Volume 14 . Issue 4
May 2018
William Good: Honour in Culture PAGE 10
Homalco reconnects with historic masks PAGE 20-23
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 DESIGN & LAYOUT Kelly Landry & Carmel Ecker 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
The Salish Sea map was created in 2009 by Stefan Freelan at Western Washington University
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1. HALALT (250) 246-4736 chief@halalt.org www.halalt.org 2. HOMALCO (250) 923-4979
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 PHOTO: Snuneymuxw artist and carver William Good was honoured with an award from the City of Nanaimo on April 5. Photo by Craig Letourneau.
3. KLAHOOSE Qathen Xwegus Management Corp (250) 935-6536 www.klahoose.com 4. MALAHAT (250) 743-3231 caroline.harry@malahatnation.com www.malahatnation.com 5. TLA’AMIN (604) 483-9646 clint.williams@tn-bc.ca www.tlaaminnation.com 6. SNAW-NAW-AS (Nanoose) (250) 390-3661 chris.bob@nanoose.org www.nanoose.org
7. SNUNEYMUXW (Nanaimo) (250) 740-2300 www.snuneymuxw.ca 8. STZ’UMINUS (Ladysmith) (250) 245-7155 Ray.Gauthier@coastsalishdevcorp.com www.stzuminus.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
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AROUND THE SALISH SEA
‘A WAVE IS COMING’ U.S. Indigenous governance expert Dr. Manley Begay tours 5 B.C. nations By Edith Moore, NmTC communications liaison Photos by Todd Peacey in Homalco “A wave is coming of First Nations controlling their own destinies and running the show.” –Dr. Manley Begay Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council recently hosted Dr. Manley Begay on a tour of five of our member First Nations. Dr. Begay is a world-renowned leader in Indigenous governance with Arizona State University. He has spent 30 years studying, travelling and gaining knowledge of what works for many nations that wish to exercise sovereignty and jurisdiction, and he now offers instruction of what he has learned. Dr. Begay held sessions at Homalco, Tsleil-Waututh, Tsawwassen, Malahat and T’Sou-ke during the end of March. His presentations posed challenging questions as he told inspiring stories of 2 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
growth from First Nations around the world. What is the definition of Indigenous sovereignty? What does sovereignty mean in your own language? These questions and the subsequent answers should be based on the foundations and roots of who you are, not the Queen and the Crown's definition of aristocracy. In the Navajo perspective, Indigenous sovereignty is peace, harmony and love. Once our own sovereignty is defined with our own cultural values, then we can exercise jurisdiction. Dr. Begay reminded us that now is a critical time for our grandchildren, and to think about what kind of legacy we are leaving for our unborn. That we need to lay the foundation for them so that they may live in a good way. How will our children live 50-100 years from now? That question needs to be answered today.
He shared a few inspirational stories from U.S. tribes such as Mississippi Choctaw, where 100% of the membership is employed. That nation also provides the best schools, pharmacy, and elder care within all surrounding communities. Nation-to-nation mentorship was the premise of this invitation to host Dr. Begay, and I believe NmTC hit the mark. We received nothing but positive feedback from our participants, and we are pleased that the stories of success from the nations he toured will be added to Dr. Begay’s roster. Dr. Begay promised that when the snow melts on the western mountain in Navajo land, a prayer will be offered up for all of us. I myself believe that it will take a lot of prayer and hard work, but we now have a clearer vision of what can be achieved.
Dr. Begay reminded us that now is a critical time for our grandchildren, and to think about what kind of legacy we are leaving for our unborn.
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Buffy David of Stz'uminus First Nation—between Isobel Smith, left, and Amos Harris, right—was part of a group of elders featured in a new book of student poetry called The Rivers Where we Sing.
