Salish Sea Sentinel June / July 2020

Volume 16 Issue 4 June / July 2020

SPECIAL ISSUE: Coast Salish health heroes PAGES 12-15

Artists design COVID-19 masks PAGES 16-19

Connection amid uncertainty PAGES 26-27

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

DISTRIBUTION Todd Peacey toddp@nautsamawt.com

DESIGN Kelly Landry - Director of Communications kellyl@nautsamawt.com

PUBLISHER Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council Gary Reith, Chief Administrative Officer 330-6165 Highway 17A Delta, B.C., V4K 5B8 604-943-6712 or 1-888-382-7711

INQUIRIES

Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council Member Nations: 1. HALALT

(250) 246-4736 chief@halalt.org www.halalt.org

2. HOMALCO

(250) 923-4979 www.homalco.com

3. KLAHOOSE

Qathen Xwegus Management Corp

(250) 935-6536 www.klahoose.com

7. SNAW-NAW-AS (NANOOSE)

(250) 390-3661 chris.bob@nanoose.org www.nanoose.org

8. STZ’UMINUS (LADYSMITH)

(250) 245-7155 Ray.Gauthier@coastsalishdevcorp.com www.stzuminus.com

9. TSAWWASSEN

Editorial - Cara McKenna | editor@salishseasentinel.ca Advertising - Kelly Landry | kellyl@nautsamawt.com

4. K'ÒMOKS

PUBLICATIONS MAIL AGREEMENT #42922026

(250) 339-4545 www.komoks.ca

5. MALAHAT

10. TSLEIL-WAUTUTH

(250) 743-3231 info@malahatnation.ca www.malahatnation.com

(604) 929-3454 cao@twnation.ca www.twnation.ca

6. TLA’AMIN

11. T’SOU-KE (SOOKE)

(604) 483-9646 clint.williams@tn-bc.ca www.tlaaminnation.com

(250) 642-3957 administrator@tsoukenation.com www.tsoukenation.com

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. Undeliverable mail may be returned to: 330-6165 Highway 17A Delta, B.C., V4K 5B8 © 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.

(604) 943-2112 info@tsawwassenfirstnation.com www.tsawwassenfirstnation.com

COVER: Tasia Harris of Snuneymuxw First Nation models a COVID-19 mask that was designed by Elder William Good and his son Joel. Photo submitted by Ay Lelum.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 3

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COAST SALISH STORIES

REMEMBER YOUR SNU’UY’ULH TEACHINGS

By Celestine Aleck (Sahiltiniye) Hello my dear friends and relatives, my apologies for not writing in sometime. I had been going through a hard time, and I let that break me. But I could hear my late grandfather Ronnie Aleck’s words in the back of my mind: “If you ever you are having a hard time in life, look at the whole picture.” It helped open my eyes and see that I hadn’t remembered to live by any of the Snu’uy’ulh teachings that our ancestors left behind for us.

As we deal with the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic in our communities, we need to stay connected through our Snu’uy’ulh teachings. Look at all the things our strong beautiful ancestors had to overcome because of colonization. There are so many examples we can use of things that we as First Nations

people have been put through, yet we continue to be resilient. I ask you to remember the teachings the ancestors passed down to us.

Get on the phone or FaceTime and talk to one another, and keep each other strong by gently reminding each other of teachings and the power of our ancestors — they overcame, and we to can do the same, for we come from the same bloodline.

We take care of Mother Nature just as she takes care of us. We also must remember to take care of ourselves: mind, body and soul.

Our ancestors want us to have a strong mind and a strong heart. In keeping with having a strong mind, it’s important to start the morning off with a bath, whether it be up the mountains or in a river. In times now, I would suggest bathing in traditional medicines to help wash off feelings that can weigh our minds down.

It’s also important to flip your mattress four times as we tend to leave our feelings, aches and pains where we sleep. When it’s time to clean your home it’s good to even cleanse the floors with some medicine as we leave feelings on our floors too, so toss some in a mop bucket and make sure to air the house out and let fresh air in. Always have a pot of cedar or balsam branches, or whatever it is you use, boiling on the woodstove so that it can keep

the home cleansed and safe.

You must also feed your body well. The best way to take care of yourself right now is eat what is native to our lands for this is where we belong. We need sockeye, and many other fish that run up our rivers. We need to eat crab, prawns, and most of all seaweed. Should you need some healing foods, I would suggest you have bone marrow from soup bones. You bake the soup bones and when you eat the marrow it can help mend our bodies. Bone marrow has so many great healing qualities along with helping us digest red meat and absorb iron more easily.

Those are just some of my teachings that I would like to share. Reach out to your family members and find the teachings you have within your family for traditional medicines and drink those teas. Please reach out my dear friends and relatives, you are not alone. Yes, right now it can feel that way, but through the net we can help one another the best way we can.

Celestine is a published writer/illustrator from Snuneymuxw First Nation who considers herself very fortunate to have learned some of the rich stories of Coast Salish territory from her elders.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 5

workiNg witH First NatioNs commuNities Hazelwood is coNtiNually lookiNg For opportuNities to work For, or witH, First NatioNs iN caNada. tHis approacH Has allowed us to work For a variety oF NatioNs iN bc, aNd Has Helped us create a variety oF workiNg agreemeNts witH NatioNs tHat sHare our eNtrepreNeurial spirit.

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ert-Salish Sea-v2.indd 1

urbansystems.ca

2019-09-13 9:46 AM

Submitted photos

MALAHAT NATION LOOKS TO SUSTAINABLE FUTURE WITH SOLAR INSTALLATION Community is utilizing solar energy in new multipurpose centre, Kwunew Kwasun building as it looks ahead with 20-year energy sustainability roadmap A recently-installed solar system at Malahat Nation is a first step as the community looks to a more sustainable future.

Solar energy is now being utilized in the nation’s new multipurpose centre and in the Kwunew Kwasun community building.

