Summit honors elder warrior for years of battle

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"I'm now 86 and I'm retired and I wish I was back in your boots so I can fight!" said Dr. Frank Calder at a ceremony honoring him as one of British Columbia's elder statesmen.

The First Nations Summit honored Dr. Calder during a meeting of chiefs in North Vancouver on Nov. 30. Dr. Calder was the driving force behind the famous Calder court case, as well as an early organizer of the land claims movement in the province, and founder of the Nisga'a Tribal Council.

Summit member Gerald Wesley prefaced Calder's introduction by saying, "We wanted to make sure that there are role models, heroes of our lifetime, that we can look to... so we always know that strong people have sacrificed and shared their experience, have shared their skills, have shared their family time to be with us, to bring us where we are today."

Dr. Calder was formally introduced by Chief Joseph Gosnell, president of Nisga'a Lisims government. Squamish Nation Chief Gibby Jacob presented Dr. Calder with a plaque and Summit member Kathryn Teneese presented a certificate of appreciation, which acknowledged the outstanding contribution Dr. Calder made to the Aboriginal people of British Columbia.

"Your high standards of excellence embodies the strength, determination and perseverance of our ancestors," it read. "You have made a positive and indelible mark towards our joint efforts to protect the dignity and honor of Aboriginal heritage in British Columbia."

And when Calder at last got up to speak, he surprised everyone by confessing that when he walked in the door earlier that morning, he had no idea why he was there.

"This is the first I know of this event. Even when I was sitting in the corner, enjoying the meal, I wasn't told what I was invited for. I'm very overwhelmed!"

Calder told the assembled Summit chiefs that he had tried to organize a united front of B.C. First Nations as far back as 1960.

"To speak on what?" he said. "To speak on something that you very heartily discussed all morning and, no doubt, will continue to discuss this afternoon and tomorrow and forever, until we reach a settlement."

Although he conceded his efforts at the time to unite the B.C. nations to tackle the land question were unsuccessful, he offered encouragement to the current Summit chiefs.

"So I admire you people. I am very delighted that I am here because you happen to represent the nearest thing to unity for which I tried all my life to succeed in forming. I feel I've failed. I feel that, maybe I don't deserve these beautiful gifts. Maybe I talk like a defeatist in front of you people. But I'm not, because I have a lot of faith in you people. You're younger than I am and you could become just as much a fighter as I am!"

His message was not altogether positive, however, and he took the chiefs to task.

"I'd like to close by saying that I was very disappointed when I walked in. You see, I'm not afraid to tell you how I think." The chiefs were silent. "I walked in here and people were just walking by me and they're looking at the floor, and I seemed to feel a defeatist feeling, everybody's downhearted for some reason.

"I don't like to see that, people! We are the landlords and we should be happy to take them on! We should know how to handle this... invader that is trying to put us in a place that we don't appreciate! They have a settlement to make, to us!"

The man who got the ball rolling for the Nisga'a in 1955 that culminated in the Nisga'a final agreement implementation last year encouraged the other First Nations to negotiate treaties.

"So when I walked through the door this morning," Dr. Calder said, "and I shook hands with Joe Gosnell, I said 'Joe, what are you and the [Nisga'a] delegates doing here-you know, I thought we'd won our case already...?' Joe said to me, 'I want to help.' He might as well have said, 'We went through hell for 22 years. We know all the bad side to negotiations. We know all the good side. We're here with the delegates and were going to be here any time they call us, and we're going to help.' So, please people, before I sit down, don't think we won't be here because we won our treaty. We didn't get exactly what we wanted, but at least we kicked the hell out of the Department of Indian Affairs!"

The chiefs appreciated that comment.

"I want to congratulate all of you for the work that you have done and-please, look more happier. You have got a big fight ahead of you, and there is only one thing to know in the back of your mind: You are going to win it. And we are going to win it... So, my good friends, keep up the good work. You've got a fight on your hands. Treat it with some humor, and I'm quite sure that, by the time I'm a hundred, I'll be there to celebrate [your victory] with you!"

Hero in our time

Dr. Frank Calder was formally introduced to the First Nations Summit chiefs by Chief Joseph Gosnell, president of Nisga'a Lisims Government:

It is indeed a great honor on my part to be standing beside a very dear, long-time colleague of ours. We've been together for many, many years, Frank and some of the colleagues that are still with us. A number of them have gone to the Great Beyond. But I would like to provide you with an insight with respect to the life that Frank Arthur Calder has led.

Frank was born in Nass Harbour, one of the camps that existed many, many years ago, at the turn of the century, on Aug. 3, 1915. He is the son of one of the high-ranking chiefs within the Nisga'a Nation: Simoogit Nagwa'un, Arthur Calder, married to Louisa, whose last name was Leask.

Frank was sent away to begin his formal education at one of the residential schools located here in the Fraser Valley, Coqualeetza, and some of you here may have gone and shared that short lifespan with Frank in that institution. We know that a great many of you spent some of your lives in other residential schools.

Frank continued with his education in the Anglican Theological College at UBC. He graduated in 146. He was married to Tammy on Feb. 26, 1975, and they have one son in his teenage years, named Eric.

Frank served as a Member of the Legislative Assembly in B.C. for 26 years. First with the CCF, then with the NDP, and then with the Social Credit Party of B.C. He is recognized as the first Canadian Native Indian to be elected to any Canadian parliament, in 1949. He is also the first Canadian Native Indian appointed a Minister of the Crown in Canada-Minister Without Portfolio, 1972 to 1973.

But what Frank is most famous for is the Supreme Court action known as the Calder Case, in which a landmark decision of the Supreme Court of Canada was handed down in 1973, dealing with the Nisga'a land question, a decision by that court upon which current Indian land settlements are today being considered in Canada.

Frank is also the founder of the Nisga'a Tribal Council, formerly known as the Lands Committee. The tribal council was formed and came into being in 1955. Frank was president of Nisga'a Tribal Council from 1955 to 1974. He was the research director/consultant and resource person since 1974.

Other honors that Dr. Calder has received: He was an inductee to Canada's First Nations Hall of Fame in 1967. He has been president-emeritus of the Nisga'a Tribal Council since 1985. He received the Aboriginal Order of Canada in 1985 and was inducted as an Officer in the Order of Canada in 1988. He received a doctorate of divinity in 1989. And more recently, he was awarded and recognized with a National Aboriginal Achievement award in 1996.

Frank belongs to the Anglican Church of Canada, and he and Tammy, along with their son, Eric, currently reside in the city of Victoria.