Roman Bittman [ windspeaker confidential ]

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Roman Bittman was named acting chief executive officer of the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation in July. Bittman is a Metis film-maker and businessman with a distinguished career and more than 40 documentaries for CBC's The Nature of Things to his credit. One of Bittman's many contributions is the creation of a labor-based tax credit system that fueled growth in Canada's film and television industry.

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?

Roman Bittman: Acceptance. I have friends that I haven't seen for 20 years, sometimes. I see them suddenly and it's like I've never been away. When you have a friend, you accept that friend for what they are. You don't try and change them. they don't try and change you.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

R.B.: Bullies. I was the guy that always made sure Georgie Porgie ran away.

W: When are you at your happiest?

R.B.: With family, I think. If I'm part of a happy crowd, I like that, because I'm a mixture of both an extravert and an introvert. So I also love bird-watching or walking in wild places. And I'm happy in all those situations.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?

R.B.: Uncentred.

W: What one person do you most admire and why?

R.B.: Nelson Mandela, I would think. And why? Because he's somebody that was very principled, fought for what he thought was right, persevered and was patient and in the end made a big difference.

W: What is the most difficult thing you've ever had to do?

R.B.: Fire somebody I hired. It means two things: it means that someone's dream wasn't realized or someone's ambition wasn't fulfilled. That, I suppose, on a personal level, that I made a bad decision or a wrong decision. On the positive side, that it's best because that person would probably thrive in a different place. So it's like moving someone from the wrong environment to the right environment. But nonetheless it's always difficult.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?

R.B.: Making a difference. I think it has to be developing a film funding system that has caused, it caused hundreds of jobs to happen in the province of Nova Scotia and when it was rolled out into the rest of Canada it's probably caused, every year, a couple of billion dollars worth of jobs to be happening in the media business that would otherwise perhaps not be happening.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?

R.B.: A hole in one. The law of averages is on my side, though. I keep doing it and I'll do it.

W: If you couldn't do what you're doing today, what would you be doing?

R.B.: I'd be sailing around the world. I love to sail.

W: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?

R.B.: It was given to me by Lister Sinclair when I was a very young producer just out of the woods and producing The Nature of Things. And he said to me when I was worrying over something, "Remember, Roman, you're not building a cathedral. And what it meant was, really, what really matters? You are not building a cathedral. You're part of a process, you're part of a system, you're doing your 15 minutes on the treadmill ... to keep perspective.

W: Did you take it?

R.B.: Oh, yes. And I believe everything is process. And entropy lurks for us all and is our destiny.

W: How do you hope to be remembered?

R.B.: Fondly.