[ windspeaker confidential ] Tamara Bell

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Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?

Tamara Bell: The desire to do the right thing.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

T.B.: To watch within our community some of the strife and struggle of our Aboriginal children and women... I wish, you know, that our leaders were able to address those issues in a more tangible way, but it seems to be somewhat low on the priority list.

W: When are you at your happiest?

T.B.: Probably when I'm creating. Anything creative is very rewarding.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?

T.B.: Stubborn.

W: What one person do you most admire and why?

T.B.: My mother. I admire my mom because I think that as a matriarchal Aboriginal woman she's been able to maintain her level of matriarchy and apply it to her life. And she grew up traditionally and she speaks her language, and I think that those qualities in an Aboriginal person are very admirable. And she lives a very honest existence and I really admire that. And she's very strong.

W: What is the most difficult thing you've ever had to do?

T.B.: You know what? I haven't really had to do that many difficult things, if you put it in perspective. I think that the most difficult things that have been done have already been done by our people...So I think, in comparison, everything I've done has been easy in comparison to their struggle.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?

T.B.: I don't really have a greatest accomplishment... I think that the greatest accomplishments of any person are the people who are doing the right thing in life. I think that it's our Aboriginal people who carry their culture, who carry their traditions despite a lack of economic prosperity. And I think that those people are the people who are achieving something because they're maintaining a legacy that I can't maintain and so I think that they have a great many more accomplishments than I do.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?

T.B.: The one thing I've been working on that I think I would really like to do and I would like to see happen is I would like to see an Aboriginal history month. And I've worked on it for a couple of years and I would like to see an Aboriginal history month celebrated very much the way Black History Month is celebrated, very much the way Chinese Heritage Month is celebrated. And I believe that we as Aboriginal people deserve an entire month of knowledge being passed on. And I think it's something that has to be done in our education systems and I don't think it's currently being done now.

W: If you couldn't do what you're doing today, what would you be doing?

T.B.: I probably would be an artist, actually. I probably would be doing what I was trained to do, which would be working within the art field and either promoting, painting, or doing something that brings or highlights the actions of creative people and brings them to the forefront.

W: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

T.B.: I think the best piece of advice I ever got was in high school and I got it from a principal and he said 'Always aim for the moon and you'll hit the stars.' And I think it's really important that people have goals and they follow those dreams with action and push really, really hard to fulfill those dreams, because it builds strength, it builds character, and I think those things are really important.

W: Did you take it?

T.B.: I've taken it in my life continually... I think it was Lesra Martin who said, 'No great action was born out of a reasonable mind.' And I really believe that our people are capable of brilliant things and I think we are still tapping into the power and we need to harness that power to be able to achieve the things that we need to achieve and to heal as a community and as a group.

W: How do you hope to be remembered?

T.B.: Actually, I think that I would like to, hopefully, that I would like to be rmembered as a person who serves my people. And that's very much where I would like to be seen, because I think it's really important to dedicate your life to something, and my life is dedicated to the service of the community. So that's what I hope people see.