Volume 14 . Issue 11
February 2019
ORCA CULTURE 'THEY WERE OUR FAMILY': ELDERS SPEAK TO NEB
PAGES 8 - 11
CALF BORN TO ENDANGERED POD
PAGES 6 - 7
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NAUT’SA MAWT TRIBAL COUNCIL NATIONS
Naut’sa mawt - Working together as one EDITORIAL TEAM
Cara McKenna – Editor editor@salishseasentinel.ca Todd Peacey – Photographer Celestine Aleck (Sahiltiniye) - Columnist Edith Moore - Columnist DESIGN & LAYOUT Kelly Landry & Marissa Nahanee ADVERTISING & DISTRIBUTION Todd Peacey ads@salishseasentinel.ca PUBLISHER
Gary Reith, CAO Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council 330-6165 Highway 17A Delta, B.C., V4K 5B8 604-943-6712 or 1-888-382-7711 PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #42922026 Undeliverable mail may be returned to: 330-6165 Highway 17A Delta, B.C., V4K 5B8 circulation@salishseasentinel.ca
The Salish Sea Sentinel is published monthly, ten times a year, by the Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council, representing 6,500 people in 11 member nations.
© Salish Sea Sentinel is all rights reserved. Contents and photographs may not be reprinted without written permission. The statements, opinions and points of view expressed in articles published in this magazine are those of the authors. The publisher accepts no responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts, photographs, transparencies or other materials. COVER: Northern resident Orca Breaching - stock image.
The Salish Sea map was created in 2009 by Stefan Freelan at Western Washington University
1. HALALT (250) 246-4736 chief@halalt.org www.halalt.org
7. SNAW-NAW-AS (Nanoose) (250) 390-3661 chris.bob@nanoose.org www.nanoose.org
2. HOMALCO (250) 923-4979
8. STZ’UMINUS (Ladysmith) (250) 245-7155 Ray.Gauthier@coastsalishdevcorp.com www.stzuminus.com
3. KLAHOOSE Qathen Xwegus Management Corp (250) 935-6536 www.klahoose.com 4. K'ÒMOKS (250) 339-4545 http://www.komoks.ca 5. MALAHAT (250) 743-3231 info@malahatnation.ca www.malahatnation.com 6. TLA’AMIN (604) 483-9646 clint.williams@tn-bc.ca www.tlaaminnation.com
9. TSAWWASSEN (604) 943-2122 info@tsawwassenfirstnation.com www.tsawwassenfirstnation.com 10. TSLEIL-WAUTUTH (604) 929-3454 cao@twnation.ca www.twnation.ca 11. T’SOU-KE (Sooke) (250) 642-3957 administrator@tsoukenation.com www.tsoukenation.com
Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council 8017 Chemainus Road Chemainus, B.C., V0R 1K5 (250) 324-1800 • www.nautsamawt.org
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 1
ELDER PROFILE: TLA’AMIN’S ELSIE PAUL (QAʔAΧSTALƏS) Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council is run with guidance from an Elders Council with representatives from its 11 member nations. The Salish Sea Sentinel is profiling a new elder from the council each month. By Edith Moore, NmTC communications liaison Tla’amin Elder Elsie Paul has represented her community on Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council’s Elders Council since July of 2016. Her traditional name is qaʔaχstaləs, which came from her great grandmother Annie Assu from Cape Mudge. She was born in 1931 on the Tla’amin reserve and was raised by her grandparents Jim and Molly Timothy. Her culture has been engrained in her because of her close ties to her grandparents. Elsie has six living children, three who have passed on, as well as 17 grandchildren and 15 great-grandchildren. Elsie has regularly been involved in community work at home in Tla’amin and in the wider area of Powell River. For four years, she was the elders’ representative for Vancouver Island University’s Powell River campus, where she would give students an introduction to Tla’amin culture and history. For seven years, Elsie served as a justice of the peace for her community of Powell River. She believes that people should build good relationships with our neighbours. She is often invited to do openings for various gatherings in her area. Notably, Elsie released a book titled Written As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) From the Life of a Sliammon Elder in collaboration with scholar Paige Raibmon and Raibmon’s granddaughter Harmony Johnson. The book tells Elsie’s life story and the history of her people in her own words. She is also focused on preserving the Tla’amin language and is currently working on a dictionary. “Ideally we are all the same and we all need to step out of our self-doubt,” she said in an interview. “If we could just gain a better understanding of one another, and build relationships with one another, we would be better for it.” Elsie, you are a remarkable and precious gift to us. Thank you for all you have done and continue to do for our future. Hych’qa.
