the Fort Indians.
Hang around the Department ofIndian Affairs.
(21:33):
Hang around these forts forrations, for trinkets for that's
how you turn native people intobeggars in your own land is you
take away their economics?
That's the colonial recipe.
It's been done over and overagain all over the world.
Aaron Pete (21:56):
Would you mind telling us about your first run
for chief, what your mindset was, what your philosophy was?
You're nearly 40 years in.
I'm just wondering about thoseearly days of considering
putting your name forward.
Chief Clarence Louie (22:08):
Boy, that was so long ago.
I really don't.
I don't remember.
I just knew that I had a goodwork ethic.
My mom had the old tough resrule that we've gotten away from
you either go to school, get ajob or you get out.
And I know for one of ourmembers that has now become the
(22:33):
world's first nation winemaker,his dad did the same thing to
him.
He was being a lazy youth andhis dad kicked him out.
I mean, tough love often works.
And in all of our first nationstories and I've heard it so
(22:57):
many times about the WillowStick, about grandparents making
their grandchildren, you know,stand on their own two feet, you
know, it's the same thing.
If you look at the animals,eagles teach their young how to
(23:21):
fly, not so they can hang aroundthem, so they can be out on
their own.
They push them out of the nest.
Eventually.
They push them out and thatyoungster has to fly on its own.
And that's the traditionalteachings where our people I
(23:49):
don't care what tribe you talkabout, our people were not lazy
People, weren't lazy people.
We weren't hanging around theFord Indians.
The federal and provincialgovernments forced us to be
hanging around the Ford Indians,but now we should be out of
that era and getting back on oureconomic course and looking at
(24:14):
every business opportunity thatwe can get into.
And even here at Osuyu's westill have that mindset of not
being able to connect the dots,many of our people and not
thinking that business is easyand making money is easy.
And so many bans have gottenland claims and lots of money
(24:35):
and then in a matter of years,just like some bans in Alberta
have told me, they went frompoverty, extreme poverty, to
extreme wealth in terms of money, oil, money.
But all they did was give itout in per capita and to me, if
you give out too much per capita, that's just a bigger form of a
(24:55):
welfare check.
That's not teaching your peoplehow to be independent.
You become independent on percapita.
So they gave out these huge percapita kids returning 18 years
old, 19 and getting six figurechecks.
What happens with mostteenagers and you got to
remember 18 or 19, all is stilla teenager.
(25:17):
What happens to most teenagerswhen you give them 100, 200,
$200,000 check?
Is that good or bad?
You know there's a lot ofpeople don't have to work for
their money.
They're not going to learn howto manage money.
They're not going to have awork ethic.
Aaron Pete (25:39):
I couldn't agree more.
One of the areas that I findreally important to understand,
that I'd like your take on, isthe process of elections within
Indigenous communities.
I find within my own communityand within many others, there's
a couple of families with biglast names that are well
recognized and then thecommunity votes for them based
on their last name, but notbased on their ideas that
(25:59):
they're bringing forward.
And from my understanding, youran on two platforms one to
create jobs and two to make thecommunity money, and I tried to
bring a similar mindset whenrunning for council was I'm
going to do all candidatesmeetings.
People can ask me why I'mrunning, what I'm hoping to
contribute, the work that I planto do if I'm elected, how I'm
going to make a difference.
Don't vote for me for my lastname.
(26:21):
Vote for me based on my ideas.
How do we think about this?
Well, in my book, Res Rules.
Chief Clarence Louie (26:30):
I believe in rules.
Every successful person hasrules.
Every good house has houserules.
You can't play sports withoutrules.
So I believe in rules.
That's why my book is calledRes Rules.
But I have a chapter there aboutRes Elections and it bothers me
(26:52):
that our elections are gettingas much as we complain about
white people.
Man, we sure model them when wesure and our elections are
getting just as stupid as thenon-native elections.
There was this you know, ofcourse on the internet you can
(27:13):
always get sent stuff.
But I got sent this one cartoonabout a Res election.
It was a button.
There was a red button and awhite button, something like
that, and the caption was it'selection time on the Res Vote
for your cousin.
It was a white button, redbutton was vote for somebody who
(27:39):
knows what they're doing.
But yeah, you're right.
I mean in Res Elections peoplemake and promises.
I mean in the old, native way.
When you watch people you knowthere are leaders who are picked
(28:00):
at an early age and they weretrained properly and all that
sort of stuff.
But our leaders had to havequalities.
One is a work ethic.
If you don't have a work ethic,forget it.
You shouldn't vote for somebody.
Never vote for somebody whodoesn't have a good.
They can't hold a job.
They doesn't have a job and youcan't vote for people that give
(28:24):
what I call the I care speech.
I get native newspapers.
I get newspapers here from theNavajo Nation, the biggest res
on the world in the world.
They get that newspaper twice amonth and I subscribe to other
native papers.
So I've collected campaignspeeches.
I see campaign speeches.
I have never written a campaignspeech and I've never written a
(28:48):
letter for voting.
My slogan is, or my campaignspeech is really one sentence
I'll create more jobs and makemore money for the Seuss and
Yuban than anybody else.
That's my campaign speech,that's my campaign letter, which
(29:10):
I've never written one, and I'mnot against those things.
But I've noticed that allcampaign speeches say basically
the same thing I care about theelders, I care about our
language, I care about our land,I care about youth programs, I
care, I care, I care.
And yet no one says how intheir campaign letters, how the
(29:38):
heck are you going to pay forall that stuff?
Because everything costs money.
I don't care if it's eldersprograms, youth programs,
education, even funerals costmoney.
Everything from A to Z, fromcradle to gray on a res cost
money, so unless you vote.
Oh, and I was in the NavajoNation once and in my book
(30:00):
that's one of the pictures I putin my book.
I saw this sign because, ofcourse, the Navajo Nation
300,000 members, biggest res inthe world I saw this sign and I
go down there on a motorcycleride most every year.
They were going through anelection.
I saw this sign that said votefor jobs, not talk.
(30:21):
I thought that's me, that's mycampaign speech.
Vote for jobs, not talk.
That's the way every res shouldbe.
Vote for people that are goingto create jobs, not just talk.
Aaron Pete (30:37):
And you've been in your role for almost 40 years
come 2024.
How does that feel to haveknown that that's had the impact
and that you've been able tocreate so many different
organizational structures andopportunities for your members?
Chief Clarence Louie (30:51):
Well also, you've seen, your band isn't
perfect and this band office I'msitting in, and even these
companies still don't run theway I like them to run.
Because as a chief, you're nota dictator.
Sometimes I wish I could be adictator.
Things would get done a lotbetter, faster and be in any
case, a chief is not a dictator.
(31:12):
A chief is not a king or aqueen.
We have a five member council.
I always remind people councilrules, council At election time.
Just don't worry about who thechief is.
I get one voter on that table.
In some cases chiefs aren'teven allowed to vote.
They chair the meeting and onlyvoted in a case of a tie.
(31:35):
So during election time I'mactually campaigning more for
who gets on council than who'sthe chief.
I have to remind people you gotto think this.
You got to think the chief doesnot run council, council runs
council.
The majority rules are on thatcouncil table.
(31:55):
So you have to be worried aboutwho the council members are,
not just who the chief is.
I know in many bands here inthe Okanagan the chief only
votes in case of a tie.
I don't run council.
So at election time I'm just asconcerned about if there's a
(32:19):
six member council.
I want at least fourhardworking, good council
members in there.
So you have to be and even ifit's somebody that's running on
their own, like me, when I runfor chief, as I mentioned, I
spend most of my time when I'mout talking to people at
election time.
(32:39):
I'm talking about the councilpositions more than the chief
position, because council runscouncil and you have to have
hardworking, fair minded and Ilike it when I hear back East in
the Mohawk country that theyhave a word for their leaders.
(33:03):
I want to say the word chiefand council, which are English
words, but what that word meansis those who are of the nice,
sorry mind people.
You got to vote for nice people, not the assholes that run for
council, not the bullies, notthe ones that shout the most and
(33:28):
can stand up and ban meetingsand all around the most.
