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profile Chief Leonard George Reflects on a Lifetime of Accomplishment by Laurie Townsend - A . rum a seat in the audience, before the people have settled down. Chief Leonard George lights a match and holds it to a thick braid of dried sweetgrass. Its fragrant smoke gives scent to the large room with four totems poles, one near each corner. He stands when introduced and makes his way to the front and up the steps that form the stage. Chief Leonard George is tall, his two long, dark braids laced with silver strands ending with leather ties. He holds in one hand a shallow round drum and in the other the smoking braid of sweetgrass. He places the sweetgrass on a plate. George turns to face the audience, says a short prayer, then begins to chant while gently beating his drum. This was the opening of Stories in the Longhouse at the U B C First Nations House of Learning, during the Vancouver Storytelling Festival. The stories George tells are traditional from his Coast Salish heritage. Some of his tales are based on ancient creation myths. He explains, for example, that mountains and valleys were created when a small rabbit metamorphosized into a giant and began hopping around the world. Many of his tales are spiritual, full of symbols and metaphors. They were traditionally told to help youngsters and community members develop a sense of their own history and culture. George is the chief of the Burrard Band of Coast Salish Indians in North Vancouver. The youngest son of the late Chief Dan George, he studied drama and worked in theatre and movies as a young man. He was instrumental in the building of the Vancouver Indian Centre and established the Chief Dan George Memorial Foundation to train and support Native people in the film industry. As a child in the 1950s. George's family formed a country and west- Chief Leonard George em band. His father conceived the idea to play for dances in other parts of the province during the summer, so they packed up and headed for Kamloops. "Dad was the M C and played the bass and guitar," George remembers. " M y brother played piano and accordion. A cousin was on the rhythm guitar, and I was in the back on drums. I learned to play the drums on stage. It was a great view to study characters. Watching people from 9 pm to 2 am, you can see a lot of life. For ten years we spent the summers in the Interior, and in the winter we played local dances on weekends." George was still a young boy when his father. Chief Dan George, began working in T V and movies. He remembers working at a C B C T V set when he was eight years old. "I travelled the most with Dad; as the youngest I was most available. I was with him when he did Little Big Man and other movies. On the road you can't help but learn a lot about life." George watched and learned, but it didn't make him immune to the racism and oppressions he saw facing his people. Finally, at the age of 30, George came to a stark realization: "I hit bottom and had to make choices." Rather than let the spiral down lead to death, George overcame his addiction and embraced a new philosophy of self-empowerment. "Too many people have low self-esteem and chase dollars." says George, "rather than trying to be a good human being first. One must love oneself first...we all share fear and insecurities and they cause doubt." Laurie Townsend works as a music librarian for CBC radio. She lives in North Vancouver.