The first indigenous Green Party member in North America …
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Native Principles Permeate Adam Olsen …
“There is a deep connection between all things. Humans are not superior, and are basically no different than salmon, bears, trees and even rocks. All things are equal, all have spirits,” explains Adam Olsen. “We need to rebalance our perspective; each part of the ecosystem is incredibly important.”
Adam Olsen is an unusual guy. First, he is Indigenous, of the Tsartlip First Nation in Saanich, north of Victoria, and has a Native outlook on life. His Tsartlip name is STHENEP (pronounced “hawnup”), which he inherited and is associated with reef-net fishing. “The name honours those who carried it before me,” says Olsen, “and it is my duty to bring honour to the name so it will continue.”
Olsen has led community efforts to protect and improve the Salish Sea and the Saanich Inlet.
– Photo courtesy of the Olsen Constituent Office
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More unusual is that Olsen was not only elected to the British Columbia legislature, but he represents the Green Party. Olsen explains that he was attracted to the Greens because they have crucial beliefs that are also core to indigenous philosophy.
Adam Olsen, who grew up on the Tsartlip First Nation’s reserve, is a good looking, 42-year old with a strong build and bald head with a grey moustache and small beard. His native life includes attending sweat lodges, potlatches and naming ceremonies and listening to story-telling by elders. He speaks limited SENCOTEN, the Tsartlip language, but is learning, and advocates for the revival of indigenous languages.
Adam Olsen in regalia with Andrew Weaver (leader of the BC Greens) and Sonia Furstenau (the third BC Green elected) getting sworn in to the British Columbia legislature, June 7, 2017.
– Photo courtesy of the BC Legislative Assembly
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He is passionate in the native belief of intergenerational equity. That is, the current generation has a responsibility to following generations to leave the world a better place. “We need to start making decisions that are much longer term than what governments are accustomed to making,” he says.
Olsen attended Camosun College studying communications. Subsequently, he worked for the Victoria Salmon Kings and the provincial Aboriginal Sports and Recreation Association. Sports have always been important to Olsen, especially soccer. He played himself and now coaches his son’s team. He is proud that there are all-Native teams in Saanich. In 2006, Olsen married Emily, a New Zealander. They have two children, Silas and Ella, and live on the same property where he grew up.
In 2008, Olsen changed careers and ran for and was elected as municipal councillor in Central Saanich. “I was drawn in that direction because the Tsartlip Reserve has a highly charged, intensely politicized atmosphere. The federal Indian Act codifies the differences between Natives and non-Natives. It defines us, sets us apart. Indigenous people are very suppressed.” He served two terms.
“We need to rebalance our perspective; each part of the ecosystem is incredibly important.”
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Olsen entered the record books in the 2017 British Columbia election by winning the Saanich North & Gulf Islands riding, the first indigenous Green Party member in North America to win a seat in federal or provincial/state parliament. Olsen narrowly lost in the same district in 2013.
Olsen believes deeply in First Nations, his community and the environment. He is alive with energy, working 70 to 80 hours per week and, as his chief of staff says, is always seeking new ideas, new ways to achieve his goals and, of course, to make sure his Native name, STHENEP, remains honourable.
Environmental issues important to him include stopping the Site C dam, stopping the Trans Mountain pipeline, rebuilding salmon stocks and preserving old-growth forest. He started the group Show Kinder Morgan Your Food Fish where First Nations people have flooded Facebook with photos of their food fish to show Kinder Morgan the importance of protecting coastal ecosystems. “I have a salmon on my wedding ring, Olsen says. “I know exactly what salmon means to First Nations.” The recently announced Wild Salmon Advisory Council arose in large part due to his vigorous lobbying.
Adam Olsen is working to get First Nations issues into the legislature. There are three other indigenous MLAs (two NDP, one Liberal) and Olsen says, “We talk and I very much want to develop a native caucus.”
