Thomas J Burke - Windspeaker Confidential

Page 13

Thomas J. Burke made history on June 9 when he became the first Native person elected to a legislature in Atlantic Canada. Burke won the riding of Fredericton North in the New Brunswick provincial election. Burke is also the only Native lawyer practising in Fredericton.

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

Thomas J. Burke: Commitment has got to be the one quality.

W: What is it that really makes you mad?

T.J.: Indecisiveness. One thing that makes me mad are the people who will sit in a restaurant for 30 minutes looking at a menu. This is an example, and when the waitress comes, they hum and haw and aren't sure exactly what they want to eat. That's a good example of indecisiveness. And it drives me nuts.

W: When are you at your happiest?

T.J.: Probably when I'm with my children. I have three daughters. I should say my wife, too.

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

T.J.: Unapproachable.

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

T.J.: Well, that would probably have to be my mother. And I'm sure that's probably the standard answer you get from a lot of people. As far as admiration goes, yes, my mother would be the person I admire. Because of her tenaciousness, and her ability to have little education from growing up on the reserve at Tobique First Nation and then graduating with two degrees from university later in her life after raising two children.

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

T.J.: Jump out of an airplane, probably. Because I served with the U.S. military from 1990 to '95. That was probably the toughest challenge for me, to overcome my fear of heights and then having to jump out of an airplane.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?

T.J.: At this point in my life, right now, it would have to be to earn and gain the trust of over 20,000 people in my riding, to represent them in the legislature, both non-Aboriginal and Aboriginal.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?

T.J.: I really don't have any goal out of reach. I'm a firm believer in if I have a goal, I will put my mind to it, and I will accomplish it.

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

T.J.: I would probably be still pursuing the possibility of getting into the RCMP. I think that was something that I really wanted to do at a younger age in life. And, you know what, to be quite honest with you, I can't figure this out. I can get a university degree, pass law school, pass one of the most demanding tests, the law school admission test, but I couldn't pass the RCMP test. So I don't know. It's just one of those things.

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

T.J.: Probably just recently, that God gave you two ears and one mouth, and the reason is to listen twice as much as you do speak.

W: Did you take it?

T.J.: Yes.

W: How do you hope to be remembered?

T.J.: I hope to be remembered by the legacy that I leave with my friends and my family. Not for the accomplishments. Of course the accomplishments are part of it. But not for anything monetary that I pick up in life. Regardless of how much money or success or how big your house or car or the type of clothes you wear, I want to be remembered for the legacy that I've left on my family and my friends. And I think that's important. And I get that from my mother, actually.