STUDENTS, ELDERS CONNECTED THROUGH POETRY
Island high school students did interviews and wrote poetry for three recently released books By Cara McKenna High school students Amos Harris and Isobel Smith each held one of Stz’uminus Elder Buffy David’s hands as they walked across the stage of the Port Theatre in Nanaimo on April 4. The Ladysmith Secondary students wrote a poem about David’s life as part of the Elder Project—an ongoing effort that has been connecting Canadian students with local elders and each other through poetry. David sat beside the podium smiling while the two students read their poem. “I lived in Kulleet Bay for 59 years, in a house on stilts with lots of windows, 4 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
These stories tell us about resilience, they tell us about hope, they tell us about our history and our culture. beautiful wooden floors and a fireplace,” Harris read aloud about David, laughing with the elder as he read the next line. “I remember my dad saying ‘even the cow knows when to come home,’ if we were ever late. We always played in the woods: we played ho’ho’s at Paddy Aleck’s. We played in the forest and played down the beach.” Smith continued: “I remember eating traditional food with my family…I love drumming, I love to cook, sing and speak Hul’q’umi’num.” The Elder Project was started in 2010 by renowned poet Wendy Morton, who has partnered with various school districts and agencies on the project—it has come to School District 68 three times over the past year. The result is three books of poetry: Every Word Has a Spirit, One Wingspan at a Time and The Rivers Where We Sing. The books were launched during an event where many students read their poetry aloud to the public and to those they wrote about. For the first and third books, students wrote poems about elders who told them about notable times in their lives. Many spoke about residential school, their careers and early childhood memories. For the second book, Indigenous and non-Indigenous students interviewed each other. Anne Tenning, who works in Indigenous education for School District 68, said the launch event had been highly anticipated by the community. “These stories tell us about resilience, they tell us about hope, they tell us about our history and our culture,” she said. “It’s so beautiful to see all the students and elders who have been honoured by the creation of these poems.” More information about the project, including PDF copies of poetry books, can be found at www.theelderproject.com.
A group of elders who were part of the Elder Project poetry books sit on stage before the launch event begins.
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Clockwise from top left: Shayna Douglas, Jessica Thom, Eliana Harry and Amanda Harry of the Circles of Care-Circles of Courage group pose for a photo at Malahat Nation.
WEEKLY PROGRAM EMPOWERS GIRLS AT MALAHAT NATION Circles of Care-Circles of Courage group is now finishing its second year By Cara McKenna A weekly group at Malahat Nation is empowering girls ages eight to 14 through culture, critical thinking, food and feminism. The program called Circles of CareCircles of Courage has been running each Thursday at Malahat for nearly two school years, and is set up to run for at least two more. The group is the result of a partnership between the Canadian Mental Health Association and Malahat, with funding from the Canadian Women’s Foundation.
There are about a dozen girls from the Malahat and Cowichan nations registered. During a session over Spring Break, the group was predictably smaller than usual, with just three girls in attendance. Jessica Thom, a facilitator from the Canadian Mental Health Association who runs the program, said the group —though structured—has an organic element to it where it can easily adapt depending on the girls’ needs and circumstances. “It was started as a vision to really see how we can create a space that would
support not only the girls from Malahat but also Cowichan and surrounding communities,” Thom said. “And how we could, within that space, help them to develop the skills and to nurture a perspective that’s going to support them through the rest of their lives.” On a normal school week, Malahat Elder Jennifer Daniels—who co-hosts the group—will pick the girls up at their homes and bring them to the Kwunew Kwasun Cultural Centre where the group is held. Continued on page 9
The full Circles of Care-Circles of Courage group with girls from the Malahat and Cowichan nations. Submitted photo.
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Continued from page 7
Daniels opens and closes the group with a prayer each week, and has helped to strengthen the girls’ ties to their culture by including Coast Salish teachings, language and activities like weaving. Though every week is different, they always share a meal together, Thom said. “That it can take up most of the time,” she said. “But I do think that the majority of the work that we do and the relationship is built around the food and the learning that comes from that.” During the group’s session on the Thursday of Spring Break, the girls from Malahat—Eliana Harry, Amanda Harry and Shayna Douglas— shared conversation and laughs over a meal of lasagna, vegetables and fruit, before moving onto their weekly activity. Sitting on a large shag rug on the floor, the girls were shown a short YouTube clip of Canada’s first female astronaut Dr. Roberta Bondar speaking about how she pushed ahead even though she was told as a child that she couldn’t do science. The girls then brainstormed possible empowered responses to being told “you can’t do it” and wrote them down, with their comebacks including: “I can do what I wanna do,” “It’s not your place to tell me that,” and “byeee!” Thom explained that the activity is part of the program’s wider aim to support five foundational areas of development: resilience, critical thinking, self-confidence, connectedness and communication. “For me, my focus and passion has been on looking at the concept of resiliency,” she said. “What is it that we can do in this space to help foster that ability to overcome challenges? From a mental health perspective, more and more we’re recognizing that’s such an integral part of who we are.” Beth Malcolm of the Canadian Women’s Foundation, who directs funding to Malahat and other girls’ groups across the country, said what’s called the “Girls’ Fund” began in 2006. Malahat’s program is one of seven for Indigenous girls across the country, and one of 22 total. “We have seen the impact (of the programs),” she Malcolm said. “Just having a safe space to explore who you are as a person and how you connect in your community. It’s remarkable what can happen when you create that space.” Malcolm said it’s impactful for Indigenous girls in particular, because they aren’t seeing as many positive reflections of themselves in the media as other demographics. “We’re really wanting to fund programs that are helping girls to become more confident, have a greater sense of connectedness as well as enhancing their critical thinking skills,” she said. “They look different in every community because the programs are developed and designed by communities based on their needs.” In Malahat, the program has been so successful that the nation is now looking at setting up a similar group for boys from the nation. “My hope is that spaces like this can exist in all the communities,” Thom said. “I think we’re all a little surprised at how simple it has been, and it really hasn’t cost that much, and it’s just been these simple key factors that have created this space with a bit of thoughtfulness and some resources.”
