[ windspeaker confidential ] - John Kim Bell

Windspeaker: What one quality do you most value in a friend?
John Kim Bell: Kindness

W: What is it that really makes you mad?
J.K.B.: Mediocrity. George Bernard Shaw declared that hell is full of mediocre people. I just love it when I see someone pursuing excellence. Part of this is determination, the ability in a person to push themselves and work hard and to take risks. Most people are 9- to 5-ers. Most don't care if they make a difference or not.

W: When are you at your happiest?
J.K.B.: When my little son, Pearson, laughs uncontrollably. When he laughs all the world laughs, even God.

W: What one word best describes you when you are at your worst?
J.K.B.: Cantankerous

W: What one person do you most admire and why?
J.K.B.: I greatly admired my mother who was the kindest person I have ever known. Despite all of the terrible examples of man's inhumanity to man, my mother was a loving and forgiving individual, even to really unkind people. She would always question what made a really terrible person so terrible. What had they suffered in life to become so wretched? She was truly a saint.
W: What is the most difficult thing you've ever had to do?
J.K.B.: Bury my mother.

W: What is your greatest accomplishment?
J.K.B.: Establishing the National Aboriginal Achievement Foundation and the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards was likely my greatest accomplishment. (Some say reaching the level of conducting a major symphony orchestra) My goal was to build a charity and raise corporate money for the first time for Aboriginal people and I thought of doing this by producing large-scale concert events in the mainstream. No one thought it was possible and everyone thought I would fail. To make things more difficult, I produced these concerts with personal bank loans and that really separates the men from the boys. I can't think of an Aboriginal leader today who would think of financing their cause with a personal bank loan. The Aboriginal community was terribly jealous and the criticism in the beginning was very unpleasant. The racism in the non-Aboriginal community was also very real and unpleasant. I believed in myself and was willing to take a risk. I not only raised unprecedented amounts of private sector support, but also produced a number of great concerts, an original dance production for a million dollars (In the Land of Spirits), and then discovered Shania Twain. In all, I raised about $80 million over 20 years, and established the breakthrough project, the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards, on CBC television. It required working six and seven days a week, lots of sacrifice and pain. In the end, I earned the respect of many and sent many young people through college and university. I feel very good about that; I feel that this work has defined who I am today.

W: What one goal remains out of reach?
J.K.B.: Having enough time for all of the interests I have. Norman Jewison, the filmmaker, has a great saying: "Time is the one thing you can't buy".

W: If you couldn't do what you're doing today, what would you be doing?
J.K.B.: Good question. Today, I am a senior executive at Brookfield Renewable Power. If I wasn't doing this, I would like to be in music in some way again. I can think of two different things I would like to do: I would like to manage a symphony orchestra, and secondly, I would like to have a major Aboriginal cultural project to drive. Last year, I was responsible for opening Blackfoot Crossing Historical Park, a $20 million heritage centre and museum in Siksika, Alberta. I would like to build and manage a national Aboriginal museum. I think I could turn it into a world-class institution.

W: What is the best piece of advice you've ever received?
J.K.B.: I used to think that because I had rich and powerful corporate friends, that I could rely on them to make things happen for me. My family always told me that I should always rely on myself and not others. After the successful premiere of my dance production, In the Land of Spirits, my corporate sponsors informed me that they would raise the $1.5 million required for a national tour. Although they made requests from their friends, the money never appeared and I was forced to cancel the tour. At that point, everyone told me that touring the production was dead. I became very angry with myself that I relied on these powerful CEOs and that they had let me down. I worked like the devil and raised the $1.5 million myself and toured "Spirits" across Canada in 1992 despite the predictions that I wouldn't be able to raise the money. I really learned from that point on that no matter what people promise you, you have to rely on yourself.

W: Did you take it?
J.K.B.: Yes, as I describe above.

W: How do you hope to be remembered?
J.K.B.: There is that old saying by Louis Riel "that my people will sleep for a hundred years and it will be the artists that awaken and lead them". From 1984 to 2004, some of the biggest breakthroughs in the Aboriginal community were the concerts I produced, the $1 million original dance production, In the Land of Spirits on the main stage in the National Arts Centre with the Prime Minister in the front row, the unprecedented amount of corporate money I raised, and the National Aboriginal Achievement Awards. The Awards was the biggest breakthrough, culturally, in our generation. I feel very proud that I, an artist, made the biggest cultural breakthroughs in our community and on a national basis. No one can take that away from me.