Year: 2023
Location: Edmonton
Profile: Colette Cullen is an Indigenous woman who has served in the Canadian military, and has also worked as an emergency medical technician, a cementer, a police officer, a prison guard, and a vehicle salesperson, among other jobs. Throughout her work, she has keenly observed how Indigenous people are misunderstood and mistreated. Police turn off cameras to beat them and prison guards treat them with disrespect, clinging to racist stereotypes, while car salesmen view them as people to rip off. Cullen’s experience as an Indigenous person, whose siblings have fared poorly, and as a soldier, provide her with a unique understanding of similarities in the post-traumatic stress disorders that characterize both Indigenous people and veterans. Both groups experience homelessness and addictions because of trauma, which for Indigenous people includes inter-generational trauma.
Cullen, born in 1967, grew up in a combination of just outside Spruce Grove and among Indigenous relatives in the Peace country. She joined the military after high school, remaining for 12 years, and serving on peacekeeping tours in Bosnia. As a mom she decided to return to civilian life, and held the many jobs mentioned above. After receiving a veterans’ pension, she entered university to major in Native Studies.
Keywords: Canadian military officer; Cementer; Emergency medical technician; Peace country; Peacekeeper; Police officer; Post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD); Spruce Grove; Vehicle salesperson; Veterans.
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See also: Indigenous Labour in Alberta; Occupational Health and Safety in Alberta; Systemic Racism in Alberta; Women and Work in Alberta