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SNUNEYMUXW ARTIST HONOURED FOR SAVING TRADITIONAL STYLE William Good was given ‘Honour in Culture’ award for revitalizing art form that was nearly lost By Julie Chadwick When Coast Salish artist and carver William Good first started out, there weren’t many other Snuneymuxw artists creating in their own traditional style. “We did a lot of artwork but it wasn’t really our artwork, our own Indigenous artwork, it was Haida Gwaii or Kwagiulth ot Tsimshian, or it was just an amalgamation of all these art forms,” said Good. “I always wanted to revive our art form so that our children and grandchildren would have their own art form back that was pretty much extinct.” Those revitalization efforts were recognized by the City of Nanaimo on April 5 when Good received an Honour in Culture Award at a gala awards ceremony at the Port Theatre. It marked the first time in its 20-year history that Nanaimo’s Culture and Heritage Awards has honoured an Indigenous person. “He recognized that the art form was at the brink of extinction and at that point he decided to devote his artistic life to revitalizing the traditional art form of this region. And I think had he not done that, there would be a gaping hole in Nanaimo’s cultural fabric,” said Good’s daughter Aunalee Boyd-Good, in a video tribute
Aunalee Boyd-Good and Joel Good.
created by the city for the occasion. It was a long and involved journey of research in museums and archives in Canada and the US—who would mail him photos and facsimiles of artifacts, consultations with elders, and ongoing practice; a lifetime of careful scrutiny and crosscomparison with the stories he had grown up with and learning how to read the art that visually represented them. “We pretty much lost our entire art form to assimilation,” Good said, after he accepted his award from Snuneymuxw Chief Mike Wyse. “We had the law looking at us all the time, saying we can’t carve, we can’t do our dances, we can’t sing any songs. But I’m so grateful today to see the singers that come out now, to see the dancers who come out on the floor here, to hear the speakers, to hear all the musicians. Just to see how diverse our community has become with all different cultures.” It wasn’t always this way. Good, who is also a hereditary chief, said he had never anticipated that he would spend his life as an artist, until Elder Leslie John came to him one night in 1965 and told him it was his destiny. “Today’s a special day because I’m handing the mantle over to you,” Good recalled him saying. “You’re the next one.
You’re the next artist, you’re the next carver. You’re going to be world famous.” At first he didn’t believe him and told him to go home, but John insisted that he had had the dreams and visions that told him Good was the next great artist of the Snuneymuxw people. It’s a tradition Good has been careful to hand down to his children. Currently, he is working with his son Joel Good on one of two totems for the city. One will go up in the Snuneymuxw village site at Departure Bay. Already a highly accomplished carver, Joel Good says he completed one totem almost entirely by hand tool alone, and then asked his father to assist with the second one. “It’s my first time doing totems by myself so I do need his advice,” Joel said. Daughters Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Good are also carrying on the family’s artistic legacy: the sisters create a clothing line called Ay Lelum, adorned with family artwork from William and Joel. They run the business with guidance from their artist and designer mother Sandra Moorhouse-Good, who herself ran a successful clothing line called Ay Ay Mut with her husband in the 1990s. Photos and more information about William’s artwork can be found at www.facebook.com/goodartcoastsalish.
