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Tim Smith \/ Brandon Sun<\/p>\n
Tr\u00e9chelle Bunn, chief of Birdtail Sioux Dakota Nation: \u2018I\u2019m still challenging the narrative of what it looks like and what it means to be a chief.\u2019<\/p>\n
Assembly of First Nations National Chief Cindy Woodhouse Nepinak noted earlier this year that a record number of female chiefs \u2014 164 \u2014 were leading First Nations across the country.<\/p>\n
A month later, Nepinak noted there were 165 female chiefs.<\/p>\n
\u201cFirst Nations women continue to guide pathways of healing, sovereignty and opportunity,\u201d she wrote on social media.<\/p>\n
Because of Bunn\u2019s youth and experience as a leader, she is seen as an example of the movement that is taking place across First Nations, with women increasingly filling professional and leadership roles.<\/p>\n
Bunn has spoken as a delegate to the United Nations Human Rights Council on behalf of Indigenous people, served as a youth chief at the Southern Chiefs\u2019 Organization and founded an event called the Reconciliation Run. She also graduated from law school this year.<\/p>\n
Bunn said she believes she is representing the next generation of leadership and young people \u2014 not just her community. She wants to lead by example and sees part of her responsibility as showing what\u2019s possible for other women and girls to come.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m still challenging the narrative of what it looks like and what it means to be a chief,\u201d she said. \u201cI think it\u2019s also challenging society\u2019s perception of seeing a young woman as a chief.\u201d<\/p>\n
The story that is taking place in her community is also applicable to places across Canada, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe young women in my community for decades didn\u2019t have that very tangible representation. They didn\u2019t have a female chief of our community that they could look to and say, \u2018If they can do it, so can I.\u2019 And that\u2019s what I\u2019m hearing from not only young people in my community, but when I go to other events or connect with other young people across the country.\u201d<\/p>\n
Dakota First Nations in Westman are a good example of women taking up leadership roles, she said, noting that three of five communities are headed by female chiefs.<\/p>\n
Bunn said it\u2019s a revival of decision-making roles for women, rather than breaking new ground.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think that that\u2019s a beautiful resurgence of, you know, our matriarchs reclaiming our place within leadership and decision making in our communities.\u201d<\/p>\n
In addition to Birdtail, Sioux Valley Dakota Nation is led by Chief Jennifer Bone, while Canupawakpa Dakota Nation is headed by Chief Charlene Higheagle-Moore. Both were elected in the last year.<\/p>\n
Bone said she agrees that a shift is taking place. Women have always occupied important positions, but they are entering more leadership, political and professional roles today, she said.<\/p>\n
Bone described how a female entrepreneur hosted a workshop in Sioux Valley this year in which she trained roughly 30 women to style eyelashes and equipped them to provide the service for clients.<\/p>\n
\u201cSeeing Indigenous women taking on those roles and being successful with their entrepreneurship is inspiring for other women,\u201d Bone said. \u201cI think it\u2019s more inspiring for young women to further their education.\u201d<\/p>\n
Bone is studying for a master of business administration degree. She has been involved off and on in council and governance of Sioux Valley since being elected to council in 2010. She has served multiple terms as chief.<\/p>\n
She said she believes the momentum for First Nation women will grow and hopes it will carry over into the new generation.<\/p>\n
Bone said she attended an inaugural \u201cmatriarch summit\u201d this spring in Ottawa, where female chiefs from across the country were invited to meet and discuss issues in their communities.<\/p>\n
\n\t\tWinnipeg Free Press | Newsletter\n\t<\/p>\n
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Having more women enter professional and political roles strengthens First Nations communities across the board, as there are more voices speaking on the community\u2019s behalf, she said.<\/p>\n
\u201cI think it really helps us, not just to advance our nations, but all First Nations collectively. You have more people that are advocating for you \u2014 not only politically, but financially and economically.\u201d<\/p>\n
Advocacy was one of the keys to success for Kyra Wilson when she was elected grand chief of the Assembly of Manitoba Chiefs last year. Wilson told the Brandon Sun she believed she made the best case for being a powerful voice to bring First Nations issues forward.<\/p>\n
\u201cThat is something that I shared with our leadership: I am a strong advocate, and I will continue to push to see the results that we want, and I won\u2019t stop until we see the results,\u201d Wilson said at the time. \u201cMy education, my career, my experience has always been advocating for our people. So I\u2019ve really been able to develop the skill.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u2014 Brandon Sun<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"BRANDON \u2014 One month after Birdtail Sioux First Nation member Tr\u00e9chelle Bunn was elected chief of her community,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":751408,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[194296],"tags":[49,48,22073],"class_list":["post-751407","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-winnipeg","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-winnipeg"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751407","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=751407"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/751407\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/751408"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=751407"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=751407"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=751407"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}