You vote for people that have agenuine nicest to them, not
just.
I mean we're kind of lucky inthe sense that we're small res
and we're not 300,000 peoplelike the Navajo Nation.
Pretty much everybody knowseach other and always remind
(33:53):
them.
You don't even need to readsomebody's campaign speech If
you've been around the resenough.
Watch what they do not during anelection.
Watch what they do and how theyare throughout the year.
That's their real self.
Because our people are gettingtoo phony.
(34:15):
At election time they're actinglike phony politicians.
All of a sudden, near electiontime, they start attending
community events.
Before an election, you neversee them, they never show up,
but at election time, a monthbefore election, all of a sudden
they're at community events.
I call that being a phony ass.
(34:37):
You never see them at youthevents, but near an election,
all of a sudden they're at youthevents.
They can look at phony ass.
Or when there's culturalceremonies, you never see them.
But a month before the election, all of a sudden, they're there
, acting like they really care.
(35:01):
You've got to have eyes wideopen at election time and watch
people throughout the year andthroughout their 20s.
Is there teenagers?
Is there in their 20s and their30s?
Watch them.
That's how our old people usedto.
That's how you traditionallypick leaders.
Was you watch them?
Is there growing up and don'tvote for the assholes.
(35:24):
Every race has idiots andassholes and what they call them
haters.
I even hear that in some of thenative songs and the rap music
haters Every race has haters.
Aaron Pete (35:40):
You have this amazing campaign slogan, this
mindset around deleting andmaking jobs and creating
economic opportunities, andyou've delivered.
You have the most band ownedbusinesses per capita in all of
Canada.
Would you mind talking aboutsome of those band owned
businesses and the work thatwent into creating them?
Chief Clarence Louie (36:00):
No, we have, of course.
Our vineyard is still operating.
It's growing a lot since 1968.
We have a joint venture,weimere, with Canada's biggest
wine producer, artara Wine'sBincourt Jackson Treaves.
We have a golf course.
We have two gas stations andstores, one on North and the
(36:22):
reserve, one on the South End,north and South.
We have a forestry operation.
We have a cement company.
We have I'm trying to think ofwith the managers around our
managers tables here.
We have a campground inrecreational vehicle park.
We have a cultural center andwe have a number of other joint
(36:48):
ventures around forestry andmining.
I think that covers all of them.
We're always looking for newlease opportunities.
We lease a lot of land.
We're lucky here in theOkanagan.
The biggest reserves in DC areall in the Okanagan.
Some of our land leases.
(37:09):
We lease out a thousand acresjust in vineyards, two different
vineyards.
We have an industrial park.
Well, it has a provincial prisonon it.
People often think that's theCeciene Bands prison.
It's not our prison.
We're the first band to everallow a prison on an Indian
reserve on both sides of theborder.
That turned out to be ourbiggest land lease we've ever
(37:31):
done the reason.
I pushed for that prison, eventhough the connotation of
natives in prison was because of250 union-paid jobs.
Any time there's hundreds ofjobs being offered on the res,
we should jump all over that Reshumor is the best.
(37:57):
Young res boys were teasingeach other.
Who's the first Ceciene Baymember that's going to wind up
in that jail?
On the Ceciene reserve we havean industrial park which we're
looking to lease more land out.
We have residentialdevelopments, commercial
developments, industrialdevelopments.
(38:18):
We also buy land.
Our res is 4,000-acre short,like on most reserves on both
sides of the border.
After the reserves wereestablished and our ancestors
someone had to say in thereserves, the government, as
more settlers would come in,took away reserve land.
(38:40):
We had 4,000 acres of our bestreserve land taken away.
One of our goals here, one ofmy goals, is to eventually get
up to a 40,000-acre res.
We're at 36,000.
It's not going to happen duringmy lifetime but I learned that
from the tribes in the States,the rich casino tribes.
(39:00):
They've taken that money fromcasino gaming and buying land
and add it to their reserve size.
Land is always more importantthan money.
Land is always more importantthan money.
Some people give us shit forhaving to buy our land back.
I think you think white peopleare going to give the land back.
Yeah, give you a head of shade.
(39:23):
You think some white personthat's watched dances with
wolves eight times is going tocome into your band ops and say,
oh, my conscience got to me.
I'm going to give my house andmy land back to the band.
That ain't going to happen Tome.
It's only money.
That's what I love making money.
Whatever people need to talkabout money at every opportunity
(39:45):
, it's not having a level ofmoney.
The equation stamped in my mindis money equals opportunity.
Those dollar signs equalopportunity.
So I don't have a level ofmoney.
I have a level of opportunityfor the CCB.
But in order to haveopportunity you got to have
(40:06):
money.
No, if you don't have money,you have no opportunity.
You can't pay that.
I just left a meeting and one ofour students wants to get her
masters.
Well, that masters is going tocost tens of thousands of
dollars.
And where the hell is thatmoney going to come from?
Looney auctions.
You need to go do looneyauctions to pay for your
(40:28):
education and we buried one ofour people not long ago with
that funeral.
The band pays for everything.
When your people die, you'regoing to do looney auctions.
Leaders have to put money asmaking money as a priority.
Any which way you can makemoney, but you have to be able
(40:51):
to manage money and not do thedumb thing that things that many
bands have done, because thatgoes from whether it's a land
claim or having lots of money.
Our people are, because we werekicked off our economic course
for 100 years.
We have to get back and tolearn how to make, how to manage
money.
In fact, I'm amazed, you know,even though see my Washington
(41:15):
Redskins.
Yeah, I'm a proud WashingtonRedskins, I'm a proud Redskins
and I hope to get that name Tome.
That's a proud looking Indian.
Agreed, I love that logo.
Aaron Pete (41:28):
Can I actually ask about that really briefly?
You're a person, I feel, whogenuinely speaks their minds,
not in a flippant way but in avery thoughtful way.
You just say the truth as youknow it to be, and we're in a
time where political correctnessis a very big thing, and I just
find it admirable that you talkabout Indian issues.
You talk about it openly andhonestly, you don't hold back.
(41:49):
Where did that kind ofphilosophy come from for you and
why do you think that'simportant?
Chief Clarence Louie (41:56):
Because I'm not a phony politician.
There's a big differencebetween being a leader and a
politician.
I actually don't like that wordpolitician.
I'm not a politician.
Somebody who's a politicianI'll watch what they say,
they'll gauge, they'll go into aroom and, oh, what can I say?
(42:17):
I first have to look aroundbefore I can tell the truth.
Really, you got to look aroundand be able to tell what you
really really feel.
What's that Johnny Cash quote?
If you can't see what you trulythink and feel, then shut the
hell up.
So leaders will say what haveto be said.
(42:41):
Even at election time,politicians will change their
stripes.
They'll change their views,even change their core values,
if it'll get them votes.
I don't change my core values toget votes.
I don't suck up to people, andthere's people on this res that
(43:06):
have never voted for me, whichis fine.
That's democracy.
I don't look to get everybody'svote.
In fact, at a recent electionone of the people that never
vote for me she says to me well,you come to my house and tell
me why I should vote for you,and I thought, why should I
(43:29):
waste my time going to talk tosomebody who I know is never
going to vote for me and it'sjust trying to play some
political games, being a phonyass.
I don't like phony people.
I can't stand them, so I'm notgoing to be phony with anybody.
The way I talk right now is theway I talk at band meetings.
(43:51):
The way I talk right now is theway I talk at council meetings.
Some people say well, clarence,do all your elders support you?
I say, of course not, and Ireally don't give a shit if they
don't all support me.
I'm not looking for everybody'ssupport because I'm not going
to be a phony ass.
I'm not going to change my corevalues for a vote and people,
(44:16):
you get what you get when youvote for me.
I'm not a phony person.
I hate phony people and I don'tdislike anybody.
And even after the election,once the election is over and
some people tell me well, howcan you help in that person?
They didn't vote for you?
I said I really don't care ifthey didn't vote for me.
What they're saying or whatthey're bringing up is rational
(44:41):
and reasonable to me and I'mgoing to go along with what.