2 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
From left: Elsie Paul, Kylie Paul, baby Nathan, and Noreen Galligos-Paul during a baby welcoming ceremony at Tla'amin last year. Photo by Phil Russell.
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 3
SFU math professors Veselin Jungic, left, and Cedric Chauve at Tla'amin Nation. Submitted photo.
DIGITAL WEAVING: ONLINE TOOL TEACHES MATH USING TLA’AMIN BASKET DESIGNS SFU math department hopes new application that combines culture with math will be introduced in schools across B.C. By Cara McKenna A new interactive online tool uses basket weaving patterns from Tla’amin Nation to teach mathematics. The application will allow students of all ages to digitally weave their own 3D baskets of different shapes by choosing geometric patterns collected from Tla’amin 4 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
cedar basket designs. Undergraduate students from Simon Fraser University’s Department of Mathematics, along with their supervisors, collaborated with the nation about a year ago to complete the application. They were given basket patterns to work from with the blessing of Hegus Clint Williams. Undergrads Laura Gutierrez-Funder-
burk, Jenifer Pham and Howell Tan hope to introduce the new Internet application to schools across B.C. as a way to teach math as well as educate about Coast Salish culture. “Teaching patterns at a young age is important,” Pham said in a statement. “I think sometimes students start to get scared of math when they start seeing
symbols, and so I think when you start introducing images and shapes, it helps with mathematical thinking.” Gutierrez-Funderburk explained that the basketry program uses Jupyter Notebooks to recreate traditional Salish patterns. “When we say notebook, it’s just an Internet page that has a header and a bunch of different functions and buttons that you can access,” she said. “The idea is through very simple steps, (students) recreate very complex patterns.” To create the tool, Tla’amin patterns were broken into the smallest possible units and the mathematicians figured out how to turn basket photos into digital 3D objects that show the pattern on all sides. The project was supported by the Pacific Institute for the Mathematical Sciences as part of the Callysto project, which aims to support the use of technology in Canadian Classrooms. SFU Math Prof. Veselin Jungic supervised the project with fellow Prof. Cedric Chauve. Jungic has worked with Tla’amin for several years on a series of stories that teach math in their Indigenous language. When the opportunity came up to start a project for Callysto, he suggested working with the nation. “There is so much potential in putting this modern technology and traditions together,” Jungic said in an interview. “We really want to show this to kids and be a part of their experience in Indigenous cultures in B.C.” Jungic said the application still needs some final touches to be classroom-ready, but he believes this is just the first step in what could have unlimited potential. Combining math with culture, he said the online tool could expand to include other B.C. Nations’ designs as well as be used as a tool to preserve the weaving patterns. “These artists from years ago, they had these beautiful shapes and beautiful patterns in their heads,” he said. “They didn’t follow any algorithm. That is pure mathematics.” Updates about the application and its release can be found via SFU at www.math.sfu.ca. SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 5
Photo by Melisa Pinnow, Centre for Whale Research
A new baby orca has been born to the endangered southern resident killer whale population, according to the Centre for Whale Research (CWR) in Washington State. The centre announced on Jan. 11 that a 6 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
NEW CALF BORN TO
small calf was seen by researchers swimming with the L pod of orcas in Puget Sound near Seattle. The baby called L124 brings the southern resident population up to 75. Its gender is not yet known.
“Approximately 40 per cent of newborn calves do not survive their first few years, but we hope that this one makes it to maturity, especially if it is female,” a statement from CWR said. The mother is believed to be a 31-year-old
ENDANGERED ORCA POPULATION orca called L77, who has mothered two other known calves. The first was born in 2010 but died that same year, and the second is L119, a female who was born in 2012. The endangered southern resident popu-
lation consists of three pods -- J, K and L. The L pod is the largest. The Centre for Whale Research studies southern resident killer whales in the Pacific Northwest, and is dedicated to the conservation of the endangered
orca population. More information about CWR and updates about L77 can be found at www. whaleresearch.com.
