“I thought: ‘This isn’t just a job. I’ve got to make it count’, ” columnist Doug Cuthand on his carer in journalism.
In anticipation of receiving an honorary doctorate of law, film documentarian and newspaper columnist Doug Cuthand said he will be thinking about his family, his parents and the importance of education.
He will be thinking about his mom, also a teacher. He will be thinking about his wife, Pauline, who put up with his distractions. He will be thinking about his own children — Shawn and Shannon, whom he will see that day, and his son Christopher, who died in a work accident 18 years ago.
It will be harder for him to think about all the years he has spent leading the conversation on Indigenous issues in Saskatchewan.
As is the case for many working journalists, it’s hard for Cuthand to talk about his work and what it has meant.
“What do they say? A journalist is a shy egotist?” Cuthand said in a recent interview.
But the importance of education to his family — and to the First Nations for whom he has advocated for more four decades — is not lost on the longtime journalist and filmmaker who stopped short of completing his own degree.
“I kind of ran out of money and interest,” Cuthand said of his would-be degree in sociology and political science. “Well, I was still interested, but they were setting up Indian institutions.
“There were jobs to be had. I was tired of being hungry.”
Nevertheless, the first chairperson of the board of directors for the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College — now, First Nations University of Canada — never lost sight of the importance of education. It was something in his blood, even before he was born.
His father and his brothers from Little Pine First Nation would be among the few who would leave for high school off the reserve.
His father went on to the Saskatoon Teachers’ College, becoming part of the first generation of Indigenous teachers. He started out in Pelican Narrows, where he had to teach school in the summer because the children were out with their parents on the trapline in the winter.
From there, Cuthand’s father went to seminary school in Saskatoon, becoming an Anglican minister and serving on various reserves and northern communities.
Cuthand started school on Ahtahkakoop Cree Nation and then moved back to La Ronge, where his dad was stationed.
Later, he pursued education at Mount Royal College in Alberta and Simon Fraser University in B.C., working on the student newspapers on both campuses.
“When I left college I had two salable skills,” he said. “One was journalism and one was from working in a pizza place.”
He laughs at choosing the one with a less secure future.
In no small irony, the bulk of Cuthand’s career has been spent as a documentary filmmaker, where he’s produced countless pieces and where he developed Indigenous Circle on CTV.
Asked whether he recognizes how many times he has led the conversation on First Nations, Cuthand modestly said “not really.” Once a column is written, it’s on to the next, he added.
“That stuck with me,” Cuthand said. “I thought: ‘This isn’t just a job. I’ve got to make it count.’”
Cuthand said he feels it has become more important than ever, with so much false and misleading information out there on social media.
The column in question was a thoughtful piece on how the killing of a young Muslim family in London, Ont. should have been seen as a racist attack against all people of colour in this country.
“All Canadians need to ponder our race relations and what the future holds,” Cuthand wrote at the time. “People should be safe to go on a walk on a warm summer evening … This hatred is irrational, but hatred based on race or religion is always irrational.”
Cuthand said the real challenge — as a First Nations columnist advocating for First Nations issues — is the ongoing struggle to maintain a journalistic balance.
“On one hand, I get really dumb emails and letters and comments from the redneck element telling me how I am only interested in the money and that Indians are lazy, useless people,” Cuthand said. “Then along comes a situation when you have to criticize your own people.
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