I'm going to try and help themand go along with what they want
.
Not because they vote,politicians will look at oh, did
that person vote for me?
I'm not a politician, I'm aleader and is one of the wisest
business leaders of all time.
Walt Disney once said the roadto failure is for you.
(45:02):
The road to failure is to tryand please everybody.
In fact, only phony people tryand please everybody.
So I don't try and pleaseeverybody.
And even when we have votes onland designation votes,
sometimes my mom is against theproject, which is fine.
I don't hate my mom because shevoted no, but I'm going to
(45:23):
stand up and tell everybody tovote yes.
And after the votes over, westill treat each other the same
way.
I love that, because that'swhat leaders do.
There's a big differencebetween being a leader and being
a politician.
Aaron Pete (45:44):
I've taken up far too much of your time already,
but one really last question isjust around what advice do you
have if you were an indigenouscommunity?
Somebody comes in to youroffice and they go nothing's
working for me, I don't have ajob, I don't know where to go.
What advice would you have forpeople tuning in and they just
they don't feel like the world'sgiving them all the
opportunities they want.
Chief Clarence Louie (46:07):
Well, the first thing they have to do is
start with themselves.
I mean, what sort of job do youwant we employ?
Last call we did 30, someonefirst nations here.
We had a first nation personfrom another res here.
Always ask them how did you endup here?
It'll see us.
Well, where I come from there.
(46:28):
All they do is arguing andfight there and only jobs are
the band office jobs or thehealth jobs, are the jobs at the
school.
We have no economic developmentand I didn't want to stand in a
welfare line.
So that's the type of personthat I'm looking for.
They'll always be the lazyasses.
Even this res we have lazy,which my mom calls them lazy
(46:52):
asses.
You could pay them $100nowadays They'll get their ass
fired.
But 80 to 90% of my people, I'msure most reserves to their
hardworking.
They want to be hardworking,self-supporting people,
law-abiding people, and that'sthe type of people I love
hanging around and I love that's.
That's why I keep on doing.
(47:12):
You know there is no finish linein business.
There is no finish line inpersonal growth.
You know I'm getting throughmore books listening to books
than I am reading.
I got one of the biggestpersonal libraries around.
I love books and what I'velearned successful people become
(47:33):
successful in two major waysthe books they read and the
people they meet.
That's how you becomesuccessful.
You got to say you got to starthanging around the right people
in networking is so important.
I mean, that's some of theprojects I voted for on this res
like that racetrack.
(47:53):
I'm not into Ferraris andLamborghinis and those type of
cars, but when I see somebodythat owns a car that's worth
$500,000, two or three reshouses, I'm going.
I'm not interested in that car,I'm interested in the person
that owns that car, becausethey're obviously a successful
business person, unless they'rea drug dealer.
(48:14):
How did you, how did you getthe owner car like that?
I'm interested in the personthat owns that car.
So I'm interested in hangingaround business people.
I don't go to Union, to BCchiefs meetings, summit meetings
, the AFN meetings.
I'm not saying those meetingsaren't important.
First they are.
I send a council member, I sendmy proxy.
You can't do economicdevelopment off the side of your
(48:37):
desk.
You got to be immersed in it,you got to be, you got to live
and breathe it, and so I, I Istay away from from Political
meetings.
They're important, but I spendmy time on the business side of
the scale and I love hangingaround business people.
I love hanging aroundsuccessful people.
I mean, I just gotSchwarzschneger's other book is
(49:00):
the only guy in the world I knowthat Made it to the top and
three totally different fields.
He was a sports bodybuilding.
He became the highest paidactor during his height.
He spoke broken English and hestill became the highest paid
actor male actor at one time.
(49:21):
And then in politics he ran asfar as he could.
He's a foreigner.
He became the governor of the.
What did he say?
That sixth biggest economy inthe world.
California, california,california, the state of
California, the sixth biggesteconomy in the world.
I mean, who does that?
(49:41):
And he just put out a new bookcalled seven ways to become
successful or something likethat.
So I got it and I just finishedlistening to it.
Aaron Pete (49:51):
Brilliant.
Chief Clarence Louie (49:53):
And that's what I love.
I love listening and learningabout successful people and how
they became successful andhanging around successful people
.
And that's what I want FirstNations to do is to get involved
in the business world, becausethat's where the action is,
that's where independence ishanging around and, you know,
(50:17):
clicking on.
I mean we've got a king now,but Clitching on to the Queen's
skirt and thinking the Queen'sgoing to solve all this is going
to get your people out ofpoverty, I mean I still hear
some old-timers saying oh, wegot to go to we it, it, it, it
it.
Our treaties are with the Queen, our King, and that's that's.
(50:39):
That's not going to work.
All successful bands I'vestudied in tribes I've studied
have a strong economic arm.
Sure, you got to have a socialarm, but your strongest arm
should be your business arm.
That's how you get away frombeing a hang around the Ford
Union and find the job you love,if you.
(51:03):
You know, the one sentence Ilove hearing from my people and
I've heard it over and overagain is when somebody can
honestly say I love my job.
Those four words you're goingto be a success, you're going to
have a good life, you're goingto be a damn good worker.
(51:23):
You're going to be very good atwhat you do.
It doesn't matter what you do.
I have a bus driver that says Ilove my job.
He's never missed a day's workin 20 years and he has a very
important job bringing ourfuture managers and workers to
that preschool I'm looking atacross my office here, into that
, into that grade school.
Every job is important.
(51:45):
On a risk, every job is.
And if somebody can say thatthey, that they love their job,
they're going to have a goodlife and they're going to be a,
they're going to contribute toraising the state, to raise the
standard of Living on your firstnation, and then that's, and
that's what I hope for all of myyoung people is to find a job
(52:08):
that they love.
You know, go, go, go, go, gofind a job that you have a
passion for.
And I read this quote.
I, I love quotes.
There was this quote in thenewspaper and all along go.
That said the dancer is greatNot because of her technique,
the dancer is great because ofher passion, you know.
(52:32):
So you have a passion for yourwork and I have a passion for my
work.
I love creating jobs and I loveit when I see one of my young
people pick a career and saythat's what I'm going to do for
most of my life and then Ichange their career later on.
But so many of my people of,whether it's golf, we sent that
(52:53):
during COVID.
We sent one of our young guysdo this very expensive golf Pro
management course, southernCalifornia.
He came to the council tablecry, said if he doesn't do it
now, he won't.
He doesn't know when he'll doit.
Can events send them to thisvery expensive golf golf
management program?
(53:14):
And we did.
He was successful.
Now he's working in our golfcourse.
He said that's what he wants todo for the rest of his life is
be a golf pro and eventuallymanage a golf course.
So I love it when I see nativepeople whether it's my own
people or I don't care ifthey're who they are.
When a native person finds ajob they love Wow.
(53:36):
You know, two thumbs up to thatand that's that's what every
native person needs to do.
And hundreds of years ago,before the white people came, we
looked after ourselves, we gotup early, went to bed early, got
up early and we we worked.
Every day was a work dayBecause you had to make your own
(54:00):
clothes, to get your own foodand have your own shelter.
So you know First Nationspeople come from, but I call it
working culture.
We come from a working culture.
That's.
That's what we got to get backto.
Aaron Pete (54:15):
I love it.
I cannot thank you enough.
Your quote is saying a healthyperson is a working person and I
think that philosophy is soimportant and there's so much to
take away from your journey andthe work you're doing to
support your members andreaching their full potential,
which I think is so important.
I highly recommend people gocheck out your book Res Rules.
I think it's really importantand really helps connect people
(54:36):
with that entrepreneurialmindset and how we can support
communities in thriving andgrowing and impacting our
economies and contributing in agood way.
So thank you again.
I've kept you far too long, butI really appreciate you.
Chief Clarence Louie (54:48):
So, aaron, you saw like you, I like your,
I like your tone, I like yourenthusiasm and I want to see my
great grandfather's reservationRes one of these days.
It would be an honor to hostyou.
We're in the federal.
I have to get to your Res nextyear in 2024.
I will my auntie with me aswell.
