Metis man roasted in good fun

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On May 7, Frontiers Foundation hosted a fund-raising dinner and roast for Lawrence Gladue in Toronto. Frontiers Foundation, an Aboriginal voluntary service organization now in its 39th year, has also written to the prime minister proposing that Gladue be appointed the next governor general of Canada.

Gladue, a Metis from northern Alberta, ran the Rural and Native Housing Program for the Canadian Mortgage and Housing Corporation from 1973 until 1993 when the program was cancelled. In 20 years, this program constructed more than 100,000 homes.

According to Rev. Charles Catto, an honourary chief of Wasauksing First Nation who spoke at the fund-raiser, "No one in the history of Canada ever did more for affordable housing than Lawrence Gladue."

At least 100 guests attended the dinner, held in the community room of Project Amik, New Frontiers' Aboriginal residential corporation, a 74-unit residential housing complex opened in 2002. Metis Nation President Tony Belcourt acted as master of ceremonies, and Metis Nation Senator Rita Gordon delivered the opening and closing prayers. On hand to show their support were federal MP Maria Minna and provincial MPP Michael Prue, from the Beaches-East York riding. The Metis Fiddler Quartet provided the entertainment, playing Maple Sugar, Saint Anne's Reel, and the Red River Jig, followed by a meal of corn soup, venison, moose, buffalo and pickerel fresh from Northern Ontario.

It was Catto, an honourary director of Frontiers Foundation, who came up with the idea that Gladue be the next Governor General. Catto and Gladue have known each other since 1969, when they met in Chetwynd, B.C. to rebuild a Native community.

Catto called Gladue, "Native Canada's Housing Man," adding, "he brought hope and a measure of health and a future to thousands and thousands of people who never had hope." Through his efforts, which brought "new, safe, warm housing" to those in rural and Native communities, Gladue "rescued a lot of people from respiratory disease, lack of safe water to drink, and [inadequate] sewage facilities."

Gladue knows first hand about the poor housing in Aboriginal communities. When he was three years old, his grandmother pulled him and his brother from a fire that destroyed the family home. His mother and sister perished in the fire.

Belcourt and Gladue go a long way back, too. Calling Gladue "a terrific guy," Belcourt reminisced about the "great old days" including a sit-in at the CMHC office in Ottawa. But since it was a roast, Belcourt got in a bit of fun, joking that Gladue would be a good governor general because "He's cheap. He's one of the cheapest guys around. The auditor general's going to love him."

Gladue thanked his family for their support, and those who came out to the dinner, saying, "I'm very touched to see all the people here. Frontiers Foundation has been part of my life since 1968. I hope that everything will work out."

From 1867 to 1952, British aristocrats served as governors general. In 1952, Vincent Massey became the first Canadian Governor General, followed by Georges Vanier, Roland Michener, Jules Leger, Edward Schreyer, Jeanne Sauve, Ramon Hnatyshyn, Romeo Leblanc, and, since 1999, Adrienne Clarkson.

Frontiers Foundation's executive director Marco Guzman (an Aymara from Bolivia who has been in Canada for 20 years), would like to see "other organizations join us-write a note to the PM." Belcourt said, "The Metis Nation will be taking up this cause with great vigor. It's time we had an Aboriginal person in Government House."