Article / November 6, 2015 / Project number: 15-0170
Halifax, Nova Scotia — Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class (Retired) Debbie Eisan’s accomplishments supporting the advancement of Aboriginal cultural awareness have been nothing short of inspirational. After having been celebrated for her many years of improving Aboriginal cultural awareness within the Canadian Armed Forces (CAF), she continues to advocate for her people in Halifax, Nova Scotia following her 36-year military career.
A step in the right direction
It’s a funny story, how Chief Petty Officer 2nd Class (Retired) Deborah Eisan came to be the first in her family to join the CAF, especially in 1975 when few women, and even fewer Aboriginal women, were joining the military.
When the Ojibway Anishinabe kwe (native woman) from Batchewana First Nation was just 17 years old, she was working at a restaurant in her hometown of Sault Ste. Marie, Ontario when things began to fall into place, so to speak.
After slipping on a stray tomato slice and dropping her customer’s lunch in his lap, the horrified young waitress took one look at how the BLT ingredients were adhering and the chicken soup was dripping, and she knew it was time to leap – out the door!
“I was just mortified and was sure I was going to get fired, so I saved them the trouble and I quit,” she said.
As she shut the restaurant door and stepped into the street, another doorway beckoned. It was the local unemployment office across the way.
“I walked in and there were two Canadian Armed Forces recruiters in the office and I headed over and the next thing I knew I was headed off to CFB Cornwallis for basic training,” she recalled. “Nobody knew anything about what the military was about in my family. Since then, I have had nephews and cousins who have joined. I am really pleased about that.”
Today, thanks to CPO2 (Retd) Eisan and that spilled lunch, many young people in Aboriginal communities across Canada know what the CAF is about.
Family support
CPO2 (Retd) Eisan met her husband, now Master Warrant Officer (Retired) David Eisan, during basic trades training in 1975. He has had a 35-year career in the Canadian Army as a vehicle technician.
The couple have two daughters and five grandchildren and next year they will celebrate 40 years of marriage.
“Dave is my rock; he is my whole reason for being able to do what I do because he supports me in everything. He is not native, he just accepts me for who I am, my culture and my background. He’s a wonderful man.”
“I couldn’t have done the things I did without support from my family,” said CPO2 (Retd) Eisan. “You can’t work with Aboriginal people from behind a desk. When I was doing Aboriginal recruiting for the CAF, I had to be out there in the community, and sometimes I was away from home quite often during the year.”
Mentoring young Aboriginal women and men to succeed in the CAF and in life
CPO2 (Retd) Eisan spent much of her career in the CAF working in Aboriginal recruiting and cultural awareness.
“My thing has been to let young Aboriginal men and women know that there’s so much out there to offer. Just because you come from a small community doesn’t mean you cannot succeed with whatever it is you want to do.”
“Another aspect that I focused on quite a bit was telling young Aboriginal women that just because you either join the military or have another career, doesn’t mean you have to give up being married and having a great life and children and a great spouse.”
Dreams into reality
As National Military Co-chair of the Defence Aboriginal Advisory Group (DAAG) from 2010 to 2011, CPO2 (Retd) Eisan recalled some of the many achievements in the quest for increased understanding of Aboriginal culture.
“When I worked with the DAAG, we made it possible for Aboriginal men to wear their braids, for us to be able to wear the Aboriginal Veterans’ Medallion on our uniforms, to be able to wear Métis sashes, and it just evolved into such a great acceptance of our culture and of our identity,” she said. “Even on our identity discs, now we can put Aboriginal spirituality as our choice of worship on them.”
CPO2 (Retd) Eisan recounts two of the group’s many successes as career highlights: The creation of the Department of National Defence and Canadian Armed Forces (DND/CAF) Eagle Staff and the Canadian Forces Aboriginal Entry Program (CFAEP).
She and Petty Officer (Retired) Chris Innes were working together with the DAAG in Halifax in 2002 when they literally shared a dream.
“We had the same dream on the same night about having an eagle staff to represent Aboriginal Peoples serving in the CAF and who work for the Department of National Defence,” she explained. “An eagle staff is the flag of our people. That Eagle Staff has now come to fruition, and it has something that represents all Aboriginal Peoples – First Nations, Métis and Inuit.”
In June 2015, the dream became a reality. The DND/CAF Eagle Staff was ceremoniously recognized by Lieutenant-General Marquis Hainse, Commander Canadian Army and DND/CAF Champion for Aboriginal Peoples, during a ceremony as part of the DAAG’s 20th anniversary celebration at the National Aboriginal Veterans Monument in Confederation Park in Ottawa.
