Cowessess Chief Cadmus Delorme on reconciliation, child welfare and COVID-19

When asked how 2021 went for himself and the people of Cowessess First Nation, Chief Cadmus Delorme described it as a rollercoaster of emotions. 

Sitting down with CBC's Sam Maciag, Delorme recapped an eventful year for himself and the people of his nation. 

This interview has been edited for length and clarity. 

Q: The pandemic's really been the overarching headline of 2021 for everyone. How has your First Nation managed through 2021 when it goes through the pandemic and keeping each other safe and healthy? 

A: We didn't get our first COVID case in the community until 2021. The entire 2020, we were zero active cases. After New Year's, we got our first case, which we then increased to almost 20, so it brought a panic at the beginning. 

We thought we were ready, but mentally, emotionally we weren't. Everybody's going on lockdown, we thought it was the end. And then we got it back down to zero. Since then we have fluctuated and it went back to zero. Like right now, today, [Dec. 12] we have zero cases. Last week we had 12 and so it is tiring. It is becoming a norm. 

But the biggest challenge is, we're gatherers. We're communal people that come together and have food, laughs, meetings, so trying to do everything on Zoom now is becoming a norm. Getting to know our elders' homes when you look at them on screen, telling an elder 'you have to wear your shirt…' 

It's accommodating to technology, while still maintaining our community cohesion.

Q: In July, Cowessess reclaimed its inherent right to look after its own children, it signed an agreement with the federal and provincial government. Take me back to that day, what was that signing like for you? 

A: I woke up nervous, excited nervous … Prime Minister [Justin Trudeau] called me personally and it was on a Saturday. I was camping with my family in Cypress Hills. 

He said 'Chief, I want to come to Cowessess on Tuesday to sign the coronation agreement with you and your nation.' I was like, cool, prime minister, can you come on Thursday? 'Cause we were camping until Wednesday. Being the prime minister, he said, 'My communications [team] will get back to you, I don't know what my schedule looks like.'

Communications got back and said 'Chief, he can only come Tuesday,' and I was like yeah, I know, I just wanted to ask if he could, so then I said yes… It was literally four days before. 

I then called the premier, Premier Scott Moe, and I said premier please can you come to Cowessess on Tuesday.… he's like I told you we stand beside you, so let's do something, so that was it. 

From there, the entire prime minister's team showed up the day after and we were sitting in this exact room, planning. I said as Cowesses, we're planning it.

And I said we are going to make this about culture, about pride, about truth and, you know, a little bit of the sadness and reality and we planned the entire day, Cowessess, the prime minister's office and the premier's office, were all game with it. 

So the day of … we went to the [powwow] arbour. That afternoon at the arbour is a day I will cherish for a long time. I actually watched the CPAC Youtube video a week ago, just to reminisce my mind at how beautiful it was, you know. 

The laughter, the Indigenous humour, the Indigenous dance, the Indigenous drum, the pride of Cowessess and to have two leaders in this country come and sit with us and sign an agreement, asserting that Cowessess has full control over the destiny of our children and families and who will require investment in intergenerational trauma. 

It was a day to remember for this First Nation. Then we went down to the gravesite and I have a beautiful picture that is now public and I want to share it — someone took a picture of prime minister, premier and I walking in the gravesite and they took it right behind us so you just see the backs of us. 

Just the three of us walking shoulder to shoulder in the area of unmarked graves is a picture that I cherish today, because it reminds me as a chief that Cowessess is not in this alone. Some criticised that it was a photo-op. Some criticised that more should have been done that day. 

But as one chief, who had a private moment with the premier and the prime minister and gave them a moment to have a reflection, I saw truth come out and how they could have seen it from TV, but they came and they walked it and they saw it and got to hear from survivors.

When they left, I really felt a difference in the growth of survivors of the Marieval Residential School that were able to come that day.

Q: You are among many Indigenous leaders who have been calling for an apology from the pope for quite some time. What would an apology on Canadian soil mean to residential school  survivors, other people affected and families? 

A: I'm not a residential school survivor. I was raised by parents, I'm a chief and a spokesperson for a community who had a residential school for 98 years. 

In 2008 and when then-Prime Minister Stephen Harper apologized for the role Canada played in administering and funding residential schools in this country my late father — he never really showed emotion, I never saw him cry, never really saw him show the emotional side — the day he apologized I watched my dad show emotions. 

On that day I learned an apology does make a difference. But it's the action that comes with it. The apology is the recognition but the action is what is needed. 

When using that example before, I lead to your main question: Canada got it right in one area but they got it so wrong in another area and we need to learn from that. Compensation is required for the pain that individuals went through.

Our survivors got their compensation; most of them. Who benefited? The economy benefited. When those survivors spent that money that was rightfully theirs, they went back home and the triggering still continues today. 

When the pope comes to Canada ... he must apologize for the role the Roman Catholic Church played in the amount of residential schools that it administered in this country. That is only the beginning, acknowledging the role. Then the church must take action in helping Indigenous people in this country get to that level, knowing what we're capable of.

One of the things we've gotta remember is the tone starts at the top. The pope is the top of the church. In this country some Roman Catholic faith goers have shared with me that they are questioning their own faith because of the history and the reality that they're learning on the truth with Indigenous peoples. 

An apology can help this entire country, as Canadians, give strength to a faith. If an apology comes, that's recognition of the truth, then reconciliation comes. And I do believe that apology will result in a strong 50 to 100 years for work. 

For that relationship between Roman Catholic people, Indigenous people and Canadians in general, an apology must come.