Piapot Elder recognized for volunteerism

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Art Kaiswatum has been many things over the years- heavy equipment operator, union rep, husband, father, grandfather, chief, Elder. This spring, he was recognized for yet another role he has filled-volunteer.

Kaiswatum was one of sixteen people to receive the Saskatchewan Volunteer medal during a ceremony held at the provincial legislature April 26.

Kaiswatum is from the Piapot First Nation north of Regina. A respected Elder, he has devoted much time as a volunteer working to create a better understanding between cultures. He has run cultural camps, cross-cultural workshops, and worked on development of sentencing circles. He has also provided spiritual guidance and healing to both Aboriginal and non-Aboriginal people.

"I did a lot of the cultural camps, for a long, long time. I did a lot of them for Heritage Canada. I did the conservation officers, Girl Guides, RCMP, Regina Correctional trainee . . . And I've been involved with the judges, also was one of the key working people in sentencing circles," he said.

Kaiswatum was also chief of Piapot from 1985 to 1992.

"I've lived on a reserve, Indian land, all my life. I was very, very grateful to be in leadership for my band," Kaiswatum said.

Currently, Kaiswatum is in the Elder position with the Regina Correctional Centre.

"I facilitate most of the one-on-one counselling, advisory, try to communicate with the communities. Try to help stand by the boys, get them preparation for changing their life style management."

Although Kaiswatum isn't volunteering now as much as he used to, he's still finding time to share his time and knowledge.

"Right now, I've slowed down quite a bit. I have to let a few things go. Not all of them. I volunteer for All Nations Hope, with the people who study HIV. I volunteer with those people. And also I do a lot of in-house work with the Cornwall Alternative school, working with the young offenders. Just be there for them."

As far as receiving the volunteer award medal, Kaiswatum said it was a humbling experience, but he didn't get too excited about it.

"I'm getting too old to get excited," he said.

His volunteer work, his sharing of culture with the younger generations, and the time he spends with his grandchildren have given Kaiswatum a positive view of the potential of Aboriginal youth.

"I learned a lot as being a former chief. You learn about the North American British law that was very, very damaging to our grandfathers and our grandfathers' system. And you wonder why today we're shortchanged in a lot of activities. Like, you know, First Nations people were never involved in the Industrial Revolution. But today, now, you look at our grandchildren. My grandchildren. They're not missing out in the computer world. Like me, I couldn't even manage one of those darn things, except to pay for one that's sitting in my house. But all these changes. So I really feel that we live in a very positive atmosphere today. If our young people would choose the system that's going to work for them, it's going to happen. There's some powerful young kids out there . . . they're going to go somewhere," he said.

Kaiswatum is also encouraged by the interest Aboriginal youth are showing in their culture and traditions.

"I've been enjoying sharing a lot of culture activities with just about any person. There's lots of things to be shared, lots of good things to talk about. You know, I used to wonder, growing up on a reserve, how come our people followed European culture. They followed European belief systems. And yet we had our own grounding. And it's because of the law. Because of some of the rippling effects that we went through. Today we're going through a different kind of rippling effect . . . the fact is we that have a very positive background when we look at our foundation of our grandmothers and our grandfathers," he said.

"I've been involved in the powwow world. I have a very good connection with my language. I've been around a lot of thes cultural things that our young people, they pick up very fast. Even at home, my grandchildren, they don't hesitate anymore to jump into the sweatlodge. They're there. They set the darn thing up and they wake me up . . . The fact is that I enjoy being with them. And there's a lot of good grounding for them there."