Chief Clarence Louie ~ Osoyoos Indian Band And Ceo Of The Osoyoos Indian Band Development Co

Rose Paul
July 4, 2022
·
'I can't stand people who are late,
he says into the microphone.

Indian Time doesn't cut it. '

'My first rule for success is Show up on time.'

'My No. 2 rule for success is follow Rule No. 1.'

'If your life sucks, it's because you suck.'

'Quit your sniffling.'

'Join the real world. Go to school, or get a job.'

'Get off of welfare. Get off your butt.'

'Our ancestors worked for a living, he says.

So should you.'

He is aboriginal himself.

Chief Clarence Louie is seen,
increasingly, as one of the most interesting
and innovative native leaders in the country
even though he avoids national politics.

He has come here to Fort McMurray because the aboriginal community needs, desperately, to start talking about economic development and what all this multibillion-dollar oil madness might mean, for good and for bad.

Clarence Louie is chief and CEO of the Osoyoos Band in British Columbia's South Okanagan.

He is 44 years old, though he looks like he would
have been an infant when he began
his remarkable 20-year-run as chief..

He took a band that had been declared bankrupt
and taken over by Indian Affairs
and he has turned in into an inspiration.

In 2000, the band set a goal of becoming self-sufficient in five years.

They're there.

The Osoyoos, 432 strong, own, among other things, a vineyard, a winery, a golf course and a tourist resort,
and they are partners
in the Baldy Mountain ski development.

They have more businesses per capita
than any other first nation in Canada.

There are not only enough jobs for everyone,
there are so many jobs being created
that there are now members
of 13 other tribal communities working
for the Osoyoos.

The little band contributes $40-million a year
to the area economy.

'The biggest employer,' he says,
'shouldn't be the band office.'

He also says the time has come to get over it.

'No more whining about 100-year-old failed experiments.'

'No foolishly looking to the Queen to protect rights.'

Louie says aboriginals here and along
the Mackenzie Valley should not look at any sharing
in development as rocking-chair money
but as investment opportunity
to create sustainable businesses.

He wants them to move beyond entry-level jobs
to real jobs they earn all the way to the boardrooms.

He wants to see business manners develop:
showing up on time, working extra hours.

The business lunch, he says, should be drive through,
and then right back at it.

'You're going to lose your language and culture
faster in poverty than you will in economic development',
he says to those who say he is ignoring tradition.

The first step, he says, is all about leadership.

He prides himself on being a stay-home chief
who looks after the potholes in his own backyard
and wastes no time running around fighting
100-year-old battles.

'The biggest challenge will be how you treat
your own people.'

'Blaming government?

That time is over.'

 

CHIEF CLARENCE LOUIE - A FILM BY GENESIS TV 360.mp4 - Google Drive
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1mY...tCqRny6qrrDgoBw9g8PFbIaZDRuEwUmCw7hhCFIRbhRSo

 

Chief Clarence Louie | Facebook
https://www.facebook.com/ChiefClarenceLouie

 

Trailblazing Chief discusses his new book and his optimism for the future | Watch News Videos Online (globalnews.ca)
https://globalnews.ca/video/8380175...-his-new-book-and-his-optimism-for-the-future

Trailblazing Chief discusses his new book

and his optimism for the future

Posted November 17 2021 10:55am
Chief Clarence Louie talks about his informative memoir ‘Rez Rules’, the pivotal role his mother played in his life and his hopes for Canada’s future.