Dr. Elder Calvin White left school at the age of 14 to become a logger like his father.

He later went on to become one of the most important political activists involved in the Mi’kmaw revival in Newfoundland and Labrador.

In the early days of his activism, Elder White once admitted to his father that he felt intimidated by the highly educated politicians he was meeting with. His father, Gus White, reminded his son that he had the truth on his side and advised him that if something sounded difficult then there was no shame in asking for further explanation.

Elder White credits his father for teaching him everything from his skills on the land to his confidence in political circles.

His skills, confidence, knowledge and sheer determination have been marshalled in service of the Mi’kmaq in Newfoundland for over 50 years now.

Elder White was born and raised in Flat Bay, a community on the west coast of Newfoundland.

During the 1960s, he started travelling around the province to organize Indigenous families into a movement that would become the Native Association of Newfoundland and Labrador and later the Federation of Newfoundland Indians.

He was one of the original plaintiffs in the 1989 legal action brought by the federation against the federal government. This was the landmark case that eventually led to the formal establishment of the Qalipu Mi’kmaq First Nation in 2011.

 

Elder Calvin White with his son in 1976. Photo from Decks Awash.

 

Elder White is a former chief of the Flat Bay Band and former president of the FNI. He has also served with the National Indian Brotherhood – the precursor to the Assembly of First Nations – the Aboriginal Liberal Commission, the Newfoundland and Labrador Friendship Centre and the Regional Economic Development Board.

In 2005, he helped organize the first powwow in Bay St. George. Twenty years later, the powwow is an annual event held in Flat Bay that attracts thousands of people and is one of the largest of its kind in Atlantic Canada.

For over a decade, he has collaborated with the Grenfell Campus community in Corner Brook as a former Elder-in-residence and as a facilitator of Indigenous talking circles on campus. He’s worked with Grenfell faculty, students and staff on research projects and community initiatives to help integrate Indigenous knowledge and perspectives into life at Grenfell.

In 2017, Memorial University awarded him an honorary degree, and he was appointed to both the Order of Newfoundland and Labrador and to the Order of Canada.

He currently serves as a knowledge keeper with the Assembly of First Nations Knowledge Keepers Council.

Today, Elder White’s plain-spoken philosophy is imbued with the life of his community and over five decades of hard work and activism.

Much of his time is spent advocating for the inclusion of Indigenous history in the school curriculum. He fears that if that history is not taught it can quickly be forgotten, and the mistakes of that history will be repeated.

He is asking that we remain vigilant in our honesty about the past so that we may protect the future.