Life in north keeps ex-minister grounded
Joan Beatty’s lifelong work for the betterment of Indigenous people, from journalism to politics, has always been grounded in family, community and love of the land.
Nine years after a controversial and unsuccessful bid for the federal seat in the Desnethe—Missinippi—Churchill River riding, Beatty spends her days at her family’s Twin Bay fishing resort near Deschambeault Lake and at her cabin at their even more remote trap line at Big Sandy Lake.
“I want to be lost in the bush,” she said with a laugh.
“I always came home every two weeks, no matter what I was doing. That was the only way I could survive being in the city,” she said.
Even when her work required living in Regina, she always managed to get home and “get grounded again.”
“That was always my foundation,” she said.
Beatty’s parents, Oscar and Bella Beatty, were leaders in the community. Her father was one of the founding members of the Ossey Fishers Cooperative, which has managed the fish populations and created seasonal employment for local people since the 1940s. Her mother was the first woman to be voted into the co-op, which she continued until her 60s.
Beatty worked in employment programs, helping to find jobs for Indigenous people. She also worked with the precursor to the Federation of Sovereign Indigenous Nations, the Federation of Saskatchewan Indians.
There, she learned from visionary leaders like David Ahenakew and Sol and Carole Sanderson, as they designed “Indian control of Indian education” policies for the FSI. Those led to creation of the Saskatchewan Indian Cultural Centre and the Saskatchewan Indian Federated College, which became First Nations University of Canada.
She wrote for SaskNative Communications and hosted programs in Cree at CBC’s La Ronge radio station.
She was the first Indigenous television reporter with CBC in Regina, where she worked for 15 years.
She served a term on the Peter Ballantyne Cree Nation council and advocated for their own education authority.
In the 1990s, she worked at SaskTel, helping create a program that made phones accessible to low-income people in the north. She founded and co-chaired the SaskTel Aboriginal Awards of Excellence program to recognize youth achievement. In 2002, she received the Saskatoon YWCA Women of Distinction Award for community development and social activism.
In 2003, Beatty was elected MLA for Cumberland and was appointed by premier Lorne Calvert as minister of Youth, Culture and Recreation.
She was re-elected in 2007, when the Saskatchewan Party swept to power. Just two months later, she resigned when federal Liberal leader Stephane Dion appointed her the candidate for Desnethe— Missinippi—Churchill River.
Voters resented the federal leader usurping their right to choose the candidate and she lost the 2008 byelection to Conservative Rob Clarke.
Soon after, Beatty moved home to care for her ailing father until he died five years later. She then cared for her mother until her death two years ago.
“It was a blessing to be here and have that time with them,” she said.
Beatty works with family running the resort, trapping and helping with the fishery.
“I’m still interested in the education of our children... My passion is kids and elders.”