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 7
STZ’UMINUS ELDERS DESCRIBE ORCAS AS ‘FAMILY’ AT NEB HEARINGS
Indigenous people told stories about cultural importance of killer whales at oral evidence hearings late last year By Cara McKenna When Pearl Harris of Stz’uminus First Nation was a child, she learned to see the killer whales who would pass by her territory as family. The elder said southern resident orcas would often come up to shore of Shell Beach, and she would watch and listen to them. With guidance from her grandmother, Harris learned to see the animals as both teachers and as kin. “We were an area where they come to visit and rest in their journey,” she said. 10 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
“They were our family.” Harris told the story to the National Energy Board’s latest hearing process around the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion in December. The new hearing process was held to hear oral traditional evidence from First Nations -- particularly stories about the cultural importance of killer whales and other marine life. The Federal Court of Appeal overturned Canada’s approval of the project last August, saying more work needed to be done around Indigenous consultation and re-
viewing marine impacts. After hearing dates in Victoria and Calgary, the NEB heard oral traditional evidence in Nanaimo from various communities including Stz’uminus. Stz’uminus Elder Ray Harris spoke about one of his first memories involving seeing an orca. “We were on a canoe with grandpa, and a whale surfaced not too far from us,” Harris said. “Grandpa stopped paddling and he said, ‘Be quiet.’ I asked him, ‘How come I have to be quiet?’ He said … ‘That’s what they
need because they talk to each other.’ They already knew the importance of quiet still waters for the whales.” Harris and others spoke about how they are concerned about increased tanker traffic and its impact on already endangered southern resident killer whales: both the noise and increased risk of an oil spill. “We can’t even imagine a life without whales,” he said. “The killer whale is just like us. They breathe air just like us. They eat exactly the same foods as us. They look after their young just like us. They have a way to look after each other by respecting their grandmothers and their mothers.” There are currently just 75 southern resident orcas remaining. With the pipeline expansion, tanker traffic is set to increase sevenfold. Stz’uminus Elder George Harris added that he feels that the tanker increase is a “huge risk” that could cause the southern residents go extinct. “I want to know what we can do, what kind of plan we have, that would reassure us that the killer whale will go on in the future,” he said. “The memory I have right now is not the newborn killer whales that survived; it’s the ones that have died.” Pearl Harris added to Stz’uminus and other First Nations along the Coast, the sea life is part of them. “We believe that the killer whale is an ancestor,” she said. “If we lose the killer whale, we lose some of our teachings. Our teachers. … I keep saying that they are our spirit, they are our people. We all have that strong belief.” Other nations that took part in the NEB’s three-city oral traditional evidence hearings include Snuneymuxw, Squamish, Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh, Kwantlen, Tsawout and more. The Canadian government has given the federal energy regulator a deadline of Feb. 22 to review evidence and submit its final report and recommendations.
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 11
U.S. COAST SALISH LEADERS TRAVEL TO CANADA FOR NEB HEARINGS A group of U.S. Coast Salish leaders travelled to Victoria to testify at the National Energy Board’s oral evidence hearings on Nov. 28. Representatives from Lummi, Swinomish, Tulalip and Suquamish travelled across the border to present their concerns to Canada’s energy regulator alongside their Canadian relatives. Beforehand, the group spoke to media about how they believe the Trans Mountain pipeline expansion will harm their culture, treaty rights and way of life. Marie Zackuse, the chairwoman of Tulalip Tribes, talked about how the border is a colonial construct and how communities in the U.S. and Canada have intermixed blood lines. “The salmon knows no border, the killer whale knows no border and certainly the Salish Sea does not stop at the border,” she said. “We are at the tipping point not just as Coast Salish people but all human beings who love the northwest and appreciate what she has to offer.” Lisa Wilson, who works for Lummi Nation’s natural resource department, spoke about how devastating it was for all the Coast Salish nations when an orca calf died last August. The mother, a whale known as J-35, pushed her baby’s lifeless body for two weeks through waters on both sides of the Canada-U.S. border in an apparent display of mourning. “We saw the mother carrying her baby for 17 days, and it was devastating,” she said. A task force from Lummi Nation also attempted to take action when another orca, four-year-old J-50 (also known as Scarlet), starved to death last September. “We took up an effort to literally feed Scarlet,” Wilson said. “She ended up passing away, but it’s like we couldn’t stand back and we couldn’t watch this happen, we had to do something.” Wilson pointed out that if salmon are not healthy, and the orcas are not healthy, then the people are not healthy either. Tandy Wilbur of Swinomish Tribe told the NEB that his people’s way of life can no longer be pushed to the wayside. “Your decision has big impacts on tribal lives, tribal culture, traditions, spirituality,” he said. “We are here to protect that, and to share with you our story of our way of life. Because we are a strong people and we fight, and we’re here to pass on that message.”