The 50kW photovoltaic system consists of 222 individual panels that are spread out between the two buildings.

It’s estimated that the panels will produce enough to pay for themselves over their 25year lifespan while saving about 30,000 kg of carbon emissions.

Tristan Gale, Malahat’s executive director of environment and sustainable development, said the system was completed in February after the nation received $150,000 in funding from the Government of B.C.’s CleanBC intiative.

The Canadian-made panels were installed in partnership with the company Osprey Electric.

“It’s the first step for Malahat in moving

towards energy self-sufficiency and green energy,” Gale explained.

Another part of that member-led push, he said, has been the community food gardens that Malahat has been expanding on since last summer, and members harvesting more traditional seafoods.

“It’s the first step for Malahat in moving towards energy self-sufficiency and green energy.”

Gale is currently working on a 20-year energy sustainability roadmap for the nation as part of a Masters in Business Administration program at the University of Victoria.

As part of that plan, he said, Malahat is looking at various energy storage initiatives that will reduce their dependency on BC Hydro.

The nation also has another application in to fund more solar panels on an upcoming build.

In the meantime, members and the public can track the progress of the current solar energy system online through an automaticallyupdating tool that tracks the amount of carbon emissions saved and the equivalent number of trees that would need to be planted to get the same result.

The numbers are available via www. malahatnation.com/about/solar and will also be shown on a screen in the multipurpose centre’s entranceway.

Gale said it’s starting a conversation about energy and sustainability for the next generation of Malahat members.

“One of the best things about this is helping people change their mindsets about energy,” he said.

“It’s not something that’s just magically available … you don’t want to take it for granted.”

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 7

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A mockup photo of the Malahat Skywalk. Submitted.

MALAHAT NATION ADAPTS ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT PLANS AMID COVID-19 The new Indigenous Bloom Corp. outlet and long-awaited Malahat Skywalk are adapting to the public health situation

By David P. Ball The public health emergency hasn’t stopped Malahat Nation from safely moving ahead with planning for the community’s economic future.

And with new measures and procedures in place to protect community members, customers and employees, the nation is confident of its next steps with its long-anticipated tourism project — the Malahat Skywalk — as well as unveiling an Indigenous-owned cannabis dispensary with additional COVID-19 safety measures.

The nation proudly announced the opening of a major new retail project on April 22 — a cannabis dispensary named Indigenous Bloom Medicinal Help and Cannabis.

According to Malahat Skywalk Corp., a series of discussions with the people involved in the project have concluded it can push ahead in healthy ways. The B.C. government has allowed construction projects to continue throughout the COVID-19 emergency.

“The company has reviewed the current construction program, based on conversations with our suppliers and contractors, and is confident work can continue on site by employees, contractors and sub-contractors,” the Skywalk project’s builders said on March 23 — as the public health emergency was declared by the province — adding that all construction will carefully follow the WorksafeBC and public health authority rules.

The announcement of continued construction work on the development came just over a year since the project was announced in 2019.

The tourist attraction, when completed, will boast a 650-metre long walk through the treetops of the Malahat Nation’s arbutus tree forest, “leading to a spectacular gentle spiral ramp” allowing visitors to climb 40 metres to a

panoramic sightseeing lookout over Finlayson Arm and the Coast Mountains.

“It will provide a stunning new perspective on beautiful southern Vancouver Island,” a statement from the nation said. The idea, they originally noted, was inspired by forest canopy walks popular with tourists in parts of Europe. The idea has also found success at British Columbia tourist attractions such as the Capilano Suspension Bridge’s own raised forest walk in North Vancouver.

Measures to protect health on the Skywalk project site include installing hand-washing stations at the job site, and “individual sanitation kits” to each employee, plus asking any employees who are sick to stay home and self-isolate for two weeks before returning to work, and staff who are able to do so to work from home. It’s restricting in-person workspaces to five people “in any circumstances,” and spacing them the recommended two metres apart to avoid infection by respiratory droplets.

And any sub-contractors are required to provide their own COVID-19 protocols before working on the construction site, which is being managed in partnership with Kinsol Timber Systems.

“The Malahat Skywalk site remains closed to the public and all unauthorized personnel,” the builders noted on March 23.

Other work on developing business opportunities for Malahat continues, with leaders of the community joining in a ribbon cutting ceremony at the Indigenous Bloom Corp. cannabis outlet’s grand opening in April.

It is located in the Malahat Nation’s 55-acre Business Park, at 1800 Trowsee Road in Mill Bay, on the Saanich Inlet coastline.

“We are looking forward to serving the area, providing access to high quality, medicinal cannabis products,” announced the First SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 9

Nation at the opening. “Congratulations to the Malahat community and Indigenous Bloom for the grand opening.”

The project’s staff and band leaders wore protective facemasks and stood apart as they proudly cut the ribbon on just the latest economic development opportunity being pursued by Malahat nation.

Products being sold at the dispensary include different varieties of smokable cannabis bud, as well as vape pens and concentrated cannabis items such as tinctures, honey infusions, full spectrum oil, hash, shatter and resin — plus popular edible gummies and hemp bath bombs for relaxation, handmade by the company.

Malahat is just the latest First Nation to take advantage of Canada’s legalized cannabis industry. Indigenous Bloom Corp. also has dispensary locations at Tsaycum in North Saanich — as well as on the B.C. mainland in White Rock, Penticton, Williams Lake, Osoyoos and Oliver.

Indigenous Bloom Corp. said it has put in place several safety measures to protect customers’ and employees’ health during the COVID-19 pandemic, including safe distancing markers on the floor, plexiglass barriers at the service counter, and only allowing two customers inside their locations at a time.

The company describes itself as a cooperative made up of Indigenous people and communities which form “long-term partnerships” with First Nations to grow, produce and sell cannabis products on their own land — in “an effective and controlled manner guided by health, wellness, and traditional values.”

