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Sandra Lovelace Nicholas was sipping coffee about two weeks ago in the log home she built herself on Tobique First Nation when her phone rang. It was a staffer from Prime Minister Paul Martin's office calling to ask her if she would accept an appointment to become the first Aboriginal woman in Atlantic Canada to sit in the Senate.
"The phone went blank for awhile and (the staffer) said, 'Are you there?'," Ms.Lovelace Nicholas said Wednesday. "She said, 'This is not a joke, Sandra.' "
Ms. Lovelace Nicholas, 57, isn't hesitant to admit she was stunned by the Prime Minister's offer. The Maliseet woman has had many titles in her life - mother, wife, homebuilder, native activist, homecare worker, Order of Canada recipient - but she never envisioned herself becoming a Canadian senator. In fact, recently, any dreams about her future had been confined to finding a job so she could stop the social assistance payments she had received for the past eight months. And now, seemingly out of the blue, she was being offered an opportunity to trade her monthly welfare cheque for a $116,000 per year job serving her province and her country.
Two weeks later, she found herself nervously talking on the phone to the Prime Minister of Canada. "He said, 'This is the Prime Minister, Sandra, and I am honoured to accept your acceptance and I can hardly wait to meet you and work with you'," Ms. Lovelace Nicholas said. "I said, 'Oh, it's an honour Prime Minister. Thank you'."
On Wednesday, Mr. Martin officially announced Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment to the Senate, three weeks after news of it was leaked to the Telegraph Journal. Her appointment fills one of two New Brunswick senate vacancies and marks a refreshing change from the usual appointment of partisan insiders or former politicians to the red chamber. She has no known political tiesbut will sit as a Liberal senator. "I'm delighted," former New Brunswick MP and head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission GordonFairweather said Wednesday of Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment. "I'm glad they have warded off the people that were waiting breathlessly for their reward." He said Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment will help make the senate more representative of Canada.
Ms. Lovelace Nicholas gained national and international recognition 20 years ago for her successful appeal to the United Nations that helpedchange the lives of Aboriginal women and children across Canada. Shewas part of a group of women on the Tobique reserve who fought tochange the Indian Act, which stipulated native women who married a non-native men lost their native status, as did their children. Born and raised on Tobique First Nation, Ms. Lovelace Nicholas married a non-native American airman and moved to California. She later divorced and when she returned to Tobique, she discovered she and her children had lost their status as natives and were denied housing, education and health care provided to natives under the Indian Act. Native men who married non-native women did not lose their status under the act.
Ms. Lovelace Nicholas fought for nearly 10 years to regain her status,successfully appealing her case to the United Nations. The federal government finally changed the law in 1985. "At the time, I didn't think I would become famous, that's for sure," Ms. Lovelace Nicholas said. "But it was well worth the struggle and it was all for my daughter, so she would not lose her rights and for other native women as well." Minutes after Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment was announced on Wednesday, she met with a small group of reporters in the boardroom of the Liberal Official Opposition office. Sitting alongside her daughter and sister at the head of a long table, Ms. Lovelace Nicholas was surrounded by numerous Liberal handlers who protectively buzzed around her.
New Brunswick's newest senator was nervous and didn't mind saying so as she struggled at times - her face filled with emotion and her voice quiet - to articulate her feelings about her new role. "I am numb and excited. Very proud," she said with a smile. "I am proud to be appointed and I am just anxious to start working with the average First Nations people and all of New Brunswick as well."
A mother of four grown children, Ms. Lovelace Nicholas has over the years worked as a homecare worker and an administrator. She also has a degree in residential construction from the Maine Northern Technical College and has built her own log home, her mother's house as well as several others."From the ground up," she said with a laugh, adding that she was the only woman in most of her classes during her time at the college. She said she took the course because she "wanted to get into a non-traditional field and I was always interested in carpentry."
In 1990, she received the Order of Canada and two years later, she earned the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case that made women persons under the law. Mr. Fairweather said Ms. Lovelace Nicholas faced an uphill battle when she decided to try to change the Indian Act because many native men didn't want the act changed nor did the federal government. "She stared down the government of the day," Mr. Fairweather said, adding that her success was a "landmark" and "historic" change for the better.He said he's pleased to see someone with imagination and guts" like Ms. Lovelace Nicholas going to the senate.
Liberal MLA TJ Burke, New Brunswick's first aboriginal MLA, said Wednesday Ms. Lovelace Nicholas has been an "icon" to him and to many other people in New Brunswick and Canada. "If it wasn't for Sandra, a lot of us wouldn't be identified as First Nations people," he said. Ms. Lovelace Nicholas said her first priority as a senator will be to champion Aboriginal issues and women's issues but she expects her interests to expand as she becomes more comfortable with senate committees and procedures.
