August Community Champion Marjorie Macki reflects on her journey of identity and healing from a time she remembers fondly on the Osoyoos Indian Band. Her face lights up remembering stories of fun with friends: 鈥淗ow much I love those people from Oliver.鈥�
It was there she nurtured her Indigenous roots after growing up in foster homes in Saskatchewan. With Cree and Scottish ancestry, Marjorie was born in northern Saskatchewan and lived in an orphanage after her parents separated amid the Second World War. At Kilburn Hall, potential parents would come on 鈥渃hildren shopping days鈥� looking to adopt. But for Marjorie and her siblings that day never came. Unbeknownst to her at the time, her mother had stipulated that the children could only be adopted as a sibling group. That condition ultimately kept them together in their first decent foster placement with a Mennonite widow.
鈥淵ou know you鈥檙e not home. We pretended it was home鈥t was a sad time.鈥�
While Marjorie didn鈥檛 know her father, she was able to visit their mother periodically, which she cherished.
鈥淚 could listen to mother鈥檚 stories all the time. My mother was always my hero,鈥� says Marjorie.
Later, as an adult with children of her own, Marjorie made her way to Oliver where she ran a busy, 22 horse trail riding operation with support from Osoyoos band members who became close friends and family.
After overcoming a time of alcohol addiction in 1976, she took Nechi Counsellor Training, which prepared individuals to become alcohol and drug counsellors in their communities. Marjorie says, 鈥淚鈥檇 finally come home at Nechi.鈥�
She was on a new path, helping others to find sobriety.
鈥淚t鈥檚 hard to say how much I loved those people. It was a really great time in my life.鈥�
Her work became her passion, and her purpose. She received traditional First Nations teachings, learning about the sweat lodge and the medicine wheel, which became central to Marjorie鈥檚 addictions counselling.
鈥淥ur greatest strength comes from our greatest weakness,鈥� is a core belief shaping Marjorie鈥檚 perspective on herself and her life鈥檚 work.
Her first jobs were on the Oliver reserve as guidance councillor then as addictions councillor. She was asked to be on the board of the Interior Native Alcohol Abuse Society planning a new culturally-based residential treatment centre for First Nations people. In 1979, she became one of the first employees at the Round Lake Treatment Centre near Vernon.
Using the guidance offered through the Medicine Wheel, Marjorie expanded its application in innovative ways to her counselling practise and while at Round Lake, she was the subject of a 1985 hour-long documentary, Walking in Pain.
She has taught workshops in community, in schools, in penitentiaries, and at world conferences.
Her granddaughter is writing her master鈥檚 thesis on 鈥淕rammi鈥檚 Medicine Wheel,鈥� an acknowledgment of Marjorie鈥檚 years of personal contribution in sharing the Medicine Wheel鈥檚 teachings for one鈥檚 daily life and for addictions counselling.
鈥淚t鈥檚 in your life; it is your life and you can convert it at any moment,鈥� says Marjorie about the Medicine Wheel. The power of words is in its teaching and she lives true to those teachings. 鈥淣ative people, they always give you their best, no matter what.鈥� And Marjorie has.
Editor鈥檚 note: Sadly, Marjorie passed away in May 2019
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