LUMMI HIGHLIGHTS ORCA PRESERVATION IN FLORIDA MUSEUM EXHIBIT
Photo by Kristen Grace, Florida Museum.
Photo: Paul Anderson
Whale People: Protectors of the Sea features whale rider totem that was journeyed more than 11,000 km for endangered killer whales
By Cara McKenna A new museum exhibit in Florida shines a light on endangered killer whales and their cultural importance to Coast Salish people in the Pacific Northwest. Whale People: Protectors of the Sea opened on Dec. 8 at the Florida Museum of Natural History in Gainesville. The exhibit is the result of a collaboration with the House of Tears carvers from Lummi Nation in Washington State, who shaped the killer whale totem that’s a centerpiece of the exhibit. The display is meant to highlight the cultural importance of orca populations that are now critically endangered in the 16 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
Salish Sea. In Lummi culture, orcas are their kin, and their word for killer whale -- Qw’e lh’ol mechen – translates in English to “the people that live under the sea.” Lummi House of Tears carver Jewell Praying Wolf James worked on the fivemetre-long totem featuring a killer whale and rider that is the main piece in the exhibition. “It is time for us to accept our inherent responsibility to take care of our home and each other,” James said in a statement. “I hope the killer whale totem in this exhibition will gather people, intrigue them and make them wonder how they can get
involved in the whale’s preservation.” The Lummi whale rider totem was journeyed down the west coast of the United States in May of 2018 to raise awareness about endangered southern resident killer whales – particularly one Puget Sound orca, Tokitae, who was taken captive from the Pacific Northwest in 1970 and has been at the Seaquarium in Miami ever since. Lummi has continually sought to return Tokitae (known by the Seaquarium as her performer name “Lolita”) to the Salish Sea in a Washington whale sanctuary where she could be cared for and reintroduced to swim with her family, but the
Seaquarium has refused. The totem was journeyed more than 11,000 km last year before being displayed at the museum. Surrounding the display is large screens of multichannel film featuring underwater footage of orcas in the wild, videos of Indigenous ceremonies and protocol, and interviews with elders. There are also objects on display from the Florida Museum’s collection, including five smaller poles, two pipes and five platters that feature carvings of whales, humans, eagles and bears. The museum’s executive director Beka Economopoulos explained that she believes the objects -- particularly the Lummi totem – are important to feature as dwindling killer whale populations are threatened by depleted salmon stocks, toxic and sound pollution, as well as fossil fuel expansion. “The totem’s journey carries a message from the waters of the Northwest Coast to those here on the Gulf Coast,” she said in a statement. “Fossil fuel pollution and industrial development places our collective natural and cultural heritage at risk.” Exhibit developer Tina Choe added that she hopes the exhibit can connect people with information about whale protection to help them make a difference. Whale People: Protectors of the Sea will be on display at the Florida Museum of Natural History until May 5.