It’s proving lucrative for a growing number of bands across the province.

The Malahat Nation during COVID-19 moved to an “essential services” approach, and on May 8 the band’s health team thanked the community for its understanding, support and everyone doing their part.

Posting on the nation’s official Facebook page, the health providers noted: “all your efforts of staying home and social distancing, as well as all the extra handwashing that we have seen happening” have protected the community from outbreaks seen elsewhere. “Stay strong, stay safe Malahat,” the health team said, “together we are getting through this!”

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Submitted Photo

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 11

Dr. Shannon Waters of Island Health. Submitted photo.

COAST SALISH HEALTH HEROES FIGHT AT COVID-19 FRONT LINE Indigenous health providers — from nurses to doctors and care aids — are bringing their culture and resilience to bear for the safety of society

By David P. Ball As the province of B.C. prepared to allow a slight re-opening of some services and activities starting May 14, members of Coast Salish communities continue to serve on the frontlines of the health care battle to keep COVID-19 under control.

Several told the Sentinel they could feel the deep appreciation for their efforts caring for elders, the ill, and the vulnerable during an unprecedented pandemic in our lifetimes.

“These are very difficult circumstances we’re having to deal with right now,” said Dr. Shannon Waters, the Island Health’s Authority’s Cowichan Valley medical health officer, who is from Stz’uminus First Nation.

“There are times I’m definitely overwhelmed, I will not deny that at all.”

12 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

Waters worked as a family doctor in Duncan, B.C., before returning to school for public health and preventive medicine. She was formerly senior medical health officer for the First Nations Health Authority.

“One of my teachings as a Coast Salish person is that Creator doesn’t give us anything we’re not ready for. We have the resiliency of our ancestors.”

She acknowledged the pandemic has been especially painful for the roughly 2,500 who contracted COVID-19 in B.C. and families of the more than 160 who have died from illness

here, as of May 28 — but also seniors and chronically ill people isolated because of their infection risk, and even the stresses that social distancing has had on many families and individuals.

“Certain moments can feel really scary and overwhelming, but creating space for ourselves, we can get through those moments and know we’re here,” Waters said. “One of my teachings as a Coast Salish person is that Creator doesn’t give us anything we’re not ready for. We have the resiliency of our ancestors.”

She knows the economic shutdown and public health authorities’ advice to stay close to home and avoid crowds and close contact with others can put strain on anyone’s mental health.

“It’s hard for us to understand each other’s

contexts when we’re going through this fear and overwhelm,” she said.

For her, going out on the land and seeing the new plant shoots growing with the season cleared her mind and put things in perspective.

“My spirit had been lifted,” she said, explaining she has kept her morale up dealing directly with the public health emergency by taking an hour-long walk on her territories every morning before her children wake.

“We got through hardships as a people,” Waters said. “These things happened before and our ancestors dealt with them, with our land supporting us.

“Huy tseep q’u (thank you) to our elders and our seniors — getting to that point in your life, you’ve lived through difficult times, and gained knowledge and grace in how to deal with those situations. They help create that backbone connecting us to our stories.”

Teresa Roe, from Musqueam Nation, has worked for a decade as a long-term care aid for seniors, currently in a Langley facility. Her job usually involves starting at 6 a.m. bathing seniors and helping them get dressed and ready for breakfast. On days that she works the floor, she’ll also visit and spend time with residents — whether doing puzzles, or just learning about their life stories.

Not being able to show them her smile because of extensive personal protective equipment, including medical masks and eye protection, has been particularly painful. Many were already isolated, even before all visits were banned.

One of Roe’s patients, she said, is 101 years old — meaning she was born during the 1918-1919 flu pandemic that killed up to an estimated 50 million, as World War I ended.

“Some of the things these seniors and elders have had to go through — they’ve seen a lot more than I have,” Roe said. “They’ve gone through at least one World War, and another huge pandemic.”

There have been months of “total lock down” in the long-term care home, though some visits have been able to happen with signs held up through the window glass to residents’ rooms.

“It’s hard for everybody, to see the families and how much it hurts them on their face,” Roe said.

Being Coast Salish reminds her of the importance of caring for elders, of caring for all one’s community members, and of being grateful — she’s grateful for being provided the personal protective equipment she and her coworkers need, and for all the public support unlike any she’s seen before. And she’s able to still connect with her parents using video chats, because her reserve is keeping all visitors out, so until COVID-19 eases, she can’t see her aunties, uncles or grandma.

Roe is also grateful there have been no COVID-19 cases in her facility, but one day a coworker felt ill and went home when she got shortness of breath, one of the virus’ most common symptoms (alongside fever and coughing). Thankfully the worker did not

test positive for coronavirus, but it caused anxiety — and a reminder of the importance of following all the health protocols diligently.

“All of us got really anxious, really nervous,” she recalled. “If one single person comes in and infects one other person, our entire unit would be infected — that’s a scary thought.

“Thankfully we’ve had no COVID-19 here, and we have all the equipment we need to be safe.

It’s so reassuring knowing that’s all there for us. All we can do is the best we can do. This is why we’re here. This is our job.”

The First Nations Health Authority’s chief medical officer, Dr. Evan Adams - who is from Tla’amin First Nation - acknowledged that the two-metre physical distancing rule and advice to stay home has not been easy for many.

Teresa Roe, a long-term care aid for seniors. Submitted photo.

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He emphasized that when health authorities ask people to try to stay home except for essential trips for groceries or health, that doesn’t mean locking yourself indoors. As the province gradually re-opens in phases, being safe in public spaces and outside will be more important than ever, too.

“Stay home kind of means your home including your outdoor home,” Adams said.

“For Indigenous people, that includes your territory … You can be outdoors as long as you keep your physical distance from people.”

He agreed with Dr. Waters that being outdoors, at a distance from non-household members, helps with staying mentally healthy and well during an extremely stressful time for many.