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SALISH STORIES
MAINTAINING OUR RIVERS Mother nature fights back if we are not taking care of our territory – can we come together to bring back old ways?
By Celestine Aleck (Sahiltiniye), Snuneymuxw First Nation Before colonization, we as Coast Salish people always took care of our own territory. We did this to give back to Mother Earth, who has always taken care of us. In our village in Snuneymuxw, the Good, Wesley, White, Johnny and Thomas families traditionally maintained our river, streams and creeks. However those roles our families once had have been lost through generations, and our waters are now dirty and polluted.
In order to save our beautiful rivers, we must take better care of our dear mountains. Traditionally we as Snuneymuxw people had always cared for the river right from the top of the mountain to where the river meets the ocean. We had to ensure the mountain was solid and strong, right down to even the smallest of weeds. We didn’t let debris clog up our creeks and streams -- if too many trees come down, it takes a toll on the mountain’s strength, and causes landslides. It could even change the way the river runs, making it go off course. The landslides can fill up the rivers, creeks and streams, leaving them shallow, and this, in turn, allows brown algae to build up and eventually leeches come. The salmon won’t even attempt to go up river when the water is warm and filthy. Algae takes the oxygen out of the water, this is why the fish will not come up river. The salmon’s sense of smell is so strong that we couldn’t let a dead carcass of any type stay in the river for the scent would deter the fish to spawn elsewhere.
In old times, we used Clydesdale horses to help clear out our river using wooden buckets attached behind them, to give our fish a fighting chance to survive and spawn. They already fight so hard to get back to the rivers, think of their journey to even get to the river. They have to worry about predators from nature such as whales, seals, and birds. And one of the worst predators is the farmed fish, they bring nothing but sickness and death to the wild fish. The salmon also have to worry about all types of fisherman. We can’t keep taking from the ocean like man has been doing, we as Coast Salish people have always been taught to take only what we need. With no circle of life taking place, the rivers creeks and oceans are not healthy. I have been going up the mountains year after year, and to see how clear-cut they are truly breaks my heart. Once, early in the morning, I awoke to a soft voice that told me: “save the trees.” I sat up gasping and it felt so real, I asked
myself, “how can just I do something so great as that?” I’m just one person. There needs to be a better system of cutting trees down because the trees retain water and provide shade the rivers, creeks and streams. Now, we no longer have a strong water supply. We once used the hardened snow on top of the mountains. It would last until summer and provide fresh cold running water for the salmon to return. We used to have controlled fires long ago in order to revitalize the lands and make it ever so rich with nutrients, this was the only way Jack Pine trees would come back after a fire. We never had to worry about the problems we have today with our poor mountains and rivers. It makes it to hard to have a controlled fire on our mountains. I wish that when they planted the new saplings after a clear cut there would be ashes within the dirt, because they help new trees to grow. It would give it a better fighting chance to thrive and survive. I think that Mother Earth fights so hard to maintain herself, and that’s why we have earthquakes, wild fires or tsunamis. It is us who should be taking such great care of her. We truly need to go back to these old ways of maintaining our rivers, oceans and land. What would it take for us as Indigenous and non-Indigenous people to come together, pull our resources and knowledge together, and go back to the old ways of maintaining our rivers? We truly need to make our mountains strong so that we can have a better fighting chance at helping our beautiful salmon return home. Because it’s not only our salmon we are fighting for but our fresh water supply, and the air we breathe from the gift of the trees. You can find more information about traditional methods of maintaining rivers, creeks and streams in two of Celestine’s books, Taking Care of Mother Earth and We Are All Connected.
