2002 Harmony Award Recipient

By Gail Picco

Roberta Louise Jamieson, currently Chief of Six Nations of the Grand River, is a contemporary Mohawk women, whose brilliant career was launched when she became the first Aboriginal woman to graduate from law school in Canada.

As a student, she was catapulted into national politics when Quebec Premier Robert Bourassa announced his intention to build the “Project of the Century” – the largest hydroelectric dam in North America. Native people mounted a nation-wide protest against the proposed James Bay hydroelectric dam in a desperate attempt to save traditional Cree hunting and fishing grounds.

Roberta, then a nineteen-year-old student with braids in her hair, debated land claim issues surrounding the dam with then Minister of Indian Affairs, Jean Chrétien. The debate ended when a poorly-briefed Mr. Chrétien walked off the set in disgust.

At the University of Western Ontario, Roberta met fellow law student Ovide Mecredi. Not only did they immerse themselves in their university studies, but they also quickly expanded their political education by joining the growing movement towards Aboriginal self-government.

Native leaders recognized the potential of this bright young star early on. After graduating from law school, Noel Starblanket and George Manuel asked Roberta to help them with the transition that turned the National Indian Brotherhood into the Assembly of First Nations. Roberta was the first woman to chair those national chiefs’ conferences.

When her daughter Jessica was born, a nursing child was added to the land claims, self-government and constitutional mix. At one particularly tense moment during a meeting of 600 delegates and chiefs, and another 600 observers, Jessica, then two years old and thoroughly fed up with waiting, called out from the back of the room, “Mom, are you done yet?”

Roberta’s groundbreaking work in land claim and self-government negotiations is framed by her own deep connection to Six Nations Reserve.

Six Nations has a proud and glorious past. Following the American War of Independence, Six Nations people – who fought on the side of the British – were forced to leave their homeland in the Mohawk Valley (in and around the Finger Lakes area of New York state) and – along with many United Empire Loyalists – moved to Canada. In gratitude for their alliance with the British Crown, the Six Nations were granted a tract of land six miles deep on either side of the Grand River. Six Nations of the Grand River is the only Aboriginal community in North America that has each of the Iroquois Nations represented – Mohawk, Onondaga, Seneca, Cayuga, Oneida and Tuscarora.

Roberta is now Chief of Six Nations, the first woman to ever hold this position.

And today, Six Nations of the Grand River is a beautiful, thriving community of 18,000 people – the most populated First Nations community in the country. Children are educated in the community in their own language from Kindergarten to Grade 12. A polytechnic is being built. The reserve has its own radio station, CREZ.

Roberta’s achievements are remarkable not only within the context of Canada’s First Nations, but also in the broader national context.

In 1989, Roberta was the first woman ever to be appointed Ombudsman of Ontario, a position she held for ten years. (David Peterson mistakenly referred to her as an Ojibwa woman when he announced her appointment much to the glee of the Queen’s Park press gallery that knows Roberta as a proud Mohawk woman.)

In serving her post as Ombudsman, Roberta made the Office of the Ombudsman a real alternative for people who had been treated unfairly by the provincial government. Roberta’s influence as Ombudsman was also felt at the international level. She was the North American Vice President of the Ombudsman Institute and travelled all over the world helping countries develop mechanisms to monitor their own governments.

One of the most profound influences on Roberta’s life was her father, Robert Louis Jamieson. Robert Jamieson was a well-read, bright young man who turned down the opportunity to go to medical school because he wanted to take care of his mother. He owned a restaurant at Six Nations, a gathering place for the community.

As a musician, he wrote the first-ever jazz song – Anytime, Anyplace, Anywhere – recorded by a Native American. He toured as a musician with the USO in World War Two. Robert died of heart disease when he was forty-eight years old. Roberta was thirteen.

Roberta’s mother, Phyllis McCann, came from the Ottawa Valley and was a second-generation Irish woman. She went to live at Six Nations when she was posted there as a nurse. She fell in love with – and married – the talented Robert Jamieson.

Roberta is married to Tom Hill, a Seneca Indian from Six Nations. Tom is an internationally recognized scholar and curator of Native American history and culture. He is currently curator for the Woodland Cultural Centre in Brantford and has advised scores of museums, including the Smithsonian Institute and the Canadian Museum of Civilization in Ottawa. Roberta and Tom’s daughter Jessica is currently a student at McMaster University.

Roberta is one of the most honoured Aboriginal women in Canada. She has received dozens of awards, including seven honourary degrees, the Order of Canada and the Aboriginal Achievement Award for Law and Justice.

We are honoured that she has accepted the 2002 Harmony Award. We believe Roberta epitomizes our theme for this year’s banquet: wisdom, courage, warmth, grace and sincerity.