Clockwise from far right: Totem pole with a bear killer whale and eagle, Carved pipe with a killer-whale over a reclining human, Argillite platter with a killer-whale and two men in a boat, Decorated argillite platter with killer whales and a fish, Decorated argillite platter with killer whale and two humans, Argillite platter with a killer-whale. Photos: Florida Museum
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 17
ARTIST BRINGS ‘FEMININE COAST SALISH’ STYLE TO STANLEY PARK STUDIO Chrystal Sparrow of Musqueam has been carving, painting at Second Beach’s A-Frame Fieldhouse since July 2018 Photos and story by Cara McKenna It’s a shadowy, black night near Second Beach in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, but a warm light emanates from the window of Chrystal Sparrow’s art studio. Inside, the Musqueam artist’s temporary workshop is cozy, scattered with her flowy Coast Salish pieces and carvings by her late father Irving Sparrow. Sparrow was chosen by the City of Vancouver to be the first Coast Salish artist to participate in a new cultural residency program. She has been working in the AFrame Fieldhouse since July 2018. The residency will continue until July 2019. Sparrow describes her work as “feminine 18 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
Coast Salish” -- she spent time cultivating her style after learning carving from her dad who, she said, worked in more bulky and traditional styles. “If you look at my work and it’s very simple, it has a flow, it’s feminine,” she said. “Simple is sometimes really beautiful, it doesn’t have to be complex.” Sparrow is a third-generation Coast Salish artist who works in different mediums. She is mostly a carver and painter, but also dabbles in jewelry-making, weaving and fashion. Sparrow -- whose mother is Cree, Shuswap and Tsilhqot’in -- is also studying expressive art therapy. “I will be an art therapist as well as being
an artist,” she said. “I want to help people, I want to help youth, I like to be an inspiration and a story that gives to people.” As she finishes her first year of school, Sparrow is also planning more events at the temporary Second Beach studio, which is currently open to the public Monday evenings between 5:30 p.m. to 9:30 p.m. “There will be some workshops that I’ll be putting together for the new year, a couple of feasts,” she said. “I’m going to invite elders and women from the Downtown Eastside from the women’s centre.” She has a Facebook group that she regu-
larly updates called Coast Salish Artist Chrystal Sparrow Art Residency. Vancouver Park Board Chairman Stuart Mackinnon said he hopes the city’s cultural residency will expand as the city seeks to have more Musqueam, Squamish and Tsleil-Waututh artists-in-residence at the Second Beach space. The park has a challenging history as it was never ceded by the Coast Salish people who once lived there. “We are honored to have an artist of Chrystal Sparrow’s ability and lineage to inaugurate our A Frame activation at Second Beach,” he said in a statement.
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SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 19
Submitted photo.
STZ’UMINUS HEALTH OFFICER BREAKS BARRIERS Shannon Waters is first Indigenous B.C. Medical Health Officer working in her home territory
When Stz’uminus member Shannon Waters graduated from medical school, she realized that instead of treating people who are sick, she wanted to prevent people from getting sick in the first place. So after two years of doing family practice, she went back to the University of British Columbia to do a specialty in Public Health and Preventative Medicine. Now, it’s been about a year and a half since Waters returned to her home territory to become a B.C. Medical Health Officer with Island Health. Working in the Cowichan Valley region, she believes she is the only Indigenous Medical Health Officer in the province. “In this type of role I work with local governments, First Nation governments, and really look at the population as a whole,” she said. “So not focusing on individuals like I did before, but where we are at as a commu20 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
nity, and as separate communities.” In her region, she said, there are about 80,000 people, five municipal governments, one regional district and eight First Nations including Stz’uminus. In her role -- which involves overseeing the region’s wellness and advocating for public health -- she has three main areas of focus: maternal/child and family health, mental wellness and the environment. “Basically in each of those three areas, any movement we make in one area will positively affect the others and we have to work on them all,” she said. “I very much try to bring my holistic view of health into the opportunities I get to speak and discuss.” Waters said when she graduated from the Public Health and Preventative Medicine program, her goal was to work with Indigenous communities. She worked for the First Nations-Inu-
it Health Branch and the then-newly formed First Nations Health Authority before moving into a temporary Indigenous maternal care position with Island Health. While she was in that role, a Medical Health Officer position was created in the Cowichan Valley for the first time, and it felt fateful to be able to work in her home territory. “My colleagues in my specialty … were finally able to advocate and get funding for an additional position,” she said. “It just happened to be created after I moved here.” As the first Coast Salish woman to work as a Medical Health Officer on the Island, Waters is breaking barriers and paving the way for other Indigenous people. Especially in a time when the area’s racist past isn’t so far away. An older physician she has worked with, she said, recalls there were segregated
waiting rooms and separate entrances for Indigenous and non-Indigenous patients in Duncan when he first started practicing. “I was like, 'You have to talk about that, because this is not that long ago, and people look at you, and the age you are, you’re still practicing,'" she said. “A lot of clients, patients, remember that too and how it felt to be on the other side of that, to be that person using the other waiting room or the other entrance.” Waters said that, now, she uses every chance she has to show her two daughters the work she does, so they can see that their worldview and identity is valid and important. “I’m privileged, I had this opportunity to go to school, I have a lot more opportunity to use my voice … and Stz’uminus supported me while I was going through school,” she said. “And I really felt strongly that I wanted to give back. It made me feel supported and also gave me a sense of responsibility just beyond myself. “That’s something I’ve carried through to now and it’s just interesting how it’s kind of come full circle at this point and I’m back home doing this type of work.”
