Reserve life versus living in the city

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People leave the reserve for many reasons such as employment, education or problems with alcoholism. Some leave and never return whereas others do. Windspeaker interviewed two women who left Cold Lake First Nations and have differing ideas on the subject of reserve versus city living.

For Elsie Winnipeg, alcoholism was the main reason.

In her teens, Winnipeg married and settled with her husband at the Blackfoot reserve near Gleichen. They both drank heavily. When she decided to quit, her problems with alcohol did not end because her husband continued to drink.

"I couldn't cope with my husband's daily drinking," she said.

After 20 years of marriage she divorced him and caught a bus to Edmonton where she hoped to raise enough money to return to Cold Lake. She never did.

"When I first moved to Edmonton, I came with the clothes on my back and my five kids. I had no job and for the first time in my life I had no one to tell me what to do. I had to make my own decisions," explained Winnipeg, recalling her first few worried months in the city.

Her only knowledge of city life had been gathered through Greyhound bus windows, but she learned quickly and found a job at the Canadian Native Friendship Centre as a cook. She has rarely been unemployed since because "there's more job opportunities here."

The second woman, Linda Minoose says she left for education reasons.

Because the reserve school only went up to Grade 8, Minoose moved to a Blue Quills residential boarding school. She later received a year of university studies as well as training in social services and program management. She returned to Cold Lake in 1978.

"My parents were both old and I wanted to help them out," she said and admitted a cultural void in her life needed to be fulfilled. "I wanted to learn more about my language, culture and customs."

After her parents passed away in 1980 Minoose moved to Grand Centre where she had secured a job with the friendship centre.

Currently, she is an education co-ordinator for Cold Lake First Nations, but she still lives in Grand Centre.

When Minoose can afford a trailer, she intends on moving back to the reserve because some of her rights have been denied.

Although she is considered a member of the reserve, she does not enjoy voting privileges. Nor can she run for the positions of chief and council.

Minoose added that Indian Affairs is not willing to pay for her son's education fees because she doesn't live on the reserve. But, she stressed the main reason for returning is her deep ties with reserve, where her ancestors signed the original treaty agreement with the government.

"I love this land. This is where I was raised and I have as much right to it as anyone else. It's beautiful country. And, it beats the 'rat race' of the city."