Aaron Pete (55:08):
I'll send out that invitation and we will make sure
it's a warm welcome.
It's such an honor to spendthis time with you, take care.
Welcome back to another episode of the Bigger
than Me podcast.
Here is your host, Aaron.
Today I have the honor ofspeaking with the chief of a
Soyuz First Nation.
We discuss indigenous politics,economic development, work
ethic and how to support FirstNation communities in their
economic success.
My guest today is chiefClarence Louie.
(00:21):
It is not every day that we getto sit down with a living
legend, but it is the individualwho inspires so many different
First Nations communities.
Chief Clarence Louie, would youmind briefly introducing
yourself for people who mightnot be acquainted with your work
?
Hello, everyone.
Chief Clarence Louie (00:39):
I'm chief Clarence Louie from the Soyuz
Union Band and I've been chiefof this community for 38 years.
Everybody I know is getting old.
I'm getting old, but I lovewhat I do and I love creating
jobs and making money for theSoyuz Union Band.
Aaron Pete (00:56):
I love it.
There's one area and I'm sureyou've seen it go viral again
and again.
It kind of resurfaces.
There's this Facebook post withwords from you talking about
the mindset you have, thephilosophy you have, around
Indian time, around hard work.
Do you know about the post thatI'm talking about and the
impact that it's had?
Chief Clarence Louie (01:15):
I don't know if it's the same one, but
if it's the one titled Indiantime, which was a Globe and Mail
reporter, roy McGregor, whohelped me with my book.
I don't know if he still worksfor the Globe and Mail, but he
was a writer for the Globe andMail at the time and he just
happened to be in the audiencestuff in Fort McMurray area
(01:39):
where I was speaking to anauthorist to a group, and he
wrote an article and he titledit Indian Time because I was
making an issue about Indiansshowing up late, which they were
doing at that gathering too.
Yeah, so he titled it IndianTime and yet it's still making
(02:00):
the rounds all these years later.
Aaron Pete (02:03):
I found it really inspiring and really important,
because we can so often get kindof siloed within our indigenous
communities and there arebusiness practices that are best
practices that we should tryand align ourselves with in
order to compete on bids, inorder to gain respect and
confidence from othercommunities, whether it's other
municipalities or the province,and so it just was really
(02:23):
inspiring to see you voicingsomething that I don't feel like
we hear very often fromindigenous leaders.
Chief Clarence Louie (02:30):
Well, everyone on I've been on over
300 Indian Reserves, indianReservations both sides of the
border, canada and the States,and wherever you go North, south
, east and West Indian Countryeverybody on the Res complains
about Indian Time.
You know it's a sad joke andpeople still joke around about
it even today on every Res I'veever been on.
(02:53):
So within the Res communityeverybody knows of Indian Time
or Navajo Time or Cree Time andyeah, and it's something that
still sadly happens today, whereyou can't hold a job if you
can't show up on time.
I mean obviously when you're astudent, when you're in grade
(03:17):
school or high school.
You're not going to be a goodstudent if you don't show up on
time.
In fact, that's what gradeschool and preschool is supposed
to teach you.
You know the number one rule.
You know show up on time.
Aaron Pete (03:30):
I love that.
Would you mind taking us backto your roots?
Yeah, your youth in a Soyuzworking in the vineyard coaching
sports.
Can you talk about your earlylife?
Chief Clarence Louie (03:41):
Well, my early life on this Reserv was no
different than most FirstNation Reserves.
We didn't have much.
Everybody was pretty poor.
Actually, the CC band we werelucky to probably I don't know
have any other band that can sayin 1968 that they had their own
(04:01):
band business.
We had a vineyard.
It was a small vineyard at thetime but now it's growing to be
one of the biggest privatelyowned vineyards in the country
at around 300 acres.
But yeah, we had a bandbusiness.
We're located right down by theUS-Canada border so when there's
no jobs on the Res, all of ourgrandparents, parents, they
(04:26):
cross that border and go work inthe States and follow the fruit
.
Some of our people would followthe fruit picking all the way
down to Arizona, california andthen make their way back home.
So most of my people back inthe 60s, 70s, 50s they all work
in Washington, usuallyWashington State.
(04:47):
Sometimes further south we haveband members from Texas.
In fact one of some of thestate's band members were in my
office yesterday and they soundlike Texans because that's where
they grew up, because somehowone of my people ended up
following the food industry allthe way down to Texas.
Yeah, so back in my early days.
(05:10):
I mean everyone worked, eventhough it was hard labor, mostly
in the orchard industry, fruits, apple packing, houses or
logging and forestry, andeverybody on the Res.
When you were old enough to work, your first job, usually as a
teenager, was working in thevineyard, which, when you got
(05:33):
off school, in the summertime,july and August, was get up at
four o'clock in the morning, beout in those fields by five am
and get off at one am.
And all of us back in my eraand even before mine and even up
until probably the early 80swhen we started branching out
into other businesses prettymuch everybody had a taste of
(05:56):
working in the vineyard, which Ithink is a it's hard work.
Most people don't like it Ididn't like it but it teaches
you a lot.
Everyone needs to go through.
Some have a good tough workexperience as a youth.
That's why I'm a big believerin youth summer jobs.
They teach you a lot and theylifelong lessons you can carry
(06:20):
into any other field of workthat you happen to be into.
But doing hard labor is.
Everyone, as a youth, should dosome hard labor, and it's too
bad today that youth are gettinglazy in the sense that they
don't want to do hard labor.
I mean, I look at some of theyouth on this resin.
(06:42):
We have so many opportunitiesnow and even the past few
summers.
Part of our youth have a chanceof their summer job is learning
tech.
Learning technology and sittingin front of a screen in one of
our boardrooms downstairs infront of a laptop which they get
(07:04):
to keep after the end of thesummer, and they get to listen
to people from Microsoft, fromBlackberry, and I always remind
them I said you youth are solucky nowadays you don't even
have to break a sweat.
You're sitting in front of ascreen, you're not in 40 degrees
heat, you're not in the wind,in the rain, in those vineyards
with a shovel or a hole in yourhand.
(07:26):
You're getting all dusty anddirty and you're not having to
get up at four o'clock in themorning.
You come here during the easyband office hours 8.30 to 4.30,
and you get paid.
That's your summer job.
Oh, wow, man, it's a.
My era would have would neverhave thought that, because we
(07:46):
all just did labor work, we alldid hard labor.
And even now every vineyard hasto import Mexicans because
Canadians don't want to do laborwork, so we're having to before
we have a Mexican work program.
We're important Mexicans towork in the fields, so it kind
(08:10):
of bothers me that today's youthdon't get a taste of hard grunt
labor.
Work is a 12-year-old,13-year-old, 14-year-old.
They get to sit in airconditioned offices looking at
screens, getting paid way morethan two bucks an hour.
Well, I got paid it was twobucks an hour to sweat it out in
(08:32):
those fields.
But at the same time it'sevolution and it's kind of cool
that our people don't have tosweat in the fields anymore to
have a summer job.
Aaron Pete (08:46):
You're a person who's very well known for your
work ethic, and so I'm wonderingis this where you developed
this work ethic?
From working in the vineyards,coaching sports, supporting your
community?
Chief Clarence Louie (08:56):
Of course.
Of course I mean anytime youwork in agriculture or forestry
or logging, you're getting upearly.
It's not the easy office hours,easy grade school hours, I call
them.
You're getting up at three orfour in the morning and you're
having to be out there on thework site.
Awesome training program as ayoung person.
(09:16):
Even though I hated it, I'mglad I went through it and
sometimes in life the stuff youdidn't like probably taught you
the most the rough goal that youhad as a youth.
So my people, most of my peoplenot all, but most of my people
(09:39):
have a good hard work ethicBecause that's how they grew up.
There used to be no welfare onIndian reserves.
You had work or you start.
And I think is one of the oldchiefs told me, one of the worst
things they ever brought toIndian reserves was welfare.
(10:01):
It made some of our people lazy.
It made some of our people notwant to work, even though you
don't get much on welfare.
But still having too manysafety nets in any society, it's
not good.
People should have to work fora living In fact all of our.
