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The Amazing Mazie Baker: The Story of a Squamish Nation's Warrior Elder
In 1931, Mazie Antone was born into the Squamish Nation, a community caught between its traditional values of respect for the land, the family and the band and the secular, capitalistic legislation imposed by European settlers. When she was six, the police carried her off to St. Paul s Indian Residential School, as mandated by the 1920 Indian Act. There, she endured months of beatings, malnourishment and lice infestations before her family collected Mazie and her siblings and fled across the border.
After the war, the family return to their home on the Capilano Reserve and Mazie began working at a cannery where she packed salmon for eleven years. Mazie married Alvie Baker, and together they raised nine children, but the legacy of residential school for Mazie and her generation meant they were alienated from their culture and language. Eventually Mazie reconnected with her Squamish identity and she began to mourn the loss of the old style of government by councils of hereditary chiefs and to criticize the corruption in the band leadership created in 1989 by federal legislation.
Galvanized by the injustices she saw committed against and within her community especially against indigenous women, who were denied status and property rights she began a long career of advocacy. She fought for housing for families in need; she pushed for transparency in local government; she defended ancestral lands; she shone a bright light into the darkest political corners. Her family called her ch sken: Golden Eagle.
This intimate biography of a community leader illuminates a difficult, unresolved chapter of Canadian history and paints a portrait of a resilient and principled woman who faced down her every political foe, unflinching, irreverent, and uncompromising."
After the war, the family return to their home on the Capilano Reserve and Mazie began working at a cannery where she packed salmon for eleven years. Mazie married Alvie Baker, and together they raised nine children, but the legacy of residential school for Mazie and her generation meant they were alienated from their culture and language. Eventually Mazie reconnected with her Squamish identity and she began to mourn the loss of the old style of government by councils of hereditary chiefs and to criticize the corruption in the band leadership created in 1989 by federal legislation.
Galvanized by the injustices she saw committed against and within her community especially against indigenous women, who were denied status and property rights she began a long career of advocacy. She fought for housing for families in need; she pushed for transparency in local government; she defended ancestral lands; she shone a bright light into the darkest political corners. Her family called her ch sken: Golden Eagle.
This intimate biography of a community leader illuminates a difficult, unresolved chapter of Canadian history and paints a portrait of a resilient and principled woman who faced down her every political foe, unflinching, irreverent, and uncompromising."
- GenresNonfiction
240 pages, Paperback
Published October 1, 2016
18 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews
November 13, 2018
What an inspiration!
Beautifully assembled mixture of the personal and the political.
Beautifully assembled mixture of the personal and the political.
February 15, 2017
The Amazing Mazie Baker (1931 - 2011)
Have you ever wondered how Canada's First Nation reserves operate? We probably have a vague idea what chiefs and councils do, however, when we read about third world conditions on reserves, we question how this is possible in a rich country like Canada? A shy, illiterate woman named Mazie Baker offers an unflinching look into the inner workings of her reserve in Kay Johnston`s biography The Amazing Mazie Baker: The Squamish Nation`s Warrior Elder.
Born into the Squamish Nation, Mazie Baker's home life was loving, her parents hard working.
When the Baker children were thrust into the residential school system, it didn't take Mazie's mother long to realize that her children were being neglected. She pulled the children out of school and the family fled to the United States to escape going to jail for that rebellious act. They returned one day when it was safe to do so.
That action may help explain where Mazie got her determination to fight for what was right. Undaunted by those in power, this tiny woman decided to go into politics, a good day for many band members, and not so good for the chief and council. Mazie spoke against injustices on the reserve, while speaking up for womens rights. She attended every council meeting and challenged those in power on many things, including where the money was going! Mazie took her fight as far as Ottawa.
Salmon Arm author, Kay Johnson, has written a fascinating biography of a feisty, principled woman at a time when Reconciliation with our Indigenous people is being taken seriously. A timely, important book and a must read for anyone interested in these issues.
Have you ever wondered how Canada's First Nation reserves operate? We probably have a vague idea what chiefs and councils do, however, when we read about third world conditions on reserves, we question how this is possible in a rich country like Canada? A shy, illiterate woman named Mazie Baker offers an unflinching look into the inner workings of her reserve in Kay Johnston`s biography The Amazing Mazie Baker: The Squamish Nation`s Warrior Elder.
Born into the Squamish Nation, Mazie Baker's home life was loving, her parents hard working.
When the Baker children were thrust into the residential school system, it didn't take Mazie's mother long to realize that her children were being neglected. She pulled the children out of school and the family fled to the United States to escape going to jail for that rebellious act. They returned one day when it was safe to do so.
That action may help explain where Mazie got her determination to fight for what was right. Undaunted by those in power, this tiny woman decided to go into politics, a good day for many band members, and not so good for the chief and council. Mazie spoke against injustices on the reserve, while speaking up for womens rights. She attended every council meeting and challenged those in power on many things, including where the money was going! Mazie took her fight as far as Ottawa.
Salmon Arm author, Kay Johnson, has written a fascinating biography of a feisty, principled woman at a time when Reconciliation with our Indigenous people is being taken seriously. A timely, important book and a must read for anyone interested in these issues.
Displaying 1 - 2 of 2 reviews