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 21
CONFRONTING RECONCILIATION MYTHS: KWUL’A’SUL’TUN SPEAKS AT VIU
Photos courtesy of VIU.
Doug White III of Snuneymuxw talked about how concept of reconciliation must be hinged on love, respect By Julie Chadwick Years ago, Doug White III (Kwul’a’sul’tun) asked his late grandmother Dr. Ellen White (Kwulasulwut) what would be lost when there was no longer a large number of people who could fluently speak their language. What she said surprised him, said White. “She told me that there is an elevated form of the Hul’qumi’num language that is only used in very close and intimate relationships between two people who really know each other and really love each other,” he explained. “And she said the last time she really spoke like this in this way was with her late sister Eva. She said, ‘Imagine two old grandmothers sitting together in a quiet space having tea, be24 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
ing alone, being able to talk together.’” White said that special form of Hul’qumi’num described by his grandmother used different grammar, diction, tones and rhythms. It was used only in very personal contexts and not for day-today relations and conversations. “To me it sounded like she was describing a poetic way of talking to each other, in a place of unquestioned safety and love,” White said. “And what my grandmother described is the heart of reconciliation that we never talk about. It is about creating a new dynamic, a rhythm of caring and love between all of us.” So opened the wide-reaching keynote speech by White entitled “Re-Imagining Reconciliation: Confronting Myths and
the Future of Canada” at Vancouver Island University on November 26. Offered in partnership with the CBC Radio One’s show Ideas, the talk marked the fourth instalment of the series, and the last before long-running host Paul Kennedy retires. Currently a Snuneymuxw First Nation councillor and director of VIU’s Centre for Pre-Confederation Treaties and Reconciliation, White used his vast knowledge base in this and other capacities -- including as former Chief of Snuneymuxw, member of the First Nations Summit task group, member of the BC First Nations Leadership Council, and lawyer and negotiator for First Nations governments across the country -- to paint a clear picture of what reconciliation currently is in Canada and where he believes it needs to go.
Presently, how reconciliation is conducted rests on a series of myths, White explained. The first myth is foundational, a myth of omission in how reconciliation is discussed. We’ve become good at talking about reconciliation in its legal, political, economic, social and cultural dimensions, he said, but we fail when it comes to positioning those talks on a foundation of love, intrinsic values and our potential as human beings. To exemplify this point, White referenced the sentiment present during a 1910 visit to Kamloops by then-prime minister Sir Wilfred Laurier. At this time, Laurier was formally addressed by a delegation of various B.C. chiefs which culminated in an extraordinary document known as the Laurier Memorial. “There’s a beautiful passage where (the chiefs) are reflecting back to a time when the first non-Indigenous people were arriving in their territory,” said White. “Some of our chiefs said, ‘These people wish to be partners with us in our country. We must therefore be the same as brothers to them, and live as one family. We will share equally in everything, half and half, in land and water and timber and so on. What is ours will be theirs, and what is theirs will be ours. We will help each other to be great and good.’” The second myth identified and addressed by White was rooted in the perception that courts and lawyers were necessary in leading the work of reconciliation. “Lawyers and courts serve a purpose, but they are a blunt tool in reconciliation work,” said White, who pointed to a variety of causes, including political failures and lack of political will. “Lawyers are trained in focusing on division and distinction, on how to be rational adversaries. They’re not agents of coming together,” he said. “No matter how much good courts may be able to do — they can settle matters, order change, compensate wrongs — but they can’t make us love each other. Indeed, they often do the opposite.” The final myth confronted in White’s keynote speech was the idea that “we are well on our way” in the process of reconciliation, when really the path was only just beginning. Referencing the 2014 Supreme Court of Canada decision regarding the Tsilhqot’in First Nation, which for the first time recognized expansive Aboriginal title, White said this came with sweeping implications and points the process of reconciliation down a fundamentally different path. “[It] stands as a major counterpoint to all the law, policy, regulations and patterns of behaviour that are premised on the idea that Aboriginal title doesn’t matter,” said White. As a result, he argued that much of the economies in this country are structured on wrong ideas, and now need to be rebuilt around the reality of Indigenous peoples’ relationship to their lands and decision-making about their territories. To do this, ingrained patterns that were currently taken for granted about how things have always been done would need to change. “I do recognize that this last mythology discussion sounds potentially in tension with the first discussion around love, but it isn’t. If we truly accept one another as equals, with dignity and autonomy, and we love them, then we are willing to sacrifice. That is the dynamic of all healthy human relations,” said White. “It is the foundation of how we can work together to help each other to be great and good.”