“Not a lot of people have COVID-19 right now — a lot of the suffering people are experiencing is mental,” he said in the video.

“I hear a lot of people saying they’re anxious,

vulnerable to catching the respiratory illness.

“Stay in your homes, keep away from others, and protect elders and people with severe health conditions,” Moore said, in a post on the Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council’s Covid-19 Task Group’s website.

The Naut’sa mawt Elders Council had also issued an early call to member nations asking them to postpone cultural activities and events, even funerals, until after the emergency passes — and for any communities running businesses to close their doors for now.

And perhaps most importantly, to take extra care to protect the elders but to ensure they are also not isolated during a distressing time.

“Protect your elders and loved ones with any health concerns by keeping your distance,” the council advised, “but do call them to check-in and see how they are doing.”

The Coast Salish communities declaring

“A lesson I’ve learned from thinking about their resilience is people need to stay together, to be kind and help each other, be compassionate and caring. Remember, everybody’s going through the same thing. We’ve just got to do what we need to do until this is over.” sleepless, concerned, they feel a lot of stress, they worry about their loved ones, and they feel helpless.

“Part of our work is to encourage people …

We are strong, we will get through this, it will end.”

The Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council — publisher of the Salish Sea Sentinel — launched a COVID-19 taskforce drawn from its 11 member communities to co ordinate during the pandemic and its economic disruptions.

The tribal council said in a statement it’s “committed to working with our member nations to support them during this unprecedented time,” adding that despite “limited resources, each of our communities are doing the very best work that they can to minimize the spread of the virus, reduce panic and provide basic support needs.”

For Janet Moore, an elder from Halalt First Nation, the pandemic and its painful effects is a reminder to “keep praying” and caring for the community, especially those most

emergencies or choosing to close off their access roads to visitors are certainly not alone in the province. Some even set up roadblocks to control entry; others declared emergencies or self-isolation as a community.

Terry Teegee, B.C. Assembly of First Nations Regional Chief said many bands are “hyperaware” of the higher risks of COVID-19 to Indigenous people. That’s led to communities with few entry roads especially to shut their borders; at least 50 declared official states of emergency, while even more — at least 80 — have declared community self-isolation.

“An outbreak in a community could be quite devastating, considering we have so many elders,” Teegee explained. “Many First Nations communities suffer from chronic diseases … many of which can be attributed to poverty and policies such as the Indian Act, and we also have chronic diseases like diabetes because of our change in diet.”

He said that levels of government should have done more to include First Nations in funding

and health decisions, and in better informing them about where COVID-19 cases are nearby.

“Quite frankly we haven’t been part of the decision-making process,” he said. In the absence of more involvement, many are taking matters into their own hands as part of selfdetermination: “You can control those that enter the community and make sure your First Nation’s members are protected, and only let in essential services to the community,” he said. “Quite simply it’s easier to self-isolate as a whole than as individuals.”

According to Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council’s elders, however, physical distance should not mean being culturally or socially alone.

And that means not only looking out for and protecting elders in the community, but also realizing that their well-being is everyone’s well-being.

“Isolation can be lonely,” the Elders Council said in a statement, “so turning to your elders for guidance, support, and conversation may be helpful to get through these challenging times.”

For long-term care aid Roe, the difficult and stressful time we’re in has also revealed resilience — health providers looking out for each others’ health, and hearing the public’s cheering and noise-making for front line workers every evening at 7 p.m.; she said she turns off all sound in her home to listen.

It’s a lesson in resilience which she draws on from her own cultural background as Coast Salish, who have survived so many major historic calamities and events. She draws strength for the resilience she’s seen during COVID-19.

“It is heartwarming,” she mused. “A lesson I’ve learned from thinking about their resilience is people need to stay together, to be kind and help each other, be compassionate and caring.

“Remember everybody’s going through the same thing. We’ve just got to do what we need to do until this is over.”

If you need mental health support, the Indigenous-focused KUU-US Crisis Line Society is free to anyone who needs it at 1-800-588-8717.

Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council’s Covid-19 Task Group can be reached at covid19@nautsamawt. com or via the NmTC offices toll-free at 1-888382-7711.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 15

SNUNEYMUXW ARTISTS DESIGN COVID-19 MASKS Joel and William Good join Indigenous artists across Canada who are making facecovering masks to prevent spread of COVID-19

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Lucas Damer models one of the masks. Photo by Julie Chadwick.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 17

Tasia Harris. Submitted photo.

Heather Simpson. Submitted photo.

18 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

By Julie Chadwick Two Snuneymuxw artists have joined a number of other Indigenous artists in Canada who are putting their own spin on face-covering masks aimed at preventing the spread of COVID-19.

Joel Good and his father Elder William Good (Tseskinakhen) have designed several masks with help from their family-run fashion company Ay Lelum the Good House of Design.

The designers struck a partnership with the Vancouver-based manufacturer Oddball, which already works with Ay Lelum, to create the masks.

Aunalee Boyd-Good, who runs Ay Lelum with her sister Sophia Seward-Good, said Oddball had already been developing a mask, so the collaboration seemed obvious. “(We knew) that people would start wearing masks and that we wanted to have our own designs,” she said.

“And we knew that Oddball’s masks had superior construction, they were three layers, they were made in Canada, and that was how we wanted to make them.”

The collaboration happened shortly after the Snuneymuxw declared a state of emergency in response to the pandemic on March 23 — prohibiting public access to their reserves, and setting up checkpoints and roadblocks to monitor traffic.

In early April, a design process was underway, and Joel posted his original eagle design on his Facebook page. The response was positive, and preorders began to come in.

“It’s kind of funny with social distancing. I made a gnarly design, you know what I mean? To keep people away,” said Joel of his eagle design.

It comes in two colour combinations — one in purple and grey, and another in blue and red.

Ay Lelum then added more options that featured William’s designs: one with killer whales and another that features roses and a hummingbird.

