Emma LaRocque

An Indigenous scholar known for her work in the development of Indigenous Studies as an academic discipline as much as for her writing, which includes Defeathering The Indian, and the award-winning When the Other Is Me: Native Resistance Discourse 1850 – 1990. Her poetry can be found in anthologies such as Writing the Circle: Native Women of Western Canada and  Native Poetry in Canada. Dr. Larocque holds an Interdisciplinary Ph.D. in  History/English, Women’s Studies from the University of Manitoba where she is a faculty member.

“My connection with Mennonites goes back to my early teen years–back to Anzac Dorm in northeastern Alberta and then across the border to major Mennonite educational institutions and, finally, to familial connections here in Manitoba, which is now my home,” writes Larocque. “My ‘sojourn’ with Mennonites is a story of deep and lifelong human attachments; it is also one of some pain and alienation that comes with crossing cultures, borders, languages and socio-economic locations.”¹

In Her Own Words

In her essay “Me and Mennonites: The Way We Were ‘The Other,’” Emma Larocque writes about the complicated nature of her experiences while living in the Anzac Dormitory as a teenager. Reflecting on her experiences at the Dormitory, and after she had left it, she notes that many of her experiences at the Anzac Dormitory were positive, especially coming on the heels of a period at school in Lac La Biche where she experienced rampant racism. But despite this, Larocque writes that her experiences never were simple. “Not everything went well for me or my friends or my brother at the Dorm,” writes Larocque.

There were at times misunderstandings, cultural conflicts and power struggles between the children and the staff. Perhaps these were unavoidable, but these were power struggles that the children could not win. The majority of the staff were very young and obviously knew next to nothing about who we were, especially that we were quite diverse in our cultures and languages. Being mandated to missionize, they were eager to indoctrinate us. And given the White American mass-produced and ideologically based stereotypes about “the Indian,” I suspect they came with a lot of pre-conceived notions and themselves suffered culture shock.

Years later I read a missionary-type report that one of the staff had written. It was a classic colonial gaze at “the natives.” Interestingly, colonial gazing is apparently not over. I just read a long article by T. D. Regehr in the Journal of Mennonite Studies, in which the Anzac Dorm children are basically objectified and “ethnographied” (my word), which in post-colonial language is known as “othering.” However, we are now reversing that gaze.

For me, overall, the Anzac Dorm Mennonites proved to be the nicest white people I had met up to that point in my life. I hung onto that–and their values–for dear life! Having suffered the trauma of the brutal racist environment of the LLB [Lac La Biche] school, I was indeed easy pickings for kindness and indoctrination.

The kindest of all the Dorm staff were Harold and Erma Lauber from Tofield, Alberta. I adopted them. And their faith. When school was out I visited them at their farm near Tofield, some 45 miles east of Edmonton. And when I was going to high school at PBI [Prairie Bible Institute] I would come and stay at their place during holidays, as I could not afford to go home to see my parents. At Harold and Erma’s, always I felt welcomed, safe and well-fed. And I didn’t mind working with and for them. Gardening was not strange to me, as my parents had gardens whenever possible. But herding cows was strange–and terrifying–although their good dog did most of that for me! Hard work was not strange to me, as I grew up watching my parents model a very strong work ethic. People of the land know how to integrate work with life. I also went to the country Salem Mennonite church with them, and got to know a host of wonderful people, many related to either Harold or Erma, and gained many friends from that community, too.

The bond between me and the Laubers was extraordinary. It was not financial; the connection was purely human. There were vast differences between us–in age, culture, belief systems–to say nothing of economic standing. Due to my educational pursuits I had to leave my parents long before any child should have to leave their parents in order to go to school. Those were very difficult things to do and go through. But what made it tolerable for me was having people like Harold and Erma as my stability zone in my teenage years. That sort of gift is immeasurable. And it is forever.

Reflecting on her experiences with a number of individuals and institutions that began with her years at the Mennonite-run Anzac Dormitory, Larocque writes that

I have no institutional affiliations with the Mennonite church, nor am I a member of any church. And I certainly have noticed that invitations to speak at Mennonite events or churches have totally disappeared. My association and relationships with Mennonites has been more personal than institutional or ideological. While I respect the Anabaptist vision with its core values, it is my Metis cultural tradition and my own intellectual preference to relate to the Mennonite tradition on personal terms.

My relationship with Mennonites continues today in very personal ways.

Further along in her essays she writes that

In part because so many special Mennonite individuals have made such a difference in my life, I have always tried to make a difference in the world I live in. My hope for the Mennonite Church is that it not lose its Anabaptist roots and human values, which is what makes it unique and puts it in a position to reach across cultures and nations for service and non-violence. The world needs an alternative ethic, alternative to hatreds born out of implacable leftist and right-wing ideologies. My hope is that it not succumb to the fundamentalist movements in the Evangelical churches sweeping the United States.

I also hope that the Mennonite community will not forget on whose land they stand–that they will seek to understand and to support Indigenous peoples’ struggles for justice, land and resource restitution.

¹ Emma Larocque,“Me and Mennonites: The Way We Were” “The Other,” CMW Journal.