Theresa Tait-Day currently works at Northwest Community College as the campus First Nations access co-ordinator, but she would rather be doing economic development for the Wet’suwet’en people.
Tait-Day has graduated from UBC’s Sauder School of Business and would like the opportunity to use her education to help her people progress.
She feels she hasn’t been given a chance to help the Moricetown community thus far.
She points to an ingrained lateral-oppression, which stems from the early days of colonialism and one life-altering event that has prevented her from reaching her potential in her home community.
“From the time I moved back I’ve felt the internalized oppression,” Tait-Day said.
“I’ve never received any help from the Moricetown band until 2011 and have still been able to work toward attaining tolls to help my people.”
Tait-Day used to work in Vancouver for the non-profit Legal Services Society as director of aboriginal programming, but moved back home in 1992.
“I was responsible for helping aboriginal communities open law centres,” Tait-Day said.
“Those centres helped to establish local community control over legal services for aboriginal people.
“When I left, the program shut down because I was the main advocate for it.”
Tait-Day started the Little Frog restaurant in 2006, which is on her late grandmother’s property, adjacent to the Moricetown canyon and had a fair measure of success with the business despite not having the full support of her home village.
“There were so many international customers and that was great,” she said.
“It was a very popular little spot and people from all over were disappointed I couldn’t open it up again.”
She was working at her restaurant when she heard that her house, that she had been building since the mid-1980s was on fire.
“By the time I got there all I could do was watch my house burn down,” Tait-Day said.
“I had a lot of regalia, artwork and wartime artifacts from my grandfather.
“After the fire I didn’t have the energy to work there anymore, so it’s being rented right now.”