The Goods join other Indigenous artists locally and across Canada who are taking the opportunity to feature their art on face-covering masks.

The masks are non-medical but are meant to be worn as an additional layer of protection to prevent the spread of droplets from the mouth and nose.

“A new fashion accessory has arrived in the year of COVID-19,” reads a statement on Haida fashion designer and artist Dorothy Grant’s website, where she offers masks with a Raven and Hummingbird design. “It is a new world since the pandemic, and we don’t know how long this will continue.”

Vancouver-based design house Chloe Angus is also featuring masks in a variety of Indigenous designs, with partial proceeds from both companies going to various charities.

Joel and William Good’s masks can be purchased at aylelum. com or directly from the artists, with a percentage of the proceeds going to a local non-profit.

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www.gwaiieng.com • 250-886-0049 SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 19

William Good, left, with his son Joel. File photo.

A SMALLPOX STORY FROM ELDER WILLIAM GOOD (TSESKINAKHEN)

By Aunalee Boyd-Good As we find ourselves living during a global pandemic and adjusting to the new normal of COVID-19, I have had a story about the smallpox epidemic lingering in the back of my mind. I have heard my father William Good (Tseskinakhen) tell this story a number of times in my life. It is a story of grave significance and it has always resonated with me, especially with the impact in which my father delivered it in times of need and great community pain.

Growing up with my dad — who is a Snuneymuxw master artist, hereditary chief and traditional storyteller — my siblings and have been privy to glimpses of the past through art and storytelling with deep revelations of oral history of this region. That history was passed on by our father’s grandfather and namesake — the late William Good, the eldest son of Chief 20 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

Louie Good, son of the chief of the seven amalgamated tribes of Snuneymuxw. Although it is several generations away, the oral history connects us to that time and allows my father to share how the story was told.

While living in such uncertain times amidst a

Living in a global pandemic is difficult and challenging, and it is our hope that we are able to find ourselves extracting good from tragedy and that we can live in love and unity as the human race. pandemic in 2020, it has caused me to think that now is the time for my father to share his story of how smallpox affected us locally.

Although I knew the story, I still relied on having him tell me the story again, seeking approval and accuracy to document it. When I hit the record button on my phone, he shifted into a recall mode and he delivered the story intact — due to this intensely repetitive process of the teachings in his young childhood by his grandfather in the 1950s.

Here is the story, according to William Good: “The white people handed out smallpox blankets, [which were] Hudson’s Bay blankets and they gave them to all of the nations here [on the Coast]. There were two tribes on Gabriola [Island], one on the East side and one on the West side. The one on the East side of the Island did not always get along with Nanaimo and they warred quite a bit. They had to have quite a population to war with Nanaimo [which was known to be 10,000

people]. When they gave out those smallpox blankets, there were a few people who were on the East side of the island who when they woke up, everybody [in the entire village] was dead. There was just a small canoe full of them [left], so they figured they would paddle over to the West side of the island to ask if they could amalgamate and stay with the other tribe on Gabriola, and when they got to that side of the island, the whole nation was [also] dead. So, they didn’t really get along with Nanaimo, but they had no choice - they decided they better go ask if they could stay and amalgamate to the Nanaimo tribe, and they paddled over on their one small canoe.

They were crying as they paddled over to Nanaimo and when they arrived, they told their story to the Nanaimo people and [they] let them stay and amalgamate to Nanaimo. Those two families are still a part of the Snuneymuxw people today.”

Amalgamation and adoption was a customary practice within the Hul’q’umi’num Law system that paralleled the systems among other nations along the Coast. A request could be made to the chief to be adopted and amalgamate to the new nation, despite not being from there, and if the chief agreed and accepted them, that person then became part of that nation.

This story teaches us to accept others as our own, even if they are our adversaries, and we are to care and love one another. The moral is to have compassion in a time of need and to work together despite our differences.

Although living in the COVID-19 pandemic has evoked many different feelings, especially in reflecting on the smallpox epidemic, it serves as a reminder of the wonder of the resilience that is born in the face of adversity. Living in a global pandemic is difficult and challenging, and it is our hope that we are able to find ourselves extracting good from tragedy and that we can live in love and unity as the human race.

Aunalee Boyd-Good is a co-founder of Ay Lelum The Good House of Design, a secondgeneration Coast Salish Design House from Snuneymuxw First Nation. She holds a Bachelor’s in English from Vancouver Island University.

XYNTAX GROUP INC. WELCOMES EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR LISA SCOTT The Xyntax Board of Directors is pleased to announce that Quw’utsun member Lisa Scott has been named Executive Director of Xyntax Group Inc. “We are fortunate to have someone of Lisa Scott’s caliber and experience step up to help guide Xyntax,” said Martin McLaren, Chair of the Xyntax Board of Directors. “She has a solid understanding of business operations and is customer focused, with deep leadership capabilities.”

Scott has worked as Chief Financial Officer for Indigenous organizations and has worked in both the private and public sector for 26 years.

“I intend to continue Xyntax’s long tradition of working with First Nations, Tribal Councils, and band-empowered entities across Canada to reclaim our place in society as culturally strong, self-governing, and prosperous First Peoples,” said Scott. I look forward to working closely with the staff of Xyntax to move forward in a good way.”

Lisa Scott is from Cowichan Bay. She is privileged to have family all around the Salish Sea. Her maternal grandparents were late Robbie and Mary Anne Daniels of Tlulpalus. Her paternal grandparents were late hereditary Chief Queesto Charles Jones Sr. and Ida Jones of Pacheedaht. Her late mother Shishamtunaat Bertha Sam and late father Walter Jones raised her in Cowichan Bay, where she and her husband Brian have raised their four children.

Xyntax is an Indigenous-owned, Canadian software manufacturer that provides integrated administrative and financial management solutions for First Nations. Over the past thirty years, Xyntax has been used by over 100 Canadian First Nations, Tribal Councils, and Indigenous owned organizations.