(10:22):
I mean, if you go back to priorto the non-natives being in our
territory, we had to provide.
We had to.
Whether it's hunting, fishing,food gathering, whatever you had
to provide for your three basicneeds food, clothing and
shelter.
You didn't have not break asweat again.
(10:43):
Go down to Walmart, which wecall the Indian store.
You can just go down to theIndian store and buy whatever
you wanted.
You know, if you wanted meatyou had to get up and get up
early and go on.
Then you had to skin that deer,pack that deer out, or moose or
elk.
And traditional living isn'teasy.
It's way harder thancontemporary living, way harder,
(11:06):
absolutely.
No one built your house.
You built it yourself.
You didn't just go down and buyclothes that were already made.
You had to make your ownclothes.
In fact, some of the old peoplehere still remember their
grandmas and moms makingmoccasins.
Making moccasins isn't easy andsome of them remember that they
(11:34):
had to wear moccasins as achild.
And you know it's so mucheasier wearing runners, you know
.
That's why one of my quotesthat's hanging in our boardroom
and just for our boardroomnatives have always worked for
11.
You know our people didn't siton their ass with their hand out
(11:56):
.
There was no welfare, there wasno safety.
You worked.
You know, all of our old peopleused to have gardens.
You had to grow your own foodor else you starved.
And yeah, I mean the nativework ethic used to be strong and
(12:20):
it's weakened a bit because ourpeople have gotten softer,
because of, again, the safetynets that are provided by vans
today that our people never had.
Aaron Pete (12:33):
You went to Saskatchewan Indian College and
this is where you fell in lovewith First Nations history and
the culture and the traditions.
It seems like at times ourinterest in economic development
is faced almost juxtaposed toour ability to practice our
culture, and you hear that a lotwithin communities, that these
(12:54):
are somehow at odds with eachother, and I don't agree with
that.
But I'm curious as to what yourtakeaways were from going to
the college and how we find thisbalance.
Chief Clarence Louie (13:03):
I don't agree with it or at odds either.
Traditionally our people had aneconomy.
We had a system of trade.
I mean trade is still used as aword today, back then.
(13:24):
I mean, the oldest ancestralgrave found in our territory,
not far from Osuys, proved to beover 1,500 years old.
And in that ancestral grave, nodifferent than ancestral graves
throughout North America, whatwas found in that grave didn't
come from the Okanagan Nationterritory.
(13:44):
What was found in that gravedidn't come from Washington
State, it came from furthersouth.
So obviously that provesarchaeological evidence proves
over and over again that ourtribes, our nations, had a
system of trade.
(14:05):
Trade is just another word forbusiness.
Our people traded with eachother.
We had a system of trade routes, trade routes.
We did trade with other tribes,other nations.
We have a word for buffalo inour language but there's no
buffalo in the Okanagan.
But we have a word for buffaloin our language because we
(14:28):
traded with the plainspeaker.
We went over those Rockies.
So really we were the firstentrepreneurs of this land, not
the French or the English, wewere the first business people
we had.
In fact, one of the Mohawkstold me, one of the Mohawks
chiefs told me many years agothat they even had a system of
(14:48):
taxation.
They didn't use that wordtaxation, that's an English word
.
They had a system of taxationfor the French and English, the
missionaries.
When they came through theirterritory, they taxed them.
They didn't speak English, theyonly spoke Mohawk, but they had
a system of tax.
Again, that's economics.
(15:13):
So every tribal territory hadbusiness people, we had
specialists, we had a system oftrade and in the modern way, in
the modern resway to me it'sjust.
One of the national chiefs oncesaid it's the economic horse
(15:34):
that pulls the social cart.
Well, yes, it is, but most ofour people don't realize that
they're trying to put the cartbefore the horse.
They all talk about all thesesocial programs, social elders
programs, youth programs,education.
Everything costs money.
Health costs money.
I've never met a teacher thatworks for free.
(15:55):
Nurses and doctors don't workfor free.
Everybody wants a paycheck andthere's nothing wrong with that.
That's just normal and natural.
Everybody wants a paycheck,even when I see healers, these
native healers that go around,we have to pay them.
Nobody, unless you're going tolive off of welfare.
(16:17):
The majority of our people wanta decent paycheck and they have
to realize that those paycheckshave come from.
And even if you work in socialservices or our schools or in
education, that paycheck comesfrom somewhere.
I mean the money, the fundedmoney that goes into health and
(16:39):
education, comes from economicdevelopment, comes from
corporate taxes, comes frompersonal taxes, natural resource
taxes, everything.
If you connect the dots, it allgoes back to economic
development.
Because unless you're a thirdworld country depending on
(17:03):
foreign aid which I know Canadaand America and most G8
countries they end up givingmoney.
They end up giving some oftheir economic development money
to these needy countriesbecause they depend on foreign
aid.
But every government I don'tcare if it's the federal
(17:24):
government, provincialgovernment, municipal
governments, first nationgovernments every government
needs money to operate.
And if you connect the dots,where does that money come from?
It doesn't just fall out of thesky.
It just bugs me that nativescan't connect the dots.
They can't connect the dots ofwhere does this money come from
(17:46):
to pay my teachers or to pay oursocial service staff?
Or where's the money come fromfor youth programs, elders
programs, when we bury people?
Where does that money come from?
It comes from economicdevelopment, it comes from
business development.
That's where all the moneycomes from to run the federal,
(18:07):
provincial, municipal, firstnation governments.
Money just doesn't fall out ofthe sky.
It comes from economicdevelopment.
Aaron Pete (18:16):
This was actually one of the lessons that I took
away.
I was a native court worker forabout five years and trying to
help people through the legalsystem, help them with their
court matters whether it was adomestic violence charge or
whether it was a theftundercharge and I was trying to
help them and it just alwaysfelt like, well, we need more
housing, we need more socialprograms, we need more of this.
It just felt like I was in anever-ending rat race of trying
(18:38):
to help people get out from thatsystem and get into a social
program and it seemed like theremust be a solution to this
problem beyond just doing thesame kind of approach every day.
Then I had the opportunity togo to law school in Vancouver
and study this and economicdevelopment, to your point, was
exactly the solution forindigenous communities.
It is the engine, and in so manycommunities, including my own
(19:02):
community, we treat it like it'sanother portfolio, like housing
, like social programs, likehealthcare.
But it's not.
It's very much the program thatallows everything else to be
paid for.
It allows communities to getout from under waiting for
checks to come in from thefederal government or the
provincial government.
It allows that economic freedomto go.
Where do we want our communityto be in 10 years and then to
(19:24):
start to make a budget on how wewant to get there over the next
10 years, and that's freeing.
But when we treat it like it'sjust another portfolio, it keeps
us small-minded and kind ofgets us to check boxes and not
have a good strategy around it.
Moving into your Poor peoplearen't free.
Chief Clarence Louie (19:44):
Dependent people are not free.
So, obviously, do you want tobe an independent First Nation
or a dependent First Nation?
Do you want to be dependent ongovernment grants and programs
and services which have neverworked for our people?
There's not one program thatthe federal government go back
(20:04):
100 years, even this year.
There's not one program thatthe federal government properly
funds.
They never have and they neverwill, because there's just not
enough money to go around.
So First Nations got to startmaking their own money.
You got to start making yourown money and getting back on
your economic course.
It is the economic course thatpulls the social cart, always
(20:28):
has been and always will be.
And, as I mentioned thatancestor Grave I was talking
about, those things in therewere based on economics and
trade.
We got to get back on oureconomic course.
I mean, it's pretty simple.
The dependency model, thedependency trap, was created by
(20:52):
how you colonize a people.
I don't care if it's Africans,asians, north American Indians,
south American Indians orthere's the British, french, the
Spaniards or whoever.
If you want to colonize apeople, the first thing you have
to do is take away theireconomic ability to support
(21:13):
themselves.
You take away their economics.
That's how you make peopledependent and you turn them into
what's often referred to ashang around the Fort Indians.
Indians were turned into hangaround the Fort Indians.
Hang around the Department ofIndian Affairs.
