The Saskatchewan Aboriginal woman who surprised the NDP

Section: National News
Outlet: The Globe And Mail
Byline: BILL CURRY
Headline: The Saskatchewan Aboriginal woman who surprised the NDP
Page: A4
Date: Monday 10 October 2005

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NDP MPs don't know what to do with Lillian Dyck.

The soft-spoken neurochemist from Saskatoon sparked a heated debate among the party's 19 members of Parliament when she became their first senator six months ago.

NDP Leader Jack Layton would not let Ms. Dyck attend the weekly closed-door caucus meetings because party policy calls for the Senate to be abolished. Others questioned her commitment to the party, because she had allowed her membership to lapse.

But through chats at parliamentary events and over a few dinner invitations from MPs, caucus members have learned more about Ms. Dyck, an aboriginal who was not well known outside Saskatchewan when she became a senator. Some are calling for Mr. Layton to make an exception for Ms. Dyck.

``I do think it's important that we do invite progressive voices to the table, so I would welcome Lillian to the table - unofficially, of course,'' B.C. MP Jean Crowder said. ``I think she could bring a perspective from the Prairies. We currently don't have anybody from Saskatchewan in our caucus.''

Ms. Crowder noted that Pierre Ducasse, Mr. Layton's unelected Quebec adviser, and the Canadian Labour Congress are allowed to attend caucus meetings. But Mr. Layton remains adamant that unelected Senators cannot, even though he says Ms. Dyck is a ``wonderful individual'' who could provide helpful advice.

``The Senate is not part of a democracy,'' he said. ``Our caucus is for elected people.''

In an interview in her small Senate office, Ms. Dyck blamed her own political naiveté for triggering the controversy.

Although she had volunteered on some municipal and provincial campaigns, Ms. Dyck, 60, was never involved in federal politics. The cut-and-thrust of Ottawa is still new to her and she admits talking to the media makes her nervous.

``Though I declared myself as an NDP, that was largely out of my own ignorance, not realizing it would create such a big problem,'' she said.

When the Prime Minister's Office called to offer her the appointment, Ms. Dyck said she was told she could be a Liberal or Independent senator. Ms. Dyck called the Senate clerk's office to ask whether she could choose another party and was told she could.

``Because I had voted NDP for most of my life, not all the time, I thought that made the most sense. Then the newspaper headline read after Mr. Layton made his comments: `NDP shuns Dyck,' '' she said with a laugh. ``And I thought, `Oh, there goes the lovely thing of Saskatchewan aboriginal woman appointed to the Senate, how wonderful.' ''

Ms. Dyck said she accepted the appointment to give aboriginal women someone to turn to in Ottawa and hopes to make aboriginal issues her priority in the Senate.

Born of a Chinese immigrant father and a Cree mother, Ms. Dyck was not always proud of her Cree heritage. The family felt it would be better to pretend to be 100-per-cent Chinese to avoid anti-aboriginal racism in Saskatchewan. The family moved from one small Prairie town to the next as her father was repeatedly unsuccessful at running Chinese restaurants.

``There's a hierarchy of racism. Indian is definitely lower than Chinese,'' she said of the Prairie environment in which she grew up.

It was not until she was 36 and had completed her PhD in biological chemistry at the University of Saskatchewan that she felt it was safe to explore her Cree roots.

Ms. Dyck raised eyebrows among her colleagues in the lab by making a priority of speaking to school groups, particularly young girls, encouraging them to enter careers in science at a time when scientists rarely appeared in public.

She continues to work part-time at the university, testing possible drugs to treat mental illness. She has also completed a study that ruled out a genetic predisposition toward alcoholism among aboriginals.

Her accomplishments earned her a National Aboriginal Achievement Award in 1999.

But Ms. Dyck, who is divorced and has an adult son, said she believes an aboriginal woman such as herself would still be at a disadvantage today if she ran for public office in Saskatchewan.

``I hate to say this, but Saskatchewan's not noted for equal treatment of the aboriginal population,'' she said.