Please visit www.xyntax.ca for more information SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 21

UBC INDIGENOUS-LED GARDEN BRINGS CONNECTION AMID UNCERTAINTY

22 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

Photos: Skayu Louis

Tu’wusht Garden Project at UBC Farm helps urban Indigenous people connect to land, food security and each other

By Skayu Louis The Tu’wusht Garden Project is an Indigenousled food security initiative at the University of British Columbia. Named in the Tla’amin language, Tu’wusht means “we belong” and is a space for urban Indigenous people to grow and share food. For a few weeks in mid-April, I joined mentor and former garden co-ordinator Kim Haxton in prepping the land to be planted for the 2020 growing season.

Bicycling through the precipice between campus and the UBC Farm was once a more therapeutic affair, one in which large cedars shaded, cushioned, and hugged fully the 24-hectare farmlands on the UBC endowment lands located on the unceded ancestral territory of the hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓speaking xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people.

Now, encroachment is sonic, it is visual, and

it is jarring. As construction workers build community living spaces right up until the gate of the entrance, the farm is spatially safe from further encroachment. Yet, in a moment of economic precarity, and in a time when large human gatherings are prohibited, COVID-19 and its encompassing consequences prompts a deeper consideration about the importance of urban agriculture as a source of food, as a space of interspecies connection, and as security on multiple fronts.

In the ever-presence of uncertainty that COVID-19 has brought into our daily lives, there is certainty in the budding alders, sprouting rose shoots, and last year’s kale supply. Now, more than ever, we turn to the land for security, for certainty, and for social companionship. Here at the UBC Farm, we keep a few rows apart and work together as

a small team to plant for the Tu’wusht Garden Project. Typically, the Tu’wusht Garden Project brings elders and youth from Vancouver’s Indigenous community of the Downtown Eastside to connect with each other, connect to land, connect to knowledge and embody the “seed-to-plate” concept in food production and consumption. The Vancouver Native Health Society program used to operate under the name “the Urban Aboriginal Community Kitchen/Garden Project” when it began in 2005. It was given the Tla’amin name “Tu’wusht” by the late Elder Corrine Mitchell in 2013.

While the labour force of the Tu’wusht Garden Project typically transports program participants from the DTES to the UBC Farm, COVID-19 presents challenges for the growing season within the half-acre garden plots.

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This spring, the plots are laboured by a small group of volunteers knowing that one day its program community will return. One way or another, we retain the essence of place and maintain its function as a sanctuary within and away from the urban complexities.

The space is medicine and sustenance. With medicinal plants emerging in the frenzy of spring spouts, shoots, and growth — the years of compounded knowledge from a broad array of community participants is evident by the multiplicity of food and medicinal plants embedded in the soil. Carefully, we weed the garden while transplanting the medicinal plants. We converse about which plants from our respective homes and territories are antiviral, anti-bacterial, and which are important for respiratory function. As a childhood asthmatic from the Syilx Nation, Mullein has been an important plant for aiding my respiratory function. I carefully transplant their new growth into their own space within the garden. As we re-organize the space for the 2020 season, we retain the function of the garden as a space to feel belonging in a time 24 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

of social distancing and urban quarantine. We share and cultivate our knowledge, and we hold the space true to its intent as a space for DTES community members to rely on.

We anticipate the importance of medicinal plants in the wake of a global pandemic, and emphasize the importance of how this knowledge has been passed on to us both individually and collectively. The many seasons of program operation have left their mark by nurturing productive soils. The soils carry the teachings of past and present community knowledge keepers who have brought their own medicines to the circle. In that, we are grateful for continuance in a time when interruption takes precedent.

In years past, I remember spending time with elders from throughout the Coast Salish world and beyond during my undergraduate experience at UBC. Peeling fresh shoots, sharing medicinal knowledge, and talking about worms, we weeded the farm plots for the coming harvest season. Those interactions with the garden drew knowledge and health from the depths of land into the pulse of

community. Learning outside of text and pages re-opened my understanding of the importance of such a space on campus. The UBC Farm was more than a space of food production, but one of academic pedagogical freedom and experimentation. Teaching in this way reflects the ways of our elders from a deep past, to our contemporary urban reality. In these times when it is difficult to gather without the intermediary of screens bearing glitchy video chat apps, those organic embodied expressions of relationality are emphasized in our interactions with land. Farming, gathering, or observing — these actions fulfil a form of social importance that emphasizes how our communities are interdependent.

While the UBC Farm has cancelled its programming, workshops, and gatherings until June 30th in conjunction with UBC COVID-19 guidelines, spaces like it remind us that the land is one of our primary teachers and caregivers. With the coming of the academic semester, and Provincial Health Officer Dr. Bonnie Henry’s new phrasing of “few faces in big spaces,” we consider the importance of the

natural world as a container for our learning environments. In some sense, this time of social distancing is an opportunity to explore and strengthen our relationships with place, land, and the myriad of life that surround us on a daily basis. As air traffic is erased from the skies, the stars become visible throughout Vancouver; these are the natural markers of our generations to remember where we are and how we are. In terms of education and community planning, I believe the land is speaking to us in these times, reminding us of the importance of spaces like the UBC Farm in the ever-expanding urbanization of the Coast Salish world at the mouth of the Fraser River.

In 1911, the UBC Farm was planned to occupy the majority of campus at approximately 200 acres with designations as farmland, agronomy, horticulture, and animal husbandry.

In 1974, the current space of the farm saw the opening of a state-of-the art Dairy Barn located in a “room in the forest.” In the late nineties, the current farm space was reimagined and restructured into what it has become today. The space and programs grew in the subsequent decade to about 150 projects by 2011. While in 1997 the UBC farm saw potential designation as a “Future Housing Reserve” the threats to the farm space persisted and came to head in 2008 when the pressures of market housing were ever present. An on-campus movement branded as “Save The Farm” mobilized students and allies to cumulate 16,000 signatures to be delivered to UBC President Toope in October of 2008.