– Photo by Hans Tammemagi
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Olsen feels strongly about the injustices Natives have suffered. “There’s been a steady march toward recognizing our past, helped by the Truth & Reconciliation report,” he says. In Saanich, there has been a growing awareness by municipal government of indigenous culture and history. Some places have been renamed and a totem was raised in Sidney. The four indigenous “villages” of Tsartlip, Tseycum, Tsawout and Paquachua are all part of one Saanich nation with a common language. “I have relatives in all four places.” I’m optimistic about the direction we’re going in,” he said.
“Last year’s celebration of Canada’s 150th birthday was a bit misplaced,” he adds. “What really counts is the next 150 years. Huge strides are necessary. We must not be overwhelmed by the large amount of work to be done. We need a continuing commitment. Indigenous people will not disappear.”
Olsen’s beliefs will serve all his constituents well.
Saanich North and the Islands, British Columbia, Canada
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Adam, I was delighted to attend your talk in Kamloops last night. I joined the Green Party because when the Ajax Mine was being proposed beside our city, the Liberals and NDP said very little. I believe the Greens were effective in their opposition to that development.
However, Canada and BC have resource driven economies. To provide employment through business I believe we must have a balance between the extraction of our resources and our environmental issues. There must be some sacrifice of our environment to utilise our resources. The better use of technology is one way. The success of our Green Party must project this position.
Cheers Jim Bogardis
Dear Adam,
I was at the event in Kamloops last evening and appreciated your talk and you helped to clarify proportional representation for me. I really needed that since I’m going to be working in the PR booth over the next couple of months.
I am a very passionate earth activist and my area of interest has been spiritual ecology. I have attended many workshops and conferences on reconnecting with nature and the role it plays in acquiring respect for the-more-than-human-world and stopping trashing the earth. We are probably on the same page in that. But last evening I really wanted to stand up and say something, but I’m shy and lack confidence about expressing my feelings and thinking in front of many people. And besides there was a set number of questions that could be asked and I wasn’t going to ask a question, just comment.
What I wanted to say is that we really don’t have bargaining power with nature at this point. We are destroying the planet at a phenomenal rate, and we cannot fool around with that. I don’t think that the earth can manage the exploitation of fossil fuels until they’re all gone. We are virtually like the test tube experiment we did in grade 11 to demonstrate how a close system can destroy itself with toxic by-products. It is not rocket science and yet politicians and the people they serve don’t grasp that.
I worked in human services for most of my professional career and we used to have a saying – “I’m so busy batting alligators with boat paddles that I have no time or energy to get to draining the boat they are in.”
I joined the Green party because I heard my voice in their’s after 50 years of being a New Democrat. And I have loyalty to the NDP having participated in the Roy Romanov health care reform in Saskatchewan in the early 90s (brilliant but mostly gone now under conservative governments but I digress.) I don’t want the Greens to get bogged down in what I call symptomatic relief of the cry and destruction of the earth. I want them to keep that second level of what you might call long-term goal in the forefront always. It is as the late Richard Wagemese said in one of his famous columns, “humans are behaving as if they have another planet to go to.” The things we’re trying to alleviate won’t matter if we can’t sustain ourselves and the creatures we live with. I see the destruction of the earth as a bottom line that we can’t bargain with. It must always be in the forefront.
Sorry if this is an inappropriarte place to express myself. But I was burning up this morning. Must get braver and push my feminine heart forward.
(Wendy Weseen)
(Now an eco-poet dreaming of getting published without any profit power whatsoever. ha ha. )
I am so sorry I was not able to attend Adam’s meeting in Kamloops last night. I had so wanted to ask him whether he and his indigenous colleagues, although of different political persuasions, had seriously discussed the 7 Generation principle of First Nations as a fundamental footing for priorizing all projected legislation. Should we actually achieve Proportional Representation for the next election that principle is as important to establish in politics as is the Golden Rule in personal relationships. Despite the fact that our politics runs on a 4 year cycle the increasing durability of legislative decisions under Pro-Rep offers more hope to start pouring this foundational cement.