With no caucus meetings to attend, Ms. Dyck is largely on her own in the Senate with only one staff person.

Ms. Dyck said several caucus members have told her privately that they would like her to join the caucus, but she has not asked Mr. Layton to reconsider.

``At some point maybe the onus is on me to make that request because I do know there are some that have said they would support my attending caucus,'' she said.

There is also a possibility that the woman who surprised the NDP by joining them could also surprise them by leaving.

``As I understand it, I can at some point decide that I'll be a Liberal or a Conservative or an Independent. I can change. I don't have to stay NDP forever,'' she said.

``I can't see myself changing, but if for some reason it looked as though there was a very important issue and I wasn't able to effect any kind of change as an NDP, then it might be wiser to change affiliation.''

Rooftop garden possibility for Place Riel

The Sheaf - News; Thursday, 22 September 2005 Written by Crystal Clarke

While rooftop gardening is not a new concept, a project being carried out atop the Dentistry building by a U of S student could be incorporated into the plans for the new Place Riel building. Many buildings on campus, and around the prairies for that matter, could benefit from this new-to-the-prairies concept of rooftop gardens. Cimberly Kneller spent her summer setting up the research project for her honours undergrad thesis - and got a summer job out of it while she was at it. The Facilities Management Department (FMD) took the environmental initiative last year when it hired Sustainability Coordinator Margaret Asmuss, and subsequently hired five summer students this past summer. “This project was headed up by FMD, but the whole project idea of this came from Bill Archibald [head of the Geography department]. We are doing a temperature response difference between the plants and the roof itself and we expect to see a 10-15 degree difference between the sedums and the gravel [plots],” said Kneller. It seems simple enough to understand. However, there have been limited studies as to what plants would work well under the harsh prairie conditions. In fact, this study uses German guidelines because there is so little research from North America. “This is the first one in Saskatchewan and anything that’s been tried in the prairie region hasn’t worked yet. So this will be huge if it does,” said Kneller. This system has huge benefits with limited input costs. Kneller watered the plants only while they were establishing themselves and has let them fend for themselves ever since. Also, the structural requirements for an extensive roof system are 40-50lb/square foot of extra weight. “It is not difficult to put on an existing roof,” says Kneller. In terms of this being an option for Place Riel, USSU VP (Student Issues) Sarah Connor said the project is worth looking at. “I definitely want to throw the idea out there, but I’m not even sure when the plans will be done…especially if this study works.” The benefits of rooftop gardens can be extensive. Kneller quoted from a study done in Scotland that said “20 percent of poor water quality is from runoff from urban areas…. A Portland study said that rooftops make up about 40 percent of their impervious surfaces in the city alone…. If we can green that we can eliminate a lot of water quality problems.” After all, on average 75 percent of rain could be retained in an extensive green roof system. Not only does a rooftop garden affect water quality, but it can also reduce cooling costs and impacts on the environment from this cooling. “Primarily, there are summer benefits,” said Kneller. In fact, there can be a reduction in air conditioning costs, which translates into a one-story building with a green rooftop cutting cooling costs by 20-30 percent. Not to mention smog and greenhouse gas emissions, which could even be used as carbon credits to help reach the Canadian government’s promise to meet the Kyoto Protocol goals. This study uses 23 different plant species over a number of boxes in this specific scientific study. Over the winter, Kneller will be keeping track of what species survive the harsh prairie winter, the temperature difference on the roof compared to the garden plots, and the water runoff.

A New Purpose for this Blog

I am changing the purpose of this blog to be about the non-personal aspects of my life - school, journalism, art, politics, and activism. While it is hard to separate these parts from my personal life, I am going to try and hopefully will succeed. I was inspired to do this by a vegan mom, whose link is in the list on the sidebar. I am going to put my former articles on here, as well as my newest ones. I'm not sure how I'm going to format it yet, but I hope to find something clever and easy-to-view.

Yes, there used to be a couple of other posts, but alas they have been deleted.