An indomitable spirit
A proud Metis, Rochon-Burnett, remembered

By Katie DeRosa For The Welland Tribune
Local News - Monday, May 08, 2006

ST. CATHARINES - Authentic native drum music and song filled the air. Pipe smoke weaved between trees and rocks and finally snaked into the sky. The outdoor celebration of the life of Suzanne Rochon-Burnett was vibrant and alive with the aboriginal culture. It was exactly how Rochon-Burnett lived her life.

Family and friends gathered on Sunday at the Pond Inlet at Brock University to remember the life of Rochon-Burnett, a proud Mtis, successful broadcaster and business woman who died April 2 at age 71.

Rochon-Burnett was a pioneer of aboriginal rights and throughout her life worked to improve opportunities for aboriginal people.

"My mother made a significant contribution to the world, through broadcasting, the arts, politics, human rights, women and aboriginal society," said her daughter Michle-Elise Burnett Reich.

Burnett Reich spoke of her mother's "indomitable Spirit" which allowed her to overcome any obstacles she faced.

Rochon-Burnett developed a successful career during the 1950s as a broadcaster and started a business career in the 1960s when she transformed a Laurentian lodge into a successful art gallery.

Her daughter said Rochon-Burnett not only blazed a path for her own success but opened doors for many others to follow.

She was the founding vice-president of the Mtis Nation of Ontario and also created Kakekalanicks, a company which launched the careers of numerous successful aboriginal artists.

"She inspired them, not only by pushing them along but by buying their art," said Tony Belcourt, president of the Mtis Nation of Ontario.

She received many awards for her contribution to the aboriginal community including the Order of Ontario, the Order of Canada, the Governor General's Medal and the Eagle Feather, the First Nation's highest honour.

Her passion for education made Rochon-Burnet influential to the Brock University community. In 2002 Rochon-Burnett received an honorary degree from the university.

Rochon-Burnett established a scholarship in her name at Brock helping aboriginal students studying communications thrive in their education.

During the ceremony Burnett Reich read out a letter from one of the scholarship recipients which read "The generosity and good hearted nature that you embody gives me an extra incentive to continue to excel in my studies and work my hardest so that one day I can help aboriginal students." Burnett Reich said when her mother read this she said this is what made her work matter.

"She cared about education, and assisting aboriginal students," said Dr. Martin Kusy, Brock's Dean for the Faculty of Business.

At the ceremony Kusy announced an additional $10,000 donation to the scholarship in commemoration of the legacy Rochon-Burnett will leave behind at the university.

"She had this way of making everyone feel as if they were so important and so integral in moving the world forward," he said.

"Everyone had a role to play."

Her life and achievements were remembered through a traditional aboriginal celebration. It began with three pipe carriers blowing smoke up to the sky, calling the Spirit of the ancestors to be with the family and friends during the ceremony.

Rochon-Burnett was remembered through an Honour song and a Friendship song of singing and drums, and the ceremony ended with the Travel song to guide the Spirit on a safe journey in its travels. Belcourt said he was overwhelmed by her presence during the ceremony.

"We're happy that we're having this celebration at Brock, a placed she loved, a place where minds are influenced for the future," said Belcourt.

"She was constantly trying to help young people," he said. "She encouraged them to get the best out of life."

"To have the drum which is a heartbeat of mother earth, to have the pipe to be able to call on the great Spirit to help us cope with life's challenges this was mirrored in some way of how she conducted her life," he said.

Rochon-Burnett lived by a motto: "you have to keep moving forward because even if you fall flat on your face you're still moving forward."

Now her family and friends, including her two grandsons, remember this saying which for them fosters a pride of their Mtis heritage.

Even her 12-year-old grandson Zandre Metz said his grandmother taught him to "always be proud of who you are."

"She touched the hearts of people," said Belcourt. "She was as beautiful inside as she was outside."

(Katie DeRosa, a former co-op student at The Tribune, is a third-year journalism student at Carleton University, Ottawa.)