Pursuit 365 Day 231: Kim Baird

Kwuntiltunaat (Kim Baird) is a Tsawwassen First Nation woman, who is currently the Chancellor for Kwantlen Polytechnic University, is the owner of Kim Baird Strategic Consulting and is a director on serval boards. I am a descendant of the first Tsawwassen Ancestor and come from a long line of hereditary chiefs. As an Indigenous woman, I am the product of multigenerational trauma based on the colonization of Canada. I am the target of stereo types and faced unlikely prospects based on my background. In spite of this I found my voice and I am a leader. I am grateful that I can provide a good life to my three daughters and hope that I have provided a better life for them than my mother did for me. I am grateful and resentful for my resilience. I am grateful that I can persevere through trying times yet resentful, because as an Indigenous woman, resilience is a trait that my survival likely depends on. I am grateful to live in a time of great change and remain hopeful for a better future for all. I support Indigenous reconciliation in Canada and a just way forward for Indigenous peoples based on their self-determination. We have all hear Mahatma Gandhi’s expression ‘be the change you want to see’. I think I am the change I want to see as I do my best to stop dysfunctional cycles and make things better for my daughters in my home, in our community and in this country. This is the ultimate reconciliation commitment and journey. I try to make peace with the fact that making change doesn’t necessarily make you friends. I also make peace with the fact that I contribute to the best of my ability and that is all I can do. Although I am a work in progress, I am unapologetically myself as I face the world. Moïra Fowley-Doyle’s quote – “Do no harm but take no shit” are also words I live by. I don’t know how the next chapter of my story will turn out. But I do know that I will continue my journey to make the world a better place for Indigenous peoples and in turn for all people.