041Kim Baird goes to Washington DC
I had the fortune to be sponsored by the US government to attend an international exchange with 7 other Canadian women to focus on women’s participation in politics.  This is an insanely broad topic.  It covers many things including:

  • Women voting
  • Women volunteering for political organization
  • Women running for office

And this can be at any political level.  It was also an opportunity to learn more about US federalism.   I was the only First Nation representative, and that of course has its own set of interesting dynamics I will share a little bit more on later.  But the issue about indigenous participation in mainstream politics was heavy on my mind as well.

As with any opportunity – I immediately ask myself – ‘why should I go?’ ‘what can I learn?’ ‘what can I offer?’  I actually wasn’t going to go at first because I thought I wouldn’t benefit much from a progam with a focus on mainstream politics.  I especially have to assess these sorts of things because I have to leave my children for a week to go, which is always difficult.  But after further consideration, I thought that many barriers First Nations women face are similar, and that my experience as a First Nation woman politician would add value to the dialogue.  So I decided to go.

It was a 5 day program and we met dozens of women and learned about dozens of US organizations dealing with voting, fundraising and promoting women to run for office.  We had a good overview of the US federal system which I found extremely helpful.  The purpose of the federal system was for union – not unity.  And the system was designed to protect individual freedoms vs any collective rights.  Being reminded of this foundation helps provide context to what is viewed as an inefficient system by many.  And exposure to the Democrat vs. Republican political discourse was intense due to the politically engaged representatives we met with.

Stepping away from Canada allowed me to extrapolate many things – or in other words – I had many ‘take-aways’ from the trip.
The first was that the invisibility of Native Americans was startling.  When people heard of my background  – they were genuinely curious about me.  But few people could tell me about Native American participation.  Or anything about Native Americans generally, including their citizenship as American Citizens or their treaty relationship with the federal  government.  And people’s reaction to my questions ranged.   I often feel like ‘the conscience in the room’.   But I am used to it.

One of my most inspiring moments was standing in the spot Martin Luther King Jr. stood on when he gave is famous address on equality.  One of the most disturbing experiences was seeing a painting of Pocahontas’s baptism in the Capital rotunda.

This trip fuels much more discussion about all of the topics listed above – especially the role of First Nations in mainstream politics.  But that shall be a topic for another day.