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REVITALIZING SHARING, GIFTING AND TRADING Give and take between communities is a missing piece in today’s Indigenous economics By Andrew Bak, Tsawwassen First Nation
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Coast Salish people had always been wealthy. From time out of mind, our ancestors lived in the big houses, which were strategically located within our territories; close to the waters which gave us sustenance, protection, and a means by which to travel. We hunted, fished and gathered. And when our immediate needs were met, we could devote our time to creating artworks, teaching our children, feasting with our neighbors and trading. We find the evidence for this in the remains of our former villages; there are no volcanoes at Tsawwassen, yet we find obsidian. We also find evidence in our language, where we use terms such as qeˀwet, to say that we pay for services,
which are provided to us by others. Finally, we find evidence in our relationships; we reckon the connection we have to other communities through ceremonies like the potlatch. We traded with our neighbors in a way that reflected our worldview; offering them the things we had in abundance, in exchange for the things we needed. Gifting and sharing and trading brought us respect, and millennia passed thus. At contact, our sharing economy was supplanted by colonialism. Early attempts at trade with Europe created new alliances, and a new language, the Chinook Jargon—but the furious demand for land and resources was overwhelming; protectionist laws, European military might and introduced disease would
decimate our population. Many survivors would be imprisoned by the Reserve system, in residential schools or by the lethal grip of alcohol abuse. Our families became invisible on the land. Respectful trade relationships amongst peers would devolve into wage-labor arrangements, with our Indigenous men and women harvesting hop, and cleaning fish for canneries. For more than a century, we toiled to provide a foreign empire with the wealth of our territories. But we lost more than that. We let slip the teachings of our elders, our language and the knowledge of our relationships, in exchange for dollars. We gave up our values and our way of life for thirty pieces of silver. Continued on page 16
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Something is missing amongst the charters, loans, agreements and business plans created for our newly minted economic development corporations: the traditions of sharing, gifting and trading.
Continued from page 15
But soon, things would begin to change for us. Chief Harry Joe from Tsawwassen and other leaders from across the province would travel to England, to seek an audience with the regent and voice the concerns of our people. They would testify at Royal Commissions. They would challenge the honor of the Crown in courtrooms, and victories such as Calder, Gladstone and Guerin would compel the government to engage us in treaty-making. For decades, our community leaders would fight for our rightful place on the land, and in the economy. Nisga’a, Tsawwassen, Maa-Nulth and others would demonstrate that equitable solutions were possible, and that we could develop and manage wealth for our communities. Still, something is missing amongst the charters, loans, agreements and business plans created for our newly minted economic development corporations: the traditions of sharing, gifting and trading. We can prosper doing business and creating jobs, and these are
necessary things, but they continue to reflect a foreign worldview. In adopting the western business model, we have convinced ourselves that we must always operate at large scales, and create huge businesses that employ all of our community members. Joint venture partnerships, land leases and extraction projects can create significant revenues, but these transactions are years in the making, carry significant risk, and require huge amounts of capital to get off the ground. They can take over a community, and they can take us away from ourselves, and our unique way of life. We can embrace change, but to complete ourselves, we must reinvigorate not only our political ideologies, but our unique economic practices. Our modern treaties secure for us rights to gather and to trade and barter Fish, Wildlife, Renewable Resources, Migratory Birds and Plants to other Indigenous communities, sometimes within British Columbia and sometimes across Canada. These activities are often overlooked, when measuring a community’s economic output, but they provide to us other important benefits—valuable,
but perhaps not pecuniary. Sharing, gifting and trading reflect our desire for sustainability, they reinforce our relationships, and they employ our cultural teachings. Each of our communities is uniquely blessed with knowledge of and access to certain resources, which we can share, gift and trade to our neighbors. Ducks and crab at Tsawwassen, salmon from Musqueam, woven goods from Cowichan, game from Lheidli T’enneh, sweetgrass from Alberta, carvings from Haida Gwaii, tobacco from Ontario—these are all things we want, but if we leave the extraction, processing and marketing of these items to large scale businesses, we run the risk of over exploiting these resources by allowing them to be commoditized. We need to control the pace of their extraction and consumption, and it is possible to do these things by allowing these resources to be harvested, processed and traded by individuals or small groups. By going back to our traditions of sharing, gifting and trading amongst ourselves. This aspect of the Indigenous economy has few barriers to entry, can be done in a sustainable way, and carries little
risk—if the participants act fairly and equitably. Our communities will continue to create business that are familiar in structure to mainstream society, and provide them with goods, services and resources in a way that reflects the expectations of Canada’s modern economy— we will use our economic development corporations to develop the skill and capacity of our members, because those are very laudable goals. But we shouldn’t lose sight of who we are in the process. Any advanced economy is diverse—we can work to achieve that diversity by advancing and supporting individual effort, and those efforts can exist within a cultural context that is meaningful to our people. Sharing and gifting and trading can be an important part of the overall strategy to restore ourselves to our historic wealth. Andrew Bak is a Tsawwassen First Nation member, a former legislator, Executive Council member, and treaty negotiator. He is currently employed by Transport Canada as a Senior Program Officer, working on the Oceans Protection Plan. He completed an MBA at Simon Fraser University in 2017.
