Elder from Nekaneet publishes memoirs in first book.

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NEKANEET FIRST NATION

Her Cree name is Piyesiw kapetowitak, (Thunder Coming, Sounds Good) and just as the first thunder of the season announces the good weather that is to come, Jean Francis Oakes' life has been a story of firsts, and of good things she has accomplished for herself, her children and her community.

Veteran non-fiction writer Candace Savage learned about Oakes through a mutual friend, and approached her two years ago, offering to put her memoirs on paper. The result is "Stories from my Life," a snapshot of Oakes' childhood and married years, and the teachings she has learned from her Elders. The book was released only a few weeks ago, and has already sold more than one hundred copies.

Oakes was born and raised on the Nekaneet First Nation in south-western Saskatchewan, the eldest of ten children. "My grandmother was the midwife, and my dad built log houses, so many people came to our house," she said. "I was nosy. When people came, I'd say 'I'll watch the baby,' so I could stay inside and listen to what they were saying, that's how I know a lot of things."

Oakes is an expert at horse breaking and enjoys riding bareback to this day. At seventy-oneyearsold, she also speaks fluent Cree, sings at ceremonies, and knows many of the old stories. The only regret she has is that she never received a formal education as a child.

In those days, she recalls, authorities snatched First Nations children from the reserves and shipped them off to residential schools. Oakes' grandfather was taken to Lebret Residential School in the Qu'Appelle Valley, and with knowledge of the abuses that a lot of children suffered there, he refused to let Jean and her siblings go. "When they'd come to look for children, my parents would hide us in the bush, so I never went to school, I never got an education, and I felt so low," she said.

All the more important for Oakes was to ensure that her own three children, and the three others she adopted, went to school. "I told my kids 'don't bring your boyfriend or girlfriend home because I'll chase them out, I want you kids to finish school first.'" They did, and were the first on Nekaneet to graduate high school. Meanwhile, Oakes herself went for educational upgrading in later years, and received her Grade 10.

Jean Oakes was the first woman on Nekaneet to get her driver's licence, and for 18 years, she drove the school bus from the reserve to the nearby town of Maple Creek. She says some kids would not go to school because they had nothing to bring for lunch. "I told them, you come anyways, tell me if you don't have anything, and I'll make a lunch for you." Oakes realized the importance of school, and wanted the children of her community to have what she didn't--a formal education.

At the same time, Oakes said she is grateful for the teachings she did receive from her Elders as they took part in Round Dances, Give Away Feasts, and the Sun Dance ceremony.

"I had good teachers. My mom and dad, my grandparents and great-grandparents, they were good teachers, hard workers," she said.

Oakes' grandmother, aunt and mother taught her how to do beadwork, her mom tanned hides and made jackets and mitts that sold at the local hardware stores. "They always worked, and so did I, my husband the late Gordon Oakes, and all my kids, too."

Besides travelling with her husband all over the country to meetings with government officials and the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations, Oakes worked at Nekaneet's band office for 23 years. Since the opening of the Okimaw Ohci Healing Lodge--a federal women's prison--on the reserve in 1995, Kohkum Jean, as she is known there, has acted as an Elder and advisor to the females.

She helps her brother-in-law teach the horse program, runs sweat lodges with the help of her youngest son, and instructs classes in beadwork.

Her life philosophy has never changed: listen to the Elders, follow the Cree ways, work hard, and be friendly to everyone.

"I told my kids to get along with everybody, (it) doesn't matter what colour they are. I don't drink or smoke, I never did that, and I tried to teach my kids that way, too. The old people used to say whatever you do, your kids will follow your tracks, and so I said to myself 'there'll be no bad tracks for my kids.'"

As an avid hockey mom for years, and lifetime rodeo fan,

Piyesiw ka-petowitak, Jean Francis Oakes, has burst wide open every conceivable stereotype, and, true to her name, she has been a powerful role model for the next generation of First Nations women.

With one book just hot off the presses, she is planning a second one, which will tell the story of her late husband, who was a former Nekaneet chief, community Elder and spiritual leader.

Stories From My Life is a glimpse into one woman's life journey, filled with snippets of Nekaneet's history, Elder's teachings, and the thriving spiritual life of a community that remained largely isolated from government influence for many years. The book is available through the Jasper Centre at Maple Creek.

BY BERNADETTE FRIEDMANN-CONRAD

Sage Writer