“Now that Eagle Staff is travelling across the country representing Aboriginal people at DND and CAF events and for the first time ever, it will be at the National War Memorial on Remembrance Day, carried by one of our Aboriginal members in the parade,” she noted with pride.
The second highlight that is close to CPO2 (Retd) Eisan’s heart involves the development of programs for Aboriginal youth that provide them with a way to try out the military life without obligation to join.
These programs include the Aboriginal Leadership Opportunity Year (ALOY), Black Bear, Raven, Bold Eagle and the CFAEP. [had1] “I was intimately involved as the advisor and course advisor for these programs, with the exception of Bold Eagle,” she said.
“I worked very closely with Chief Warrant Officer (Retired) Chris Young and Master Warrant Officer Grant Greyeyes to have these programs in the Canadian Armed Forces,” she said.
“One of the things I really wanted to do before I got out was to have one of these programs brought to the East Coast,” she said.
She was pleased to see this happen with the CFAEP in 2010. “So, as it turned out, the last course that I advised on was the first course that was held here in Halifax. They even named one of the awards on the course after me so that kind of made me feel really good.”
The missing piece of the Debbie Eisan puzzle
CPO2 (Retd) Eisan credits the military for making her into the person she is today.
“When I joined I was very shy, and not so much that I wasn’t proud of my heritage and my culture, but kind of reluctant to share that information with anybody because, you know, there’s racism and discrimination and bigotry out there and it wasn’t a comfortable place to be when you identified as a First Nations person, she said. “And I joined at a time when even for women joining the military, it was a difficult thing to do, not like it is today.”
She credits her training, supervisors and mentors for giving her the confidence to succeed as a Supply Technician and to stand up for what is right and who she is as a First Nations woman.
Advocating for Aboriginal Peoples in the CAF occurred over time. One day, she realized she was feeling unfulfilled in spite of her happy home situation and career.
“So I talked to my brother, who is my spiritual mentor, and he told me I was missing my Aanishinabee roots, my native roots, so I kind of sat back and I thought about it and yeah, he was absolutely right. When I started to explore those roots and reconnect with those roots again, that made me see that that was the missing piece from the Debbie Eisan puzzle. Once I went down that path there was no looking back.”
With a senior rank and much experience, CPO2 (Retd) Eisan was well equipped to start the CAF and its members down a similar path.
“The biggest thing, I think, is education,” she said. “I don’t think people truly intend to be racist. People think they are being funny, is what it is. And when you just take a few minutes when you hear somebody say something and you educate them on how that’s not the right thing to say, I think they come around a little bit.”
She said that although cultural awareness is still a work in progress, the CAF has come a long way and she is pleased with the positive work that’s been done.
An Elder’s work is never done
However, CPO2 (Retd) Eisan’s Aboriginal cultural awareness work isn’t finished yet.
Soon after retiring in December of 2011, CPO2 (Retd) Eisan was recognized by her people as an Elder, advising on traditional ceremonies, medicine and helping in other ways. “It is an honour to be considered an Elder,” she explained. “It’s not something you choose to be. The community has decided that I am that person.
“I am one of those very lucky people who retire on the Friday and start a new job on the Monday,” she said. She first worked with the Halifax Aboriginal People’s Network, and is now the Community Events Coordinator at the Mi’kmaw Native Friendship Centre, also in Halifax, where she continues to raise Aboriginal cultural awareness throughout Halifax.
“I knew I wanted to keep working with my people and try to make things better.”
By Lynn Capuano and Natalie Flynn, Army Public Affairs
CPO2 (Retd) Debbie Eisan’s Awards, career highlights and community activities
Awards
- Queen Elizabeth II Diamond Jubilee Medal Recipient (2012)
- Canadian Aboriginal Music Award – “Best Liaison Officer” (2010
- Canadian Forces Chief of Land Staff Commendation (2009)
- Canadian Forces Decoration with clasp (CD2) for 32 years of Service service to Canada (2008)
- Aboriginal Women in Leadership Award of Distinction (2004)
- Southwest Asia Special Service Medal (2002)
Military service highlights
- Operation APOLLO, 2001/2002 in support of the War against Terrorism following 9/11
- Senior Team Leader Logistics for Her Majesty’s Canadian Ship Iroquois from 1997-2004
- Involvement in the closeout operation of the United Nations Base in Rwanda, Africa in 1995
Community activities
- Volunteer with Halifax Regional Search and Rescue
- Supporter and past member of the Board of Directors of Indspire, an Indigenous-led registered organization that invests in the education of Indigenous people
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