Stz'uminus Elder Ray Harris sat with Leah George-Wilson of Tsleil-Waututh Nation during the opening of a new residential school dialogue centre at UBC on April 9.
‘IGNORANCE IS NO ACCIDENT’: UBC APOLOGIZES TO RESIDENTIAL SCHOOL SURVIVORS Santa Ono asked to stay true to his words after addressing survivors and their families at opening of new dialogue centre on campus By Cara McKenna The education system has perpetuated ignorance around residential schools and therefore must bear part of the responsibility for the damage inflicted on survivors and their families. That was the message that guests heard at the opening of the new Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia. The centre, on UBC’s main campus, will house West Coast residential school records and educate the public on what happened in the government-funded facilities where many were abused and punished for practicing their culture. Thousands of children died while in attendance. 18 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
During an opening event with hundreds of guests on April 9, UBC president Santa Ono apologized to survivors on behalf of the university. “Universities bear part of the responsibility for this history, not only for having trained many of the policy makers and administrators who operated the residential school system, and doing so little to address the exclusion from higher education that the schools so effectively created, but also for tacitly accepting the silence surrounding it,” Ono said. “Few Canadians are aware of this history or its lasting harmful effects. Their ignorance is no accident.” Ray Harris travelled from Stz’uminus
First Nation to witness the event, donning a red armband to show that he is a residential school survivor. Harris said he has relied on culture to heal from his trauma and usually avoids residential school-focused events in order to focus on that. But he believes the apology is an important step forward. “Education was a tool they used against us,” he said. “Here’s the most prestigious education institute in B.C., taking this issue head on. I think it’s very important.” Adina Williams, a UBC student from Squamish Nation, said she has seen firsthand the lack of teaching around residential schools throughout her educational journey.
“For me as an Indigenous student so often I’ve had to either be an expert on these topics or challenge another person who wants to argue that it’s time for us to move on or to get over it,” she said. Williams, an intergenerational survivor of both residential schools and the 60s Scoop, added that while the apology is a step in the right direction, there is still a lot of work to do. “I can attest to this from some very recent experiences I’ve had on campus and in classes and whatnot,” she said to Ono. “So I ask you to continue this work from this day forward. I ask you to please stay true to your words and I really trust that you will.” UBC First Nations House of Learning Director Linc Kesler said the centre will aim to do ongoing work with Indigenous communities and organizations. “The involvement and guidance of Indian residential school survivors and other Indigenous community members and organizations will be critical to the ongoing work of the centre,” he said in a statement. “We will also work with them to ensure that the centre represents the history of survivors in ways that are accurate and respectful.” The new $5.5 million dialogue centre, an affiliate site to the national Truth and Reconciliation research centre in Winnipeg, was funded through donations. It is now open to the public. Ono’s full apology can be read at https://president.ubc.ca/ speeches/statement-of-apology.
Residential school survivor Barney Williams spoke during the event.
A plaque for the new centre was unveiled after the apology from UBC president Santa Ono.
The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at UBC is now open to the public. Photo courtesy of UBC.
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HOMALCO MEMBERS VISIT HISTORIC MASKS A delegation from the community travelled to Victoria to view carvings from 1800s Photos and story by Todd Peacey, Homalco First Nation In 2010, I discovered some Homalco First Nation-carved masks—said to be the oldest known existing masks from our community—were being housed at the Royal B.C. Museum in Victoria. The masks are believed to be from the late 1800s, carved by a Homalco man named Frank George. I viewed photos of them several times on the museum’s website over the years and was excited to go and see them in person. In mid-March, I was able to get a group of Homalco people together to go to the museum and see the masks. We traveled from Campbell River to Victoria to view these historical objects with a sense of curiosity and wonder. Thanks to the assistance from the Anthropology Collections Manager Brian Seymour, the entire visit was a success. Elders, children and everyone in between had
a chance to see the masks in a private archive room of the museum. The collection on display consisted of 11 masks and one large cedar weave basket. These are all of the items in the museum’s archives that are known to have come from Homalco’s territory. Homalco Councillor Kelsie Robinson sang our traditional Love Song from Church House in the presence of the masks, recognizing their importance to our culture. It is told that many of the masks were designed after different races of people. That is fairly apparent, but over the years many of the masks have lost all or most of the hair which was used on them, leaving only a small piece of leather tacked onto the face. That said, online views can only give you an idea of how these look, and to see the collection in person was a real treat. Some of the masks are very large
in size and would have been very heavy for those who would have been wearing them. We learned that the masks had been purchased from a collector who had been selling collections from different nations along the coast. The masks then were to be donated or on loan to the Royal B.C. Museum to ensure they would be properly cared for Homalco has only a few historical pieces and we are very limited compared to some other nations. Some of our other items are known to be on display in various places around the globe, making it difficult for our people to view them in person. A few Homalco people are working hard to preserve and protect our traditional culture and values and hopefully 100 years from now there will be even more cultural items added to the collection for all to enjoy.