(21:33):
Hang around these forts forrations, for trinkets for that's
how you turn native people intobeggars in your own land is you
take away their economics?
That's the colonial recipe.
It's been done over and overagain all over the world.
Aaron Pete (21:56):
Would you mind telling us about your first run
for chief, what your mindset was, what your philosophy was?
You're nearly 40 years in.
I'm just wondering about thoseearly days of considering
putting your name forward.
Chief Clarence Louie (22:08):
Boy, that was so long ago.
I really don't.
I don't remember.
I just knew that I had a goodwork ethic.
My mom had the old tough resrule that we've gotten away from
you either go to school, get ajob or you get out.
And I know for one of ourmembers that has now become the
(22:33):
world's first nation winemaker,his dad did the same thing to
him.
He was being a lazy youth andhis dad kicked him out.
I mean, tough love often works.
And in all of our first nationstories and I've heard it so
(22:57):
many times about the WillowStick, about grandparents making
their grandchildren, you know,stand on their own two feet, you
know, it's the same thing.
If you look at the animals,eagles teach their young how to
(23:21):
fly, not so they can hang aroundthem, so they can be out on
their own.
They push them out of the nest.
Eventually.
They push them out and thatyoungster has to fly on its own.
And that's the traditionalteachings where our people I
(23:49):
don't care what tribe you talkabout, our people were not lazy
People, weren't lazy people.
We weren't hanging around theFord Indians.
The federal and provincialgovernments forced us to be
hanging around the Ford Indians,but now we should be out of
that era and getting back on oureconomic course and looking at
(24:14):
every business opportunity thatwe can get into.
And even here at Osuyu's westill have that mindset of not
being able to connect the dots,many of our people and not
thinking that business is easyand making money is easy.
And so many bans have gottenland claims and lots of money
(24:35):
and then in a matter of years,just like some bans in Alberta
have told me, they went frompoverty, extreme poverty, to
extreme wealth in terms of money, oil, money.
But all they did was give itout in per capita and to me, if
you give out too much per capita, that's just a bigger form of a
(24:55):
welfare check.
That's not teaching your peoplehow to be independent.
You become independent on percapita.
So they gave out these huge percapita kids returning 18 years
old, 19 and getting six figurechecks.
What happens with mostteenagers and you got to
remember 18 or 19, all is stilla teenager.
(25:17):
What happens to most teenagerswhen you give them 100, 200,
$200,000 check?
Is that good or bad?
You know there's a lot ofpeople don't have to work for
their money.
They're not going to learn howto manage money.
They're not going to have awork ethic.
Aaron Pete (25:39):
I couldn't agree more.
One of the areas that I findreally important to understand,
that I'd like your take on, isthe process of elections within
Indigenous communities.
I find within my own communityand within many others, there's
a couple of families with biglast names that are well
recognized and then thecommunity votes for them based
on their last name, but notbased on their ideas that
(25:59):
they're bringing forward.
And from my understanding, youran on two platforms one to
create jobs and two to make thecommunity money, and I tried to
bring a similar mindset whenrunning for council was I'm
going to do all candidatesmeetings.
People can ask me why I'mrunning, what I'm hoping to
contribute, the work that I planto do if I'm elected, how I'm
going to make a difference.
Don't vote for me for my lastname.
(26:21):
Vote for me based on my ideas.
How do we think about this?
Well, in my book, Res Rules.
Chief Clarence Louie (26:30):
I believe in rules.
Every successful person hasrules.
Every good house has houserules.
You can't play sports withoutrules.
So I believe in rules.
That's why my book is calledRes Rules.
But I have a chapter there aboutRes Elections and it bothers me
(26:52):
that our elections are gettingas much as we complain about
white people.
Man, we sure model them when wesure and our elections are
getting just as stupid as thenon-native elections.
There was this you know, ofcourse on the internet you can
(27:13):
always get sent stuff.
But I got sent this one cartoonabout a Res election.
It was a button.
There was a red button and awhite button, something like
that, and the caption was it'selection time on the Res Vote
for your cousin.
It was a white button, redbutton was vote for somebody who
(27:39):
knows what they're doing.
But yeah, you're right.
I mean in Res Elections peoplemake and promises.
I mean in the old, native way.
When you watch people you knowthere are leaders who are picked
(28:00):
at an early age and they weretrained properly and all that
sort of stuff.
But our leaders had to havequalities.
One is a work ethic.
If you don't have a work ethic,forget it.
You shouldn't vote for somebody.
Never vote for somebody whodoesn't have a good.
They can't hold a job.
They doesn't have a job and youcan't vote for people that give
(28:24):
what I call the I care speech.
I get native newspapers.
I get newspapers here from theNavajo Nation, the biggest res
on the world in the world.
They get that newspaper twice amonth and I subscribe to other
native papers.
So I've collected campaignspeeches.
I see campaign speeches.
I have never written a campaignspeech and I've never written a
(28:48):
letter for voting.
My slogan is, or my campaignspeech is really one sentence
I'll create more jobs and makemore money for the Seuss and
Yuban than anybody else.
That's my campaign speech,that's my campaign letter, which
(29:10):
I've never written one, and I'mnot against those things.
But I've noticed that allcampaign speeches say basically
the same thing I care about theelders, I care about our
language, I care about our land,I care about youth programs, I
care, I care, I care.
And yet no one says how intheir campaign letters, how the
(29:38):
heck are you going to pay forall that stuff?
Because everything costs money.
I don't care if it's eldersprograms, youth programs,
education, even funerals costmoney.
Everything from A to Z, fromcradle to gray on a res cost
money, so unless you vote.
Oh, and I was in the NavajoNation once and in my book
(30:00):
that's one of the pictures I putin my book.
I saw this sign because, ofcourse, the Navajo Nation
300,000 members, biggest res inthe world I saw this sign and I
go down there on a motorcycleride most every year.
They were going through anelection.
I saw this sign that said votefor jobs, not talk.
(30:21):
I thought that's me, that's mycampaign speech.
Vote for jobs, not talk.
That's the way every res shouldbe.
Vote for people that are goingto create jobs, not just talk.
Aaron Pete (30:37):
And you've been in your role for almost 40 years
come 2024.
How does that feel to haveknown that that's had the impact
and that you've been able tocreate so many different
organizational structures andopportunities for your members?
Chief Clarence Louie (30:51):
Well also, you've seen, your band isn't
perfect and this band office I'msitting in, and even these
companies still don't run theway I like them to run.
Because as a chief, you're nota dictator.
Sometimes I wish I could be adictator.
Things would get done a lotbetter, faster and be in any
case, a chief is not a dictator.
(31:12):
A chief is not a king or aqueen.
We have a five member council.
I always remind people councilrules, council At election time.
Just don't worry about who thechief is.
I get one voter on that table.
In some cases chiefs aren'teven allowed to vote.
They chair the meeting and onlyvoted in a case of a tie.
(31:35):
So during election time I'mactually campaigning more for
who gets on council than who'sthe chief.
I have to remind people you gotto think this.
You got to think the chief doesnot run council, council runs
council.
The majority rules are on thatcouncil table.
(31:55):
So you have to be worried aboutwho the council members are,
not just who the chief is.
I know in many bands here inthe Okanagan the chief only
votes in case of a tie.
I don't run council.
So at election time I'm just asconcerned about if there's a
(32:19):
six member council.
I want at least fourhardworking, good council
members in there.
So you have to be and even ifit's somebody that's running on
their own, like me, when I runfor chief, as I mentioned, I
spend most of my time when I'mout talking to people at
election time.
(32:39):
I'm talking about the councilpositions more than the chief
position, because council runscouncil and you have to have
hardworking, fair minded and Ilike it when I hear back East in
the Mohawk country that theyhave a word for their leaders.
(33:03):
I want to say the word chiefand council, which are English
words, but what that word meansis those who are of the nice,
sorry mind people.
You got to vote for nice people, not the assholes that run for
council, not the bullies, notthe ones that shout the most and
(33:28):
can stand up and ban meetingsand all around the most.
You vote for people that have agenuine nicest to them, not
just.
