‘What drove me is the children’: Longest-serving chief in Canada presses pope for justice

'It’s a beautiful day to honour our survivors, to honour our children and the unmarked graves,' said Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier of Okanese First Nation.

Chief Marie-Anne Day Walker-Pelletier was just 26 years old when she was elected chief of Okanese First Nation in Saskatchewan.

This was in 1981 – a daunting task back then. Not only because of her age, but also because she took the reins at a time when few women sat at decision-making tables in Indigenous communities or elsewhere.

“I had to prove myself 10 times more than a man to get what we needed in our community,” Day Walker-Pelletier told Global News, her arms folded on a conference room table at her hotel less than two kilometres from the Colosseum.

“I myself underestimated myself because of how we were downplayed.”

Day Walker-Pelletier said it took a while to find her voice, but since then, she’s been a powerful force for her community, women, elders and children.

On Thursday, more than 40 years after she walked into her first chief and council meeting, she raised that voice before one of the most powerful and influential men on earth. Clad in a patterned leather cape and symbolic orange T-shirt, her message to the pontiff was clear – every child matters.

“It’s a beautiful day to honour our survivors, to honour our children and the unmarked graves,” Day Walker-Pelletier said after their audience with the pope, flanked by her fellow delegates.

“We give you thanks for being here to support us in this journey, the beginning of a new horizon for us.”