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TLA’AMIN FIRST NATION TERRITORY
Powell River penstock #4 repair and replacement project for Powell River Energy Inc. Members of the Tla’amin First Nation worked with Hazelwood to complete repairs on the 14 ft diameter, 1580 ft long, steel riveted penstock that was originally constructed in 1925. HazelwoodConstruction.com
BUILDING FIRST NATION ECONOMIES
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Bob Elliott shows off one of his oil spill cleanup machines in his workshop just outside of Nanaimo.
COAST SALISH COMPANY DEVELOPS OIL SPILL CLEANUP EQUIPMENT
Ace Innovation Solutions is also lobbying government to change their oil spill response model By Cara McKenna Bob Elliott’s grandmother always told him that when the tide is out, the dinner table is set. Elliott grew up eating from the ocean, which is part of the reason he was a commercial fisherman for most of his career. But as the years went on, he noticed the water getting dirtier and dirtier—and he had an epiphany when his friend’s boat sank in the Ladysmith Harbour. “They had booms around it, but there was 2,000 gallons of diesel floating in the water,” Elliott said. “I asked did they have a machine to get the diesel out? Because it’s slopping all over the booms and it’s on the pilings and it’s on the beach. And they said no, there’s no machines. That was 24 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
nine years ago.” Before seeing the spill, Elliott had been drifting around for about a year figuring out his next career move. So he got to work right away developing machines that can clean up oil spills. He was soon able to go into business— Elliott has now been running his company Ace Innovation Solutions for eight years with his wife Jackie. But it’s only been in the past year or so that they are able to sell the machines, Jackie explained, because of development time. The company is now working with the likes of TimberWest, BC Ferries and SeaSpan, selling its machines that can clean up every type of oil from diesel to bitumen.
The Elliotts say the machines are different from other models on the market because they attract oil from the water and separate it out, keeping it pure so it can be recycled, whereas others suck up a lot of water along with the oil. Their highest capacity machine is able to suck up 20,000 gallons of oil every eight hours. Jackie said while pipelines are on everyone’s minds, the ocean is really dirty on the moment because of constant small spills that happen from things like runoff from cars, storm drains, bilges or marinas. The National Research Council of the U.S. National Academy of Sciences, which is an authority on oil spill data, estimated in 2003 that out of tens of millions of
gallons of oil that seep into North American oceans each year, just eight per cent comes from tankers or pipeline spills. “Everyday there are spills happening,” she said. “That’s really the reason why we started focusing on the small spills because there’s really no response.” There’s only one certified spill response company in B.C., Jackie explained—West Coast Marine Response Corporation. And they can take days to respond to spills and won’t travel to certain remote areas. Bob, who is of Stz’uminus and Cowichan ancestry, said his dream is to find the funding to see Indigenous communities equipped with oil cleanup machines and training so they are prepared in case of a spill in their territories and don’t have to wait. He said he ideally would like to see a model enacted that involves training people to clean up spills and work with the authorities in a model similar to how volunteer firefighters operate, where the cleanup crews would get paid for training
and kept on call, then paid when they were called in to clean a spill. “What we thought would be the best way is whoever pollutes pays,” Jackie said. Bob has been pushing all levels of government for some kind of change in the current system, but it hasn’t been easy to see tangible results, he said.
He is still looking for funding to work with Indigenous communities which is his ultimate goal. “It’s frustrating because everyone just smiles and nods their head,” he said. “We depend on the ocean for everything. It gives us life. It’s everything. If we wreck that, we will be done.”
