Don't take no for an answer

My mom decided to spend part of her vacation with us. She stayed for about a week.

We didn't see much of her all summer. She's been working hard up at the gold mine in Bissett. It was good to reconnect, drink lots of coffee, go visiting other relatives, and spend time with the grandkids.

It was also a good time to tie up some loose ends, like the continuing saga that is her treaty status application.

A couple years ago I thought I'd finished everything and there was no way Indian Affairs was going to turn her down again. Well, they did.

INAC wanted more proof that her grandfather, Alphonse Simard, was entitled to be registered treaty Indian.

So I traced the bloodline all the way back to 1884, back to her great-great-great grandmother, Mrs. "W" Okima-kapow. The "W" meant she was a widow registered as treaty #26 at Norway House Cree Nation.

I found out Okima-kapow means leader of the boats. It was actually amazing to find out more about our family tree. But I made a mistake. I should have given INAC more information than they asked for. After about a year and a half of waiting for a reply, my mom finally got a letter. It wasn't what we expected.

Indian Affairs said my mom had successfully proven her mother was "entitled to be registered under section 6(2) of the Indian Act," through her paternal side of the family. If granny Noella was alive she would have been eligible for treaty status.

But because my mom didn't provide enough information on her mother's maternal side, she wasn't eligible for treaty status.

We already knew -- and provided some proof -- that my mom's maternal side are all registered Indians from Sagkeeng First Nation. But we only gave names and birthdates, not specific treaty numbers.

So, finally this spring, I contacted Sagkeeng to get a letter of permission to access their treaty payment records. Then this summer I went back to the Treaty and Aboriginal Rights Research Centre on Lombard Avenue to squint at microfiche records.

Sifting through all the paperwork in the folder I've collected over the years, I realized my mom first applied for her treaty status more than a decade ago.

Her application has been through the hands of three different Indian registrars in the 12 years we've been pen pals with them. Of course, I'm responsible for the long relationship as well.

Life gets busy and genealogy research tends to take a backseat.

Well, one evening, while my mom and I were relaxing, I pulled out my "treaty research" folder with all the new information I'd found. I showed her the family tree I'd drawn out that traced her grandma, Marguerite Kent, and her great-grandparents, Rosalie Fontaine and Albert Kent.

She only has a few fond memories of her grandma, since Marguerite died when my mom was about eight years old.

I showed her that I'd traced the maternal line back to 1875, to Robert Kent and Moise Fontaine -- her great-great- grandfathers. She seemed pleased.

My mom doesn't ask for much so I feel good about getting this done for her, even though it sometimes feels like I'm playing the slowest chess game in the world. Even one of my mom's brothers got his treaty status in five years.

And a few months ago I considered applying for my treaty status with the new C-3 application that was introduced, but I couldn't do it. I'm waiting until my mom gets her treaty status first.

So before my mom left for home I wrote up a complicated two-page letter of reply to INAC, made photocopies of records, printed off census records and got my mom to sign off on it once again. Then we took it down to the post office.

It's not over yet, but I'm thinking 2012 will be the year her application will go through and she'll get her treaty status.

One lesson I've learned over the years is that, when it comes to bureaucracy, be diligent, and don't take no for an answer.

Colleen Simard is a Winnipeg writer.

colleen.simard@gmail.com

Republished from the Winnipeg Free Press print edition September 24, 2011 J6