Description
In 1971, Delores Manyfingers from the Blood Indian Reserve in Alberta toured as part of the new Commonwealth Exchange program. She was one of fifteen young Canadians involved but the only First Nations member. As the local Native newspaper, the Kainai News, reported, every student stayed with a family during their time in England and, for part of that time, Manyfingers was located in Maidstone. While she enjoyed her visit, she was amused at size differences between England and Alberta. Manyfingers noted: “The country was small. Sometimes I had to laugh at the little children when they said things like “˜look at that big combine’ or “˜look at that big farm’ because compared to here, these things were so small.” She also remarked that the English had stereotypical perceptions of what an Indian should be – “They hardly know anything about Indians, they think we still live in teepees” , and could not believe she was one. Yet, Manyfingers insisted, she “never faced any discrimination from either the other Canadians or from the people in England.” Her landlady in Maidstone even cried when she left since “she did not wish to see me go.”
Bibliographic sources
Kainai News, 1 Sept. 1971. Information compiled by Kate Rennard