“What drove me throughout all my life, and it still does today, is just remembering who I am and where I'm from,” says Patrick D. Kelly. He is from Leq’a:mel First Nation, which is part of Sto:lo nation. He now calls Victoria home. He works as a private business person, operating a consulting business, helping organizations and communities. From helping developing approaches to negotiating treaties to helping develop lawmaking approaches to land codes to facilitating conversations at conferences, he’s semi-retired but picks up projects that interest him where he can be helpful to provincial, federal and First Nations governments alike.

“What I do in the work that I do is I use a lifelong learning approach,” Kelly explains. He first trained as a teacher, taking the Native Indian Teacher Education Program. He worked for nine years in education as a curriculum developer with the  You know, I went to the native Indian teacher education program, and I worked for about nine years at the Coqualeetza Cultural Centre. What he learned as a teacher comes in handy for the training he does for bands and nonprofits. Over nine years, he worked with five bands as their education coordinator.

Otherwise, Kelly worked for the federal government as a program officer with Employment Immigration Canada, and he also spent nine years working for a department called Secretary of State for Canada working on human rights and cultural programs. Later, he worked at BC Hydro, something he loved because he loved sciences in high school. He went on to work at the Canadian Council for Aboriginal Business as an Executive Director, developing programs, managing the finances. He was also the Director of Planning and Communications for the BC Region of what was then Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, managing a $4 million budget, a staff of 31 and all the communications for all the treaty tables in BC as well as the strategic plan for the province. He was asked to do the planning across the country.

During his consulting career, Kelly also advised the World Bank as to how it could be more inclusive to Indigenous people, liaised with the National Congress of American Indians and even spent time in the White House with Clinton’s Intergovernmental Affairs Advisor. “All those different experiences, they've all given me some skills and knowledge and abilities that I've just kept building and building and building building,” he reflects.

When it comes to obstacles Kelly faced, one time he was travelling and was detained because he had the same name as an Irish terrorist. Another time he was out of work and there were no jobs available. He proposed a youth summer camping and hiking program to the recreation centre and got the job to manage the program. This was something Kelly would do and how he was never without a job since he was 16, when there was no work he would make work for himself and find something to do. He says, “Coming from a financially poor background can seem like a barrier, but it’s how you look at it. I think it’s all about having a positive attitude.”

If Kelly could share a message with his younger self it would be, “Just always remember your family and your friends. You never know what’s going to happen in life.” He reflected on friends lost too soon in accidents.”You can just never take for granted what life offers you. Live life to the fullest and be present…there were times in my life, in the past, where I didn't do as much of that as I wished I would have… And if there's one regret that I have, is not paying more attention to those of your family and your friends that are no longer around,” he continues.

“My parents raised me to be as successful and good a person as I could possibly be,” Kelly recalls. His maternal grandmother was a strong influence, reminding him of their traditions and culture, despite being a residential school survivor. He’s driven by his traditional values and upbringing.

Growing up, Kelly loved school and he still loves learning today. He’s always reading. In school, he loved cursive handwriting, planting trees and being physically active. He graduated in 1970 with all the requirements but he went back twice for another year. Outside of academics, he learned to cook, sew, woodwork and metalwork and he was very athletic, playing rugby, volleyball and he was active in track and field.

After high school, Kelly travelled for a few years throughout the US and Mexico. They went to Stanford to see the cyclotron in their science department, to Berkley to sit in on some classes, explored a military base, an observatory and hitchhiked all over.

His advice to Indigenous youth who might be thinking of leaving home to discover the world would be, “never lose your connection to your family, because no matter where you are in the world, you are still part of your family. You are still part of your community… Know that you are still representing yourself, your family, your community, and the more you understand about your own identity and who you are, and have that inner strength of your self, then I think you'll fare much better in the broader world, no matter where you go. Learn as much as you can about who you are, your traditions, your family, and carry that for the rest of your life, because it's such a strong part of being a strong and capable person in the world.”

To take care of his mental health, Kelly practices priority management, explaining, “The truth is, you cannot manage time. Time just continues. Time just happens. But what you can manage are your priorities.” He has learned to pay attention to the different facets of his life, the physical, the mental, the emotional, his relationships, his work, and his family, making time for each.  He’s also on a number of boards, including the Provincial Court Judicial Council, he’s a trustee for the Government House Foundation, he’s on the board of Golf Canada, tournament chair for an upcoming tournament, on the Gustavson School of Business International Advisory Board, and he co-chairs the Banff Center’s Indigenous program council. He also does an elder’s talk once a week. Volunteering gives him personal satisfaction.

Remembering who he is and where he’s from, Patrick D. Kelly is motivated to do what he does in the world, which amounts to a lot… a lot of giving back, a lot of helping, and a lot of caring. He started by training as a teacher and worked a lot of places after that, for First Nations communities, BC Hydro, the federal government, and as a self employed consultant until his semi-retirement. The common thread holding his experiences together is his spirit of continuous learning and his desire to help his people.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.