I mean we're kind of lucky inthe sense that we're small res
and we're not 300,000 peoplelike the Navajo Nation.
Pretty much everybody knowseach other and always remind
(33:53):
them.
You don't even need to readsomebody's campaign speech If
you've been around the resenough.
Watch what they do not during anelection.
Watch what they do and how theyare throughout the year.
That's their real self.
Because our people are gettingtoo phony.
(34:15):
At election time they're actinglike phony politicians.
All of a sudden, near electiontime, they start attending
community events.
Before an election, you neversee them, they never show up,
but at election time, a monthbefore election, all of a sudden
they're at community events.
I call that being a phony ass.
(34:37):
You never see them at youthevents, but near an election,
all of a sudden they're at youthevents.
They can look at phony ass.
Or when there's culturalceremonies, you never see them.
But a month before the election, all of a sudden, they're there
, acting like they really care.
(35:01):
You've got to have eyes wideopen at election time and watch
people throughout the year andthroughout their 20s.
Is there teenagers?
Is there in their 20s and their30s?
Watch them.
That's how our old people usedto.
That's how you traditionallypick leaders.
Was you watch them?
Is there growing up and don'tvote for the assholes.
(35:24):
Every race has idiots andassholes and what they call them
haters.
I even hear that in some of thenative songs and the rap music
haters Every race has haters.
Aaron Pete (35:40):
You have this amazing campaign slogan, this
mindset around deleting andmaking jobs and creating
economic opportunities, andyou've delivered.
You have the most band ownedbusinesses per capita in all of
Canada.
Would you mind talking aboutsome of those band owned
businesses and the work thatwent into creating them?
Chief Clarence Louie (36:00):
No, we have, of course.
Our vineyard is still operating.
It's growing a lot since 1968.
We have a joint venture,weimere, with Canada's biggest
wine producer, artara Wine'sBincourt Jackson Treaves.
We have a golf course.
We have two gas stations andstores, one on North and the
(36:22):
reserve, one on the South End,north and South.
We have a forestry operation.
We have a cement company.
We have I'm trying to think ofwith the managers around our
managers tables here.
We have a campground inrecreational vehicle park.
We have a cultural center andwe have a number of other joint
(36:48):
ventures around forestry andmining.
I think that covers all of them.
We're always looking for newlease opportunities.
We lease a lot of land.
We're lucky here in theOkanagan.
The biggest reserves in DC areall in the Okanagan.
Some of our land leases.
(37:09):
We lease out a thousand acresjust in vineyards, two different
vineyards.
We have an industrial park.
Well, it has a provincial prisonon it.
People often think that's theCeciene Bands prison.
It's not our prison.
We're the first band to everallow a prison on an Indian
reserve on both sides of theborder.
That turned out to be ourbiggest land lease we've ever
(37:31):
done the reason.
I pushed for that prison, eventhough the connotation of
natives in prison was because of250 union-paid jobs.
Any time there's hundreds ofjobs being offered on the res,
we should jump all over that Reshumor is the best.
(37:57):
Young res boys were teasingeach other.
Who's the first Ceciene Baymember that's going to wind up
in that jail?
On the Ceciene reserve we havean industrial park which we're
looking to lease more land out.
We have residentialdevelopments, commercial
developments, industrialdevelopments.
(38:18):
We also buy land.
Our res is 4,000-acre short,like on most reserves on both
sides of the border.
After the reserves wereestablished and our ancestors
someone had to say in thereserves, the government, as
more settlers would come in,took away reserve land.
(38:40):
We had 4,000 acres of our bestreserve land taken away.
One of our goals here, one ofmy goals, is to eventually get
up to a 40,000-acre res.
We're at 36,000.
It's not going to happen duringmy lifetime but I learned that
from the tribes in the States,the rich casino tribes.
(39:00):
They've taken that money fromcasino gaming and buying land
and add it to their reserve size.
Land is always more importantthan money.
Land is always more importantthan money.
Some people give us shit forhaving to buy our land back.
I think you think white peopleare going to give the land back.
Yeah, give you a head of shade.
(39:23):
You think some white personthat's watched dances with
wolves eight times is going tocome into your band ops and say,
oh, my conscience got to me.
I'm going to give my house andmy land back to the band.
That ain't going to happen Tome.
It's only money.
That's what I love making money.
Whatever people need to talkabout money at every opportunity
(39:45):
, it's not having a level ofmoney.
The equation stamped in my mindis money equals opportunity.
Those dollar signs equalopportunity.
So I don't have a level ofmoney.
I have a level of opportunityfor the CCB.
But in order to haveopportunity you got to have
(40:06):
money.
No, if you don't have money,you have no opportunity.
You can't pay that.
I just left a meeting and one ofour students wants to get her
masters.
Well, that masters is going tocost tens of thousands of
dollars.
And where the hell is thatmoney going to come from?
Looney auctions.
You need to go do looneyauctions to pay for your
(40:28):
education and we buried one ofour people not long ago with
that funeral.
The band pays for everything.
When your people die, you'regoing to do looney auctions.
Leaders have to put money asmaking money as a priority.
Any which way you can makemoney, but you have to be able
(40:51):
to manage money and not do thedumb thing that things that many
bands have done, because thatgoes from whether it's a land
claim or having lots of money.
Our people are, because we werekicked off our economic course
for 100 years.
We have to get back and tolearn how to make, how to manage
money.
In fact, I'm amazed, you know,even though see my Washington
(41:15):
Redskins.
Yeah, I'm a proud WashingtonRedskins, I'm a proud Redskins
and I hope to get that name Tome.
That's a proud looking Indian.
Agreed, I love that logo.
Aaron Pete (41:28):
Can I actually ask about that really briefly?
You're a person, I feel, whogenuinely speaks their minds,
not in a flippant way but in avery thoughtful way.
You just say the truth as youknow it to be, and we're in a
time where political correctnessis a very big thing, and I just
find it admirable that you talkabout Indian issues.
You talk about it openly andhonestly, you don't hold back.
(41:49):
Where did that kind ofphilosophy come from for you and
why do you think that'simportant?
Chief Clarence Louie (41:56):
Because I'm not a phony politician.
There's a big differencebetween being a leader and a
politician.
I actually don't like that wordpolitician.
I'm not a politician.
Somebody who's a politicianI'll watch what they say,
they'll gauge, they'll go into aroom and, oh, what can I say?
(42:17):
I first have to look aroundbefore I can tell the truth.
Really, you got to look aroundand be able to tell what you
really really feel.
What's that Johnny Cash quote?
If you can't see what you trulythink and feel, then shut the
hell up.
So leaders will say what haveto be said.
(42:41):
Even at election time,politicians will change their
stripes.
They'll change their views,even change their core values,
if it'll get them votes.
I don't change my core values toget votes.
I don't suck up to people, andthere's people on this res that
(43:06):
have never voted for me, whichis fine.
That's democracy.
I don't look to get everybody'svote.
In fact, at a recent electionone of the people that never
vote for me she says to me well,you come to my house and tell
me why I should vote for you,and I thought, why should I
(43:29):
waste my time going to talk tosomebody who I know is never
going to vote for me and it'sjust trying to play some
political games, being a phonyass.
I don't like phony people.
I can't stand them, so I'm notgoing to be phony with anybody.
The way I talk right now is theway I talk at band meetings.
(43:51):
The way I talk right now is theway I talk at council meetings.
Some people say well, clarence,do all your elders support you?
I say, of course not, and Ireally don't give a shit if they
don't all support me.
I'm not looking for everybody'ssupport because I'm not going
to be a phony ass.
I'm not going to change my corevalues for a vote and people,
(44:16):
you get what you get when youvote for me.
I'm not a phony person.
I hate phony people and I don'tdislike anybody.
And even after the election,once the election is over and
some people tell me well, howcan you help in that person?
They didn't vote for you?
I said I really don't care ifthey didn't vote for me.
What they're saying or whatthey're bringing up is rational
(44:41):
and reasonable to me and I'mgoing to go along with what.
I'm going to try and help themand go along with what they want
.
Not because they vote,politicians will look at oh, did
that person vote for me?
