Mahendra Paul has thrown his hat into the ring for the Upper Nicola election, hoping to secure the position of chief.
“I’m from Upper Nicola, born and raised, I’m a family man of 33 with two kids and a house and a dog,” joked Paul, in an interview with the Herald.
Paul has spent several years pursuing a diverse education covering topics from fine art to forestry.
“My formal education is fairly varied, I’ve studied a little bit of everything from QC to computer science.
“I’ve done consultation as well as IT work in the past, surveying etc. I have certification and background in forestry as well, for risk assessment and things like that for culturally significant areas. I’ve also studied at the En’owkin Centre in Penticton, I did their NAPAT program, which is a mixture of fine arts and culture. I did Interdisciplinary Indigenous Studies, and cultural anthropology through a myriad of other sources while I was going to school.”
Paul also serves his community as a volunteer with the fire and rescue department working on fire protection and mitigation. For many years he has been following the political workings of the Upper Nicola Band, attending many meetings and forums to share input and discuss the direction the nation may take with any given project. By seeking election to chief, Paul hopes to take an even more active role in moving the community forward.
“There’s a myriad of issues that I find that we’re facing,” said Paul.
“It’s an interesting time as indigenous people, our narrative is starting to change. There’s a lot of buzzwords and topics that surround it, like reconciliation. Reconciliation without change is just a word, in my opinion. Right now, in Canada, with the issues pertaining to our resource management and the protection to our way of life and our culture and resources there’s been quite a lot of backlash. Things in the recent months pertaining to issues such as the Trans Mountain project. I’ve been on both sides, for myself I see promoting both. I understand the socioeconomic side of things, but I feel that progress for the sake of progress without innovation or being flexible doesn’t work for anybody. In the sense that until better technologies and things are developed, we’re going to have to rely on fossil fuels and it’s a ludicrous thing to fathom that we have the oilsands and yet we still pay top dollar for Arabian oil.”
Paul also hopes to address the issue of education, improving access and providing more opportunities for youth in Upper Nicola to pursue successful careers. His hope is to extend partnerships with companies such as Trans Mountain, and post-secondary educational institutions like NVIT and TRU, providing bursaries and incentives for members to further their education.
“I want to build capacity through education, first and foremost,” said Paul.
“I feel that education is paramount that way we have skilled individuals that are capable of building and fostering those relationships with companies and partnerships, as well as raising their quality of life through that, because that’s another major facet of being an indigenous person. We’re some of the most impoverished people and marginally we fall below the poverty line in a lot of ways and that affects us in pretty much all manners of life,” continued Paul.
“What I would like to facilitate is the partnerships that we do have, I would like to see more involvement having them either put bursaries or scholarships into an existing curriculum for our band school, that way not only am I hoping to bolster our enrolment which has kind of dwindled in the past years. The same thing that I’d want out of that is to essentially see them become successful in the fields that promotes them to actually acquire the positions that our band and our nation requires, so they don’t have to galivant halfway across the world for a menial position when it’s right there.”
Paul’s goal remains serving his community and moving them forward in a responsible, sustainable way.
“For the majority I’m just really trying to engage the people as it stands,” said Paul.
“As an elected official, my primary objective is to represent them. I obviously have my own opinions and ideals, but I want them to effectually be the change they want to see. I want to engage them in all levels of that. I was always taught, look after your people and they’ll look after you, and in that regard, I’ve also been saying that leadership is a duty to your people as opposed to a privilege.”
Paul is in the running against current Chief Harvey McLeod, who declined an interview with The Herald.
