Naomi Augustine
Photo by Shirley Collingridge
When the Musselwhite Impact Benefits Agreement was under negotiation, Seeley says Augustine raised many issues on behalf of her Band. She also made many demands. Today, the pair joke about the extent of her “shopping list.”
A native of the North Caribou Lake First Nation, Augustine now works at that same Musselwhite mine. For the past year, she has contracted her housekeeping services through Windigo Catering. She has done well at Musselwhite, and was recently promoted to crew leader. But the promotion is only the most recent in a long line of accomplishments by the Oji-Cree.
Her mother died young, leaving Augustine to fill the maternal gap. She recalls her father being away for lengthy shifts as a line cutter. “I remember he used to get on the helicopter. I would see him off. We would be the only ones in the house – me and my brothers - and he’d be out for two weeks. How we survived, I don’t know. But we did.”
Augustine also sacrificed her own schooling to raise her brothers. “I had to look after my brothers. That’s why I didn’t . . . go to high school. My dad told me, ‘you go to school’ and I said, ‘No,’ because I didn’t want to leave them behind,” she said.
Now Augustine is returning to the schooling she put on hold for so long. She is studying through Balmoral Centre for Adult Studies, to achieve her high school diploma.
She has proven a determined and committed student, at one point speeding through several modules in a single week. The modules cover bookkeeping, resume writing, typing, English, history and other core classes. Ironically, it was the resume writing and cover letter that almost stumped Augustine. Ironic because it seems Augustine has always had a job.
With typical humour, she jokes about her academic challenges, “Why take a shortcut? Just go through with getting the credits. Next year you come up [to watch me] graduate . . . – using a cane!”
Augustine is far from ready for a cane, but she did recently become a proud grandparent. Mathias - the light of Augustine’s life – made his appearance November 4 as Augustine’s first grandchild. Her son is now filling the role she herself began so many years earlier.
After raising two brothers, Augustine felt she was competent to raise her own two sons. That is why comments from an elderly neighbour surprised and disappointed her. The neighbour said to her, “You don’t know how to look after a child.”
The same woman gave further trouble when Augustine worked with Family Services. “She was giving me heck for . . . working at Band Council, just because I was working with the Child and Family Service workers,” said Augustine. “She thought I was there to take kids away, I guess. But I was not,” said Augustine.
Like most of us, Augustine recognizes her parenting shortcomings – and successes. She supported her son through his struggles in school and recalls with pride how he handled his driver’s test. “I failed the first time,” he told her. “I couldn’t read. Then I remembered when you told me that, that old man - . . . got somebody to translate for him. . . . I told that lady, give me another chance but I need somebody to read the questions to me . . . They did it.” He passed.
But this young man didn’t always listen to his mother. Augustine recalls how he balked at a curfew when he was a teenager. “He says you don’t have to come after me – everybody else is running around,” said Augustine. She replied, “They don’t have a curfew – you do.” He argued, “Well, they got parents and their parents aren’t looking for them.” Augustine’s response was, “While I’m still alive, I’m gonna look for you until I die. Then you can run around all you want.”
When he was out late, Augustine would search for him - loudly calling out her son’s name along the roadway. At the time, he resented his mother’s interference; years later, he would thank her for it. After running into an old friend recently, he said, “Thank you mom for being strict with me. . .. You see my friend over there? . . . He’s in open custody. And you see that lady next to him? That’s a probation officer.”
“I think he understands now why I kept after him,” said Augustine.
Augustine’s own efforts at understanding have often been challenged. Her advice? “When you want [to know] something, ask.” Her words echo the old adage, “Ask a question - look foolish for a moment. Don’t ask the question - remain foolish for a lifetime.”