In 2009 there was a celebratory march from the now old UBC Student Union Building to the UBC Farm to mark the efforts of the farm community to preserve its importance as an academic and sustainability resource.

Today, the urban encroachment is visible, audible, and felt. As global forces reshape our immediate surroundings, this moment of economic precarity and unstable food security reminds us that spaces like the UBC farm are vital for our urban ecosystem.

Skayu Louis is a youth camp facilitator and is in the Indigenous Politics program at the University of Hawai’ii. He is from the Syilx Nation.

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Editor’s note: This paper was originally published by the Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre at the University of British Columbia and is reprinted here, in part, with permission.

The Centre has been publishing a series of short papers on the implementation of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and in particular British Columbia’s Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples Act. As COVID-19 hit, the Centre published this paper, the fifth in its instalment, which assesses the human rights impact that the pandemic has had on Indigenous communities. Here, we reprint the section of the paper titled ‘Indigenous Peoples, Human Rights, and Emergencies.’

The full document and the rest of the discussion paper series can be accessed online at 26 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

http://irshdc.ubc.ca/undrip-papers The situation of Indigenous Peoples in a pandemic emergency is a distinct and unique one, where impacts on civil liberties and human rights can be massively disproportionate.

A starting point for understanding how this is the case is remembering that Indigenous Peoples in much of Canada, and elsewhere in the Americas, have already suffered massively from waves of viruses, including small pox, measles, tuberculosis, and others.

Today, Indigenous Peoples continue to suffer disproportionately from many viruses.

For many Indigenous Peoples today, this experience remains vibrant in collective memory. It is directly intertwined with the period of time in which forced relocation, land dispossession, and the creation of the Indian reserve system took place – all of which, to

varying degrees, were facilitated through the massive decline in the Indigenous populations as a result of small pox.

Today many aspects of the colonial legacy remain with us, and these create unique challenges faced by Indigenous Peoples in times of emergency. Three in particular can be highlighted.

The first challenge is connected to the wellestablished socio-economic gap between Indigenous Peoples and other Canadians which manifests itself in every sector from housing, to education, to child welfare, to economic and food security.

When emergency conditions arise, and civil liberties are curtailed, this gap becomes more pronounced. It goes without saying that the requirements of social distancing and selfisolation – and the restrictions on mobility – are more destructive when one already has

INDIGENOUS RIGHTS IN TIMES OF EMERGENCY The Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre looks at the human rights impact COVID-19 has had in Indigenous communities

inadequate housing. This is compounded in the case of many First Nations peoples who live on isolated and under-serviced Indian reserves where access to supplies, food, and internet connectivity are far less.

Curtailing civil liberties, including economic activity, and assuming more authoritarian legal forms, in order to secure and ensure supplies for the population is typically necessary in emergencies and we are seeing it now. But for those populations already not as connected to the supply chain – like remote First Nations – the dangerous result in an emergency is being left off the supply chain altogether. In this way, the curtailment of human rights that is meant to protect the population, only further exposes those already most vulnerable.

These challenges are even more pronounced when one considers that Indigenous women and children are already specifically and

uniquely vulnerable. As we know from the horrendous data on murdered and missing Indigenous women and girls and Indigenous children in care, in normal times the fight for basic equality, the right to life and security, and the enjoyment of fundamental freedoms for Indigenous women and children is fragile and remains an uphill battle. When the civil liberties of all people are curtailed in a time of emergency, the inequality of these groups manifests itself more starkly. Consider for example the growing focus on police enforcement, forced quarantining, and even the subtle encouragement that strangers should report on each other. Such steps will place, or often return, Indigenous women and children to unstable and unsafe settings, putting their well-being at risk. For children this could well include further entrenching a life pattern where they are separated from

family, extended family, community, and culture, resulting in negative impacts that will shape their lives into adulthood.

The second challenge is connected to the fact that the recognition and implementation of the human rights of Indigenous Peoples is an on-going struggle, that is occurring far later in time than Canada’s history of upholding, legally affirming, and respecting the human rights of other peoples.

We do not need to repeat the facts of Canada’s colonial legacy, and how the law historically was a tool of oppression rather than protection that specifically treated Indigenous Peoples differently than other Canadians. What is important to remember, however, is that even where our laws have shifted in recent decades to specifically recognize Indigenous rights, the implementation of those rights has continued to be slow, and behind the pace of respecting SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 27

other human rights norms.

As former Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada Jody Wilson-Raybould has explained, while our Constitution was amended in 1982 to include both the Charter of Rights and Freedoms and section 35 that recognized the collective rights of Indigenous Peoples, the actions government took regarding these new rights protections was different. In relation to the Charter governments accepted and expected to take action to implement and respect those rights. Governments began organizing around them, including making legal, policy, and practice changes. Section 35, on the other hand, was treated differently, with governments denying that it meant anything. It was an “empty box” of rights. The result has been decades of legal battles in courts fuelled by arguments that Indigenous Peoples did not have any rights protected by section 35, or if they did, they have been extinguished or are relatively speaking, meaningless.

One challenge of the fact that Indigenous rights are mid-stream in a struggle for recognition – and that we still have strong remnants of our colonial legacy – is that our legal and governing systems provide the least strength and opportunities to protect

is no uniformity across First Nations about some of these jurisdictional relationships.

In the midst of this is the reality that most Indigenous governments suffer from significant gaps in governance capacity and very limited streams of revenue. Indigenous governments are in various stages of rebuilding themselves, but the lack of rights implementation generally has made much of this work slower and harder. While many Indigenous governments have declared their own states of emergency to address the crisis, they often do so without the infrastructure, legal frameworks, and governance capacity to consistently implement emergency measures in ways that are urgently needed, while ensuring that the concerns, rights, and needs of their own members of are met.