I'm not a politician, I'm aleader and is one of the wisest
business leaders of all time.
Walt Disney once said the roadto failure is for you.
(45:02):
The road to failure is to tryand please everybody.
In fact, only phony people tryand please everybody.
So I don't try and pleaseeverybody.
And even when we have votes onland designation votes,
sometimes my mom is against theproject, which is fine.
I don't hate my mom because shevoted no, but I'm going to
(45:23):
stand up and tell everybody tovote yes.
And after the votes over, westill treat each other the same
way.
I love that, because that'swhat leaders do.
There's a big differencebetween being a leader and being
a politician.
Aaron Pete (45:44):
I've taken up far too much of your time already,
but one really last question isjust around what advice do you
have if you were an indigenouscommunity?
Somebody comes in to youroffice and they go nothing's
working for me, I don't have ajob, I don't know where to go.
What advice would you have forpeople tuning in and they just
they don't feel like the world'sgiving them all the
opportunities they want.
Chief Clarence Louie (46:07):
Well, the first thing they have to do is
start with themselves.
I mean, what sort of job do youwant we employ?
Last call we did 30, someonefirst nations here.
We had a first nation personfrom another res here.
Always ask them how did you endup here?
It'll see us.
Well, where I come from there.
(46:28):
All they do is arguing andfight there and only jobs are
the band office jobs or thehealth jobs, are the jobs at the
school.
We have no economic developmentand I didn't want to stand in a
welfare line.
So that's the type of personthat I'm looking for.
They'll always be the lazyasses.
Even this res we have lazy,which my mom calls them lazy
(46:52):
asses.
You could pay them $100nowadays They'll get their ass
fired.
But 80 to 90% of my people, I'msure most reserves to their
hardworking.
They want to be hardworking,self-supporting people,
law-abiding people, and that'sthe type of people I love
hanging around and I love that's.
That's why I keep on doing.
(47:12):
You know there is no finish linein business.
There is no finish line inpersonal growth.
You know I'm getting throughmore books listening to books
than I am reading.
I got one of the biggestpersonal libraries around.
I love books and what I'velearned successful people become
(47:33):
successful in two major waysthe books they read and the
people they meet.
That's how you becomesuccessful.
You got to say you got to starthanging around the right people
in networking is so important.
I mean, that's some of theprojects I voted for on this res
like that racetrack.
(47:53):
I'm not into Ferraris andLamborghinis and those type of
cars, but when I see somebodythat owns a car that's worth
$500,000, two or three reshouses, I'm going.
I'm not interested in that car,I'm interested in the person
that owns that car, becausethey're obviously a successful
business person, unless they'rea drug dealer.
(48:14):
How did you, how did you getthe owner car like that?
I'm interested in the personthat owns that car.
So I'm interested in hangingaround business people.
I don't go to Union, to BCchiefs meetings, summit meetings
, the AFN meetings.
I'm not saying those meetingsaren't important.
First they are.
I send a council member, I sendmy proxy.
You can't do economicdevelopment off the side of your
(48:37):
desk.
You got to be immersed in it,you got to be, you got to live
and breathe it, and so I, I Istay away from from Political
meetings.
They're important, but I spendmy time on the business side of
the scale and I love hangingaround business people.
I love hanging aroundsuccessful people.
I mean, I just gotSchwarzschneger's other book is
(49:00):
the only guy in the world I knowthat Made it to the top and
three totally different fields.
He was a sports bodybuilding.
He became the highest paidactor during his height.
He spoke broken English and hestill became the highest paid
actor male actor at one time.
(49:21):
And then in politics he ran asfar as he could.
He's a foreigner.
He became the governor of the.
What did he say?
That sixth biggest economy inthe world.
California, california,california, the state of
California, the sixth biggesteconomy in the world.
I mean, who does that?
(49:41):
And he just put out a new bookcalled seven ways to become
successful or something likethat.
So I got it and I just finishedlistening to it.
Aaron Pete (49:51):
Brilliant.
Chief Clarence Louie (49:53):
And that's what I love.
I love listening and learningabout successful people and how
they became successful andhanging around successful people
.
And that's what I want FirstNations to do is to get involved
in the business world, becausethat's where the action is,
that's where independence ishanging around and, you know,
(50:17):
clicking on.
I mean we've got a king now,but Clitching on to the Queen's
skirt and thinking the Queen'sgoing to solve all this is going
to get your people out ofpoverty, I mean I still hear
some old-timers saying oh, wegot to go to we it, it, it, it
it.
Our treaties are with the Queen, our King, and that's that's.
(50:39):
That's not going to work.
All successful bands I'vestudied in tribes I've studied
have a strong economic arm.
Sure, you got to have a socialarm, but your strongest arm
should be your business arm.
That's how you get away frombeing a hang around the Ford
Union and find the job you love,if you.
(51:03):
You know, the one sentence Ilove hearing from my people and
I've heard it over and overagain is when somebody can
honestly say I love my job.
Those four words you're goingto be a success, you're going to
have a good life, you're goingto be a damn good worker.
(51:23):
You're going to be very good atwhat you do.
It doesn't matter what you do.
I have a bus driver that says Ilove my job.
He's never missed a day's workin 20 years and he has a very
important job bringing ourfuture managers and workers to
that preschool I'm looking atacross my office here, into that
, into that grade school.
Every job is important.
(51:45):
On a risk, every job is.
And if somebody can say thatthey, that they love their job,
they're going to have a goodlife and they're going to be a,
they're going to contribute toraising the state, to raise the
standard of Living on your firstnation, and then that's, and
that's what I hope for all of myyoung people is to find a job
(52:08):
that they love.
You know, go, go, go, go, gofind a job that you have a
passion for.
And I read this quote.
I, I love quotes.
There was this quote in thenewspaper and all along go.
That said the dancer is greatNot because of her technique,
the dancer is great because ofher passion, you know.
(52:32):
So you have a passion for yourwork and I have a passion for my
work.
I love creating jobs and I loveit when I see one of my young
people pick a career and saythat's what I'm going to do for
most of my life and then Ichange their career later on.
But so many of my people of,whether it's golf, we sent that
(52:53):
during COVID.
We sent one of our young guysdo this very expensive golf Pro
management course, southernCalifornia.
He came to the council tablecry, said if he doesn't do it
now, he won't.
He doesn't know when he'll doit.
Can events send them to thisvery expensive golf golf
management program?
(53:14):
And we did.
He was successful.
Now he's working in our golfcourse.
He said that's what he wants todo for the rest of his life is
be a golf pro and eventuallymanage a golf course.
So I love it when I see nativepeople whether it's my own
people or I don't care ifthey're who they are.
When a native person finds ajob they love Wow.
(53:36):
You know, two thumbs up to thatand that's that's what every
native person needs to do.
And hundreds of years ago,before the white people came, we
looked after ourselves, we gotup early, went to bed early, got
up early and we we worked.
Every day was a work dayBecause you had to make your own
(54:00):
clothes, to get your own foodand have your own shelter.
So you know First Nationspeople come from, but I call it
working culture.
We come from a working culture.
That's.
That's what we got to get backto.
Aaron Pete (54:15):
I love it.
I cannot thank you enough.
Your quote is saying a healthyperson is a working person and I
think that philosophy is soimportant and there's so much to
take away from your journey andthe work you're doing to
support your members andreaching their full potential,
which I think is so important.
I highly recommend people gocheck out your book Res Rules.
I think it's really importantand really helps connect people
(54:36):
with that entrepreneurialmindset and how we can support
communities in thriving andgrowing and impacting our
economies and contributing in agood way.
So thank you again.
I've kept you far too long, butI really appreciate you.
Chief Clarence Louie (54:48):
So, aaron, you saw like you, I like your,
I like your tone, I like yourenthusiasm and I want to see my
great grandfather's reservationRes one of these days.
It would be an honor to hostyou.
We're in the federal.
I have to get to your Res nextyear in 2024.
I will my auntie with me aswell.
Aaron Pete (55:08):
I'll send out that invitation and we will make sure
it's a warm welcome.
It's such an honor to spendthis time with you, take care.
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