"Gary Hussey, on the Wannabe Indian takes a fresh look at Molly Brant"

OHSWEKEN - Gary Hussey is becoming more Indian at every pageant.

First, he entered his 12-year-old adopted daughter, a Cree, as one of the characters in the replica of a traditional native village at the annual historical and cultural event seven years ago.

Then, since he had to wait for her during performances, he began to help with odd jobs at the grounds - picking up litter, repairing the bleachers, mending the stockade around the village.

This year he wrote the play.

And the 45-year-old clerk at Brantford's police station is spending his vacation preparing for performances.

He's not Indian but his colleagues at the pageant already call him a member of the Wannabe Tribe because he "wants to be" native.

"I was a little uptight," Mr. Hussey said, remembering when he was asked to write the play. "I knew it had never been done by a non-native. I wanted to get the facts right."

Since he didn't know anything about Molly Brant, the subject chosen for the play, he had to research. He couldn't find any information in Brantford, so he went to the Joseph Brant Museum in Burlington and The Longhouse, a native book store in Toronto.

That was easy compared to trying to think, speak and act like Miss Brant to recreate history.

"You have to put yourself in that position and figure out what was said," he said.

But even that is something he can do better than many people who are not Indian.

He has had friends on the Six Nations Reserve since he met them at Pauline Johnson Collegiate. He helps at the Grand River Champion of Champions Powwow and attends Six Nations Independence Day and the Six Nations Fall Fair.

"I can relate to native people. They're down-to-earth, good people. They always treat me the same as their own people," he said. "I enjoy the whole culture - the singers, the dancers.

"I really respect them."

"We don't look at Gary as being non-Indian," said director Evelyn White, who asked him to write the play. "We see him as one of us, He has never treated us badly."

The same six plays have been performed on a rotating basis every year. But the scripts were lost and tapes of all but one of the performances were burned in a fire two years ago.

It was time for a change anyway, Miss White said. "People were saying to me after performances, 'I came to the pageant six years ago and it was the same play.'"

Miss White, a 28-year-old correction officer with Brant Youth Services, has been directing the pageant for 10 years.

"I pick people who are willing to give up their summers," she said. "They don't have to have great acting skill. They have to have the dedication to learn their lines. They have to learn to work as a team."

Michelle Green, the 20-year-old assistant manager of The Ice Cream Shoppe in Ohsweken, plays Miss Brant. She leads a cast of 12 between the ages of 11 and 25, all from the reserve, Miss Green has played Joseph Brant's wife, Red Jacket's wife and Chief Hiawatha in the past.

Kim Jamieson plays Joseph Brant and Melita McNaughton is the narrator.

Robert Jamieson, president of the committee that organizes the pageant, will open each performance with a prayer of thanks in Mohawk. The prayer will be followed by an explanation by Miss White of basic points of traditional native culture.

Miss White is retiring after the last performance. She will be replaced by Lisa Martin, a Grade 12 student at Brantford Collegiate Institute.