Stoney Nakoda elder Tina Fox told her kids she’d like the OneRepublic song I Lived played at her funeral – it would be fitting.
Fox has been a pillar in the Stoney community for years and will be honoured with this year’s Integrity Award from the Rotary Club of Cochrane. But at 77, she still has plans to continue her work as an elder and as a counsellor with the Stoney Education Authority.
“I’m going to work until I drop,” Fox said. “It gives me a reason to get up.”
She said she’s been blessed with a later life full of joy, but it wasn’t always that way.
Fox attended residential school as a child for 11 years until she and a handful of others were bused to Cochrane High School. She recalled elementary students lining up to yell, “Indians on the war path,” as Fox and her classmates walked from their stop to the high school on their first day.
After she had worked as a nursing assistant for ten years, she entered the world of reserve politics – first as a Tribal Administrator and then as the first woman elected to the Wesley First Nation Band Council. Despite her humble surprise at being elected, she said she face hostility from both men and women because of her landmark position.
That wouldn’t be the only hardship Fox endured during this time, as she lost the first of her five children in a car accident shortly after being elected.
“We went through hell,” she said.
She would later lose her first daughter, Kimberly, and a bout with alcoholism was around the corner, as well. Despite the trauma and struggles Fox faced, she persevered.
According to Fox, said education was a path out of the kind poverty she lived through as a child and instilled in her children the importance of education. All of her children acquired degrees and an interest in Indigenous issues.
Throughout her life, Fox said she has battled prejudice, abuse and anger, but she never succumbed to victimhood. She wants others to feel the same.
“I want them to not feel or live as victims,” she said. “You are a victim only if you allow yourself to be a victim.”
Reconciliation is a consistent topic for Fox and the Stoney First Nation. Fox delivers speeches about reconciliation, and that’s where Martin Parnell – the Rotary Club of Cochrane president – said he first saw the magnitude of Fox’s character.
“What strikes me with Tina is she’s a global person,” Parnell said.
“She’s had personal challenges along the way, but she exemplifies somebody that sees the bigger picture, who deals with issues – whether it’s gender inequality, whether it’s addiction or suicide issues – in a global way. She’s represented Canada in a number of conferences around the world with other Indigenous groups. She’s very impressive.”
The Rotary Club will be honoring Fox with the Integrity Award and banquet May 12 at Lofts on the Bow.
