Kateri Champagne Jourdain has made the rapprochement between Aboriginals and non-Aboriginals the common thread of her career.
“I chose to take this duality of two cultures that inhabits me […] to raise awareness, work on the issue of reconciliation and encourage openness to others, ”explains the one who defends the colors of the Coalition avenir Québec in the riding of Duplessis, on the North Shore.
Coming from a bicultural union between an Innu father and a mother from Trois-Rivières, Kateri Champagne Jourdain spent her childhood in the Innu First Nation of Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam in Sept-Îles.
“I had the chance to grow up in the community, to be close to my Innu family and to have this relationship with life in the community which is often very reassuring, but sometimes difficult because of the various social problems”, indicates she.
After leaving the reserve to pursue her university studies in social communication, Kateri Champagne Jourdain returned to settle in Uashat Mak Mani-Utenam to work on the band council, then to invest in the Arnaud mine project.
The young professional then served as general manager of the Galeries Montagnaises, the first shopping center developed and managed by Aboriginal people in Canada, before getting involved in the Apuiat wind farm project.
The one who was also the first Aboriginal to sit on the Desjardins Group’s board of directors sees her leap into politics as the logical continuation of this journey.
“I bring with me a very interesting professional experience for the region and an understanding and experience of Aboriginal issues,” she says, recalling that seven Aboriginal communities are in the Duplessis riding.
Over the past four years, the CAQ has made several concrete gestures to build a nation-to-nation relationship with the indigenous peoples, believes the one who represents the party of François Legault.
She cites in particular the signing of the Grand Alliance with the Cree Nation for the economic development of the Eeyou Istchee Baie-James region, the tabling of Bill 79 aimed at facilitating research into missing or deceased Aboriginal children and the hiring navigators to improve the Indigenous experience in the health system.
But because of its refusal to recognize the systemic racism of which many Aboriginal people claim to be victims, the CAQ has also been the target of heavy criticism.
“Racism is everywhere,” says the new politician. “Racism is when I receive care [de santé] and that I feel that I am not well received. It’s also when I go to a business and find that I’m not well received either,” she explains, adding that “people sometimes don’t even know that their reflexes are racist.” But isn’t that the definition of systemic racism?
“If we discuss a definition for a year, two years, five years, during that time, we do nothing, and the phenomenon continues,” replies the candidate.
“I want to see actions put in place, that’s why I’m running for the CAQ. »