Sandra Lovelace Nicholas was sipping coffee about two weeks ago in the log home she built herself on Tobique First Nation when her phone rang. It was a staffer from Prime Minister Paul Martin's office calling to ask her if she would accept an appointment to become the first Aboriginal woman in Atlantic Canada to sit in the Senate.
"The phone went blank for awhile and (the staffer) said, 'Are you there?'," Ms.Lovelace Nicholas said Wednesday. "She said, 'This is not a joke, Sandra.' "
Ms. Lovelace Nicholas, 57, isn't hesitant to admit she was stunned by the Prime Minister's offer. The Maliseet woman has had many titles in her life - mother, wife, homebuilder, native activist, homecare worker, Order of Canada recipient - but she never envisioned herself becoming a Canadian senator. In fact, recently, any dreams about her future had been confined to finding a job so she could stop the social assistance payments she had received for the past eight months. And now, seemingly out of the blue, she was being offered an opportunity to trade her monthly welfare cheque for a $116,000 per year job serving her province and her country.
Two weeks later, she found herself nervously talking on the phone to the Prime Minister of Canada. "He said, 'This is the Prime Minister, Sandra, and I am honoured to accept your acceptance and I can hardly wait to meet you and work with you'," Ms. Lovelace Nicholas said. "I said, 'Oh, it's an honour Prime Minister. Thank you'."
On Wednesday, Mr. Martin officially announced Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment to the Senate, three weeks after news of it was leaked to the Telegraph Journal. Her appointment fills one of two New Brunswick senate vacancies and marks a refreshing change from the usual appointment of partisan insiders or former politicians to the red chamber. She has no known political tiesbut will sit as a Liberal senator. "I'm delighted," former New Brunswick MP and head of the Canadian Human Rights Commission GordonFairweather said Wednesday of Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment. "I'm glad they have warded off the people that were waiting breathlessly for their reward." He said Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment will help make the senate more representative of Canada.
Ms. Lovelace Nicholas gained national and international recognition 20 years ago for her successful appeal to the United Nations that helpedchange the lives of Aboriginal women and children across Canada. Shewas part of a group of women on the Tobique reserve who fought tochange the Indian Act, which stipulated native women who married a non-native men lost their native status, as did their children. Born and raised on Tobique First Nation, Ms. Lovelace Nicholas married a non-native American airman and moved to California. She later divorced and when she returned to Tobique, she discovered she and her children had lost their status as natives and were denied housing, education and health care provided to natives under the Indian Act. Native men who married non-native women did not lose their status under the act.
Ms. Lovelace Nicholas fought for nearly 10 years to regain her status,successfully appealing her case to the United Nations. The federal government finally changed the law in 1985. "At the time, I didn't think I would become famous, that's for sure," Ms. Lovelace Nicholas said. "But it was well worth the struggle and it was all for my daughter, so she would not lose her rights and for other native women as well." Minutes after Ms. Lovelace Nicholas' appointment was announced on Wednesday, she met with a small group of reporters in the boardroom of the Liberal Official Opposition office. Sitting alongside her daughter and sister at the head of a long table, Ms. Lovelace Nicholas was surrounded by numerous Liberal handlers who protectively buzzed around her.
New Brunswick's newest senator was nervous and didn't mind saying so as she struggled at times - her face filled with emotion and her voice quiet - to articulate her feelings about her new role. "I am numb and excited. Very proud," she said with a smile. "I am proud to be appointed and I am just anxious to start working with the average First Nations people and all of New Brunswick as well."
A mother of four grown children, Ms. Lovelace Nicholas has over the years worked as a homecare worker and an administrator. She also has a degree in residential construction from the Maine Northern Technical College and has built her own log home, her mother's house as well as several others."From the ground up," she said with a laugh, adding that she was the only woman in most of her classes during her time at the college. She said she took the course because she "wanted to get into a non-traditional field and I was always interested in carpentry."
In 1990, she received the Order of Canada and two years later, she earned the Governor General's Award in Commemoration of the Persons Case that made women persons under the law. Mr. Fairweather said Ms. Lovelace Nicholas faced an uphill battle when she decided to try to change the Indian Act because many native men didn't want the act changed nor did the federal government. "She stared down the government of the day," Mr. Fairweather said, adding that her success was a "landmark" and "historic" change for the better.He said he's pleased to see someone with imagination and guts" like Ms. Lovelace Nicholas going to the senate.
Liberal MLA TJ Burke, New Brunswick's first aboriginal MLA, said Wednesday Ms. Lovelace Nicholas has been an "icon" to him and to many other people in New Brunswick and Canada. "If it wasn't for Sandra, a lot of us wouldn't be identified as First Nations people," he said. Ms. Lovelace Nicholas said her first priority as a senator will be to champion Aboriginal issues and women's issues but she expects her interests to expand as she becomes more comfortable with senate committees and procedures.
