Wendy Grant-John
Building on her legacy of leadership
Article by Brian Lin
A
woman's worst enemy in her efforts to achieve greatness, said
Wendy Grant-John, a recipient of the 2006 National Aboriginal
Achievement Awards, is herself.
"The biggest obstacle women have is accepting the notion
that they are second-class citizens, that they are not equal
to men when they walk into a room," said Grant-John, three-term
Musqueam First Nation chief and this year's award recipient in
the Community Development category.
Grant-John, the first woman elected regional vice-chief to the
Assembly of First Nations, credited her upbringing for giving
her the confidence to compete in a man's world.
"Believing in myself came from the people who raised me,"
she said. Her father, Willard Sparrow, and grandfather, Edward
Sparrow, were also Musqueam chiefs.
"I was fortunate enough to grow up in a family that is proud
of who we are as Musqueam people. That respect and grounding
in my own culture gave me the strength to never feel that the
non-Aboriginal community is any better, or that they owe me anything.
"My father used to tell me 'there's no such thing as...
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