North of 60 star shuns Hollywood for Cut Knife

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Gordon Tootoosis, star of the CBC TV series North of 60, took time to give something back to the Native people of Sskatchewan by speaking to the students at eight inner city Saskatoon schools.

He hoped to show the young Native children that even "a Cree from Poundmaker" can achieve whatever he desires, if he is willing to work for it and willing to believe in himself.

The visits were arranged by Saskatoon Police Services Constable Craig Nirta, Aboriginal liaison, and Larry Vols, school liaison.

Gordon got his start in acting in the part of Almighty Voice in the 1970 movie Alien Thunder. Since then he has worked to perfect his craft and has built his career to the point where his services are now in great demand.

Currently, he plays the part of Albert, one of four leads in North of 60. The series is filmed from June to December leaving him free to work on other projects from January to April, projects such as Legends of the Fall, the hit movie currently playing in theatres worldwide.

His work to develop his skill and the effort he has expended to establish himself in the trade are paying handsome dividends.

"A lot of people think I'm very successful now because I work in Hollywood. That was a dream. I was told it was an impossible dream. You have to have realistic dreams and make them goals.

"I had other goals. I worked on those but I always had that in the back my mind - to make it in Hollywood."

He has a formula for success that he passed on to the children: "If you have a dream,, make it a goal and go for it. Don't think that somebody's going to bring it to you. You have to go get it."

For many years Tootoosis was driven by anger, anger that sprang from a fall day when at the age of nine he was taken from his family, thrown in the back of a grain truck and hauled to a residential school at Onion Lake.

His anger fuelled his determination to succeed but it also drove him to drink and to use drugs, habits that he has since given up.

Though he spoke only Cree when he was dragged off to school, he was forbidden to speak his own language. And he was taught that his culture was no good.

Tootoosis recalls an incident at the Lebret residential school where he and his companions got into the music room, took the bass drum out and started singing some Indian "soul music".

"We were caught and I was the last one out. I was literally slapped in the face.

I was insulting the music teacher for using his bass drum to sing my song.

"Those kinds of attitudes I didn't understand. But now you have it right here in your school Your teachers are encouraging you students to express yourself."

Role models play an important role for children, he acknowledged. Tootoosis' father, the late John Tootoosis, was a tremendous role model for him.

The young Tootoosis learned determination from his father, who battled the

permit system and the residential schools and made major contributions to the Native organizations that were the forerunners of the Federation of Saskatchewan Indian Nations and the Assembly of First Nations.

"My father was a gifted man. He had a lot of foresight. I see a lot of things happening in the Indian world now that he predicted."

For a time, Tootoosis followed in his father's footsteps, serving as one of the first vice-presidents of FSIN. He had been a social worker, working in several locations, mostly with teenage boys, but he gave up his government job - a pension, benefits, security and all - to work for his people.

As he stands in an auditorium with a squirming carpet of six-and seven- year-olds at his feet and older children beyond, he remembers his father.

"If you don't like yourself, no one else will. Always remember, you were created this way for a purpose. My father told me that. That's what you are and that's the way you're going to die. You have no choice, so live with it.

"You're a Cree from Poundmaker. You face it and live with it and work with it.

'I thought that was pretty blunt'" Tootoosis laughs.

His grandfather died before Gordon was born. His father took Elders into the family home to fill the role of grandparents and teach his children.

"For me the most difficult thing was to discover the difference between making a living and living. They're two different things,"said Tootoosis. "We have our own laws as Native people, passed on from our spirit grandfathers, that we have to abide by and live by. And they become more and more difficult to abide by all the time because we have

a lot of influence - a lot of media, a lot of television.

"We didn't have that influence you guys have, growing up. The influence was from those old people. But they ain't around anymore, so it's more and more difficult. I don't envy you that. On the other hands, it's easier for you to find a way to make a living. But it's also easier for you to lose how to live."

Tootoosis occasionally encounters racial prejudice in his work but he doesn't back away from it.

"I think there are people who dislike Indian people a lot and they show it. I let them know that I dislike people who dislike Native people."

Tootoosis began working toward his goal 25 years ago and for many years he had to work outside his profession to feed his family. He learned his craft by doing an apprenticeship theatre. Touring with an improv troupe called Theatre Passe Mureille was an instrumental experience for him.

He was fortunate to have shared the experience with several other actors, including Eric Peterson, Dave Fox and Lalli Cadieux, who have also succeeded in the business.

He is delighted to see a lot of young Native actors working in Native theatre.

"Many are very, very talented. I think before long we'll have our own collections, our own cast. We'll write, direct and produce our own."

Tootoosis enjoys working in California because of the professionalism of the people in the movie business but he continues to live near Cut Knife.

"I think in a place like Hollywood you can't help ut become quite artificial."

He lives on a farm south of town. Anyone who shakes his hand can feel the truth in his declaration. His hand are strong and callused.

He has always had horses but wants to buy more land and get into cattle raising.

"It's therapy more than anything," he says.

He and his wife, Irene, have five children, three grown daughters and two sons. They also have seven grandchildren. Only his youngest boy is still at home.

"My young son, Lee, is my partner, my buddy." Lee is full of energy and shares a love of rodeo with his dad.

Tootoosis enjoys his grandchildren very much and encourages them to become involved in traditional culture and spiritual activities. All the grandkids, even the youngest, are dancers.