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Strength Through Relationships www.gwaiieng.com • 250-886-0049
Julie Chadwick is an award-winning journalist, editor and author living in Snuneymuxw territory.
SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 25
Perry and Tom LaFortune.
HEALING TOTEM POLE UNVEILED IN VICTORIA Carving by Tsawout brothers Tom and Perry LaFortune was unveiled at Ministry of Health building in late November
By Cara McKenna Photos courtesy of B.C. Ministry of Health A Coast Salish totem pole that was carved by two brothers from Tsawout First Nation in honour of their late mother has been unveiled in Victoria. The Crossing Cultures and Healing Pole now stands outside of the B.C. Ministry of Health’s headquarters on Blanshard Street. The pole was carved by Tom and Perry LaFortune last summer outside of the Royal B.C. Museum, where members of the public were invited to observe the process and ask questions. 26 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
The seven-and-a-half metre pole was officially unveiled in late November. Tom LaFortune explained in an earlier interview that the pole was meant to honour their late mother, who survived residential school, and all mothers who have been affected by the residential school system. To represent this, the pole features a figure of a woman at the bottom. Above her is an owl, which Tom said is a reminder to “remember the past, live now and push towards a better future.” On the top of the pole is a raven to pass the messages along, while a rope ties all of the figures together. The totem was carved as the result of a partnership between the Royal B.C. Mu-
seum, the Ministry of Health and the Songhees and Esquimalt Nations. The cedar log used was donated by TimberWest. Health Minister Adrian Dix said he sees the pole as a symbol and reminder of the ministry’s commitment to cultural safety and understanding. “Throughout the carving process this summer, there was an excellent learning opportunity for the public to witness First Nations cultural practices,” he said in a statement. “And we know that this increased understanding of Indigenous culture is a high priority for all levels of government, particularly within the health-care system.”
Selina Robinson, B.C.’s housing minister, announced the new funding at Katzie Nation in late November.
TFN RECEIVES $7.2M FOR HOUSING PROJECT
Photo courtesy of B.C. government. Tsawwassen Nation has received $7.2 million in provincial funding that will go towards a new multi-family rental housing project. The grant will allow the nation to cover most of the costs for the 36-unit project on its lands, according to a statement from Chief Bryce Williams. Site preparations for TFN’s project are expected to begin in early spring. The funding is part of a larger investment from the B.C. government in more than 1,100 new homes for Indigenous people in 26 communities across the province. A statement from the province said 1,143 new homes will be built over the next two to four years, as part of a 10-year, $550 million commitment to build 1,750 new social housing units for Indigenous people in B.C. B.C. Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation Minister Scott Fraser said the government will work with Indigenous housing societies, First Nations and others to make sure housing needs are met. “Long-term, stable housing is critical for keeping Indigenous families together and their communities thriving,” he said in a news release. “This housing project is exceptional news for Indigenous peoples who have faced extraordinary housing challenges that are out of proportion compared to other Canadians.” 28 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
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