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‘WARRIOR WOMEN’ HONOURED AS MMIWG HEARINGS CLOSE At the end of hearings in Coast Salish territory, DTES activists were gifted coppers for their work and sacrifices Indigenous women who have worked for decades for their sisters on the Downtown Eastside were gifted coppers at the end of the national MMIWG hearings. Nearly 100 people signed up to testify during five days of the inquiry’s final scheduled public hearing in Richmond. After the last testimony was heard, dozens of women gathered to drum and sing the Women’s Warrior Song. At a larger closing event later that evening, a group of women were honoured with coppers on behalf of the commissioners for their years of work leading up to the inquiry, including Coast Salish activists Fay Blaney and Kelly White. The coppers were carved by Haida artist and DTES frontline worker Skundaal Bernie Williams, who herself testified in 26 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
the inquiry. She said she was taught as a little girl that copper is the highest gift that you can give. “These are your warrior women from the Downtown Eastside,” Williams said. “We’d like recognize and we’d like to honour their commitment to the work, and their tenacity through so many decades and sacrifices they have made throughout all these years.” Tsawwassen Chief Bryce Williams and Tsleil-Waututh Chief Maureen Thomas also spoke at the end of the hearings. “I’d really like to acknowledge all those who came forward to share their stories, I commend you on your strength and your courage,” Thomas said. “Your future children and grandchildren are hopefully going to have a better life
because of what you’re doing.” The event in Richmond was set to be the fifteenth and final hearing of the national inquiry, though commissioners have asked the federal government for a two-year extension. People drove many hours to get to the event to have their truths heard. Tsleil-Waututh Elder Margaret George closed the event with a prayer, thanking all the families who stepped forward to tell their stories. “By what the commissioners have said, they’ve heard your stories. They’ll take your words and make it happen that you’ll be heard,” she said. “This has been a very difficult time for most of you and I really praise you for the courage that each and every one has had in coming forward to stand and voice your words.”
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MOMENT IN HISTORY
EFFERVESCENT AGNES GEORGE, 1877-1979 By Elida Peers, Historian, Sooke Region Museum I first got to know Agnes George in the 1960s, just about the time this photo with a smoked salmon was taken at the T’Sou-ke Reserve. An effervescent lady who always welcomed visitors with a big smile, she introduced me to many stories and customs of the T’Sou-ke Nation. Her heritage had taught her many skills for her nimble fingers—besides being adept at preserving seafoods, she wove baskets and mats. She was an expert at knitting sweaters with raw wool, and one day she demonstrated how to spin wool from washed, teased and carded rolls of wool, by attaching it to a doorknob as a spindle and twisting as she moved backwards. The annual salmon run, so important to the food supply, fully occupied the T’Sou-ke people as they harvested and smoked racks of fish to carry them over the winter. Agnes learned the skills at her mother’s knee, and passed them on to her own daughters and other relatives. Agnes was born at Esquimalt, raised at Clo-oose and grew up to marry Louis George, eldest son of Mary George who raised her five children alone at T’Sou-ke after her husband was lost when the sealing schooner Walter Earl went down in the Bering Sea in 1895. Agnes and Louis George—he was elected Chief from 1931 to 1956— raised a son and five daughters. Eldest daughter Sophie won a prize for naming Saseenos, “Sunny Land Gently Sloping from the Sea”, while she was working at the Belvedere Hotel, which stood on the headland at the mouth of the Sooke River. Sadly, tuberculosis took her while still young. The next George daughters—Lizzie, Hilda, Mabel and Alice— married into the community of southern Vancouver Island and enjoyed a large circle of friends. Their son Lewis made his home on the reserve and had a job at the fishtraps. Agnes celebrated her 101st birthday with a party at St. Mary’s Priory. Today, the son raised by Lewis George, who attended school in Sooke but moved to Cowichan to work in the forest industry, is demonstrating the nimble-fingered artistic traits inherited from his grandmother Agnes. Harvey George’s meticulous carving skills and incredible eye for design has led him to create his own legacy: a collection of fishboat models. Harvey has donated models to institutions, and they have been on display at the Cowichan Bay Maritime Centre, at the Sooke Region Museum and at the Charters River Salmon Interpretive Centre. This article originally appeared in the Sooke News Mirror and is reprinted here with permission and minor edits. 28 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL
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