If we had spent previous decades – even if only since 1982 – more proactively implementing Indigenous rights, including most notably the right to self-government, we would be in a far better situation for dealing with an emergency.

Instead of jurisdictional confusion, we would have increasingly clarified authorities. Instead of patterns of entrenched conflict, we would have greater patterns of co-ordinating action as governments. And instead of limited capacity,

The pandemic emergency will impact the work of reconciliation well into the future. Real questions will confront this work in the months and years ahead.

Indigenous Peoples and communities in time of emergency. This can be seen quite directly.

Consider the case of First Nations and Indian reserves. At a time when all people need clear action by governments to take emergency steps to help people, First Nations on reserve live in a jurisdictional morass created by the colonial Indian Act. The legal morass created by this century old colonial legislation has resulted in a situation today where there is tremendous complexity about what powers a province holds that can apply on reserve, what powers the federal government holds, and what Band Councils must do themselves. As well, for a range of reasons including varying agreements that have been entered into, there 28 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

we would see Indigenous governments in increasing stages of rebuilding, more ready to confront the needs of citizens in times of emergency. Instead, as a result of delays in respecting Indigenous rights, there is a greater inability of all orders of government – federal, provincial, and First Nation – to take needed actions in response to the pandemic emergency to protect a population that has historically suffered great human rights abuses.

Third, and related to the above, is the challenge of how the progress of recognizing and implementing the basic human rights of Indigenous Peoples, including the UN Declaration through DRIPA, will be further stalled or delayed as a result of the pandemic

emergency.

As the emergency eases, and civil liberties restrictions are lifted, it is likely that those in the most advantaged and powerful positions will first experience the return to normalcy.

For Indigenous Peoples, on the other hand, they will likely be faced with the necessity for continued advocacy for basic human rights recognition in a context where there are human rights demands from many more people and significantly depleted resources. Further, while still advocating for long overdue respect for their human rights, Indigenous Peoples and governments will now (like all others) have to factor complex emergency preparedness into their work, further depleting the already limited resources that Indigenous governments have at their disposal.

The pandemic emergency will impact the work of reconciliation well into the future.

Real questions will confront this work in the months and years ahead. Will the progress of recent years be stalled? Should the priorities of the work of reconciliation change? How will the necessary investments for ensuring human rights protections be made?

How this future looks, and the challenges it brings, will depend in many ways on the choices made today regarding how civil liberties and human rights are addressed in these unique times. As dialogue and choices continue to be made, we should continue to examine and remind ourselves that those who were vulnerable before this pandemic, are increasingly so during and after it. For the work of reconciliation, this means figuring out how to ensure that while necessary steps are taken in dangerous times, decades of slow but steady progress are not rolled back as a result of the emergency, and the future emerges with more focus, perspective, and tangible ways to move forward.

UBC’s Indian Residential School History and Dialogue Centre facilitates access to records related to Canada’s residential school system.

The Centre is directed by Mary Ellen TurpelLafond (Aki-kwe), who is a UBC professor, legal expert and legislative advocate for children’s rights.

‘A DIFFICULT DECISION BUT THE RIGHT ONE’: TRIBAL JOURNEYS PREP SHIFTS FROM SNUNEYMUXW TO TLA’AMIN IN 2021 Cross-border cultural celebration would have been first time Snuneymuxw hosted in 30 years — now, the band is praying for paddlers’ health as planning begins for next year

File photos from 2019’s Paddle To Lummi by Todd Peacey

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By David P. Ball “Every stroke we take is one less we have to make,” states Tribal Canoe Journeys’ Ten Rules of the Canoe, written in 1990 on the event’s second year. Another rule, according to tradition: “We all pull and support each other.”

Those lessons, created by Quileute paddlers as recorded in David Neel’s book “The Great Canoes” could be as applicable to getting through the painful COVID-19 pandemic as they are useful for teams of paddlers spending long, difficult days braving the ocean waves at the annual international event.

Until being canceled because of the health emergency, this summer’s Paddle to

— not just the journey, but the preparation for it — so to cancel was not taken lightly.”

Before COVID-19 hit, Snuneymuxw had been preparing to host more than 100 canoes from B.C. and Washington State. However Chief Mike Wyse announced in April that the gathering would be cancelled because of the public health risk.

“COVID-19 poses a serious threat to the health and well-being of paddlers, canoe families and First Nations across the Pacific North West,” Chief Mike Wyse said.

“We are focused on keeping our elders and people safe.”

Now, work is already underway planning for next year’s event, which will be a Paddle to

“It was very bittersweet — you want to do the right thing, to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make sure all the communities are safe.”

Snuneymuxw was supposed to happen from July 27 to Aug. 1. And it would have been the first time in the Tribal Canoe Journey’s threedecade history that Snuneymuxw First Nation would have hosted the major gathering.

“Our hearts are with the Snuneymuxw people,” said Drew Blaney, chair of the 2021 Paddle to Tla’amin.

“We understand the decision, and we’re trying to keep our elders and youth safe. It’s still disappointing; in all the nations and tribes along the coast, it’s revitalized so much of our culture and our nations.”

This year would have been the 31st anniversary of the event, which was first launched in 1989 with the “Paddle to Seattle.”

Tribal Journeys Director Jodi Simkin said that having to cancel this summer’s Paddle to Snuneymuxw wasn’t easy but was important to protect participants’ health — and their communities.

“Although a difficult decision, I think it was the right one,” the Klahoose First Nation cultural affairs and heritage director said. “It was very bittersweet — you want to do the right thing, to make sure we’re doing everything we can to make sure all the communities are safe.

“Certainly people on the Safety Committee were really cognizant that for lots of young folks this is really the marker for the whole year 30 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

Tla’amin Nation. Preparation work with that community already “started at the beginning of April,” Simkin revealed. “Most of our team, including myself, will be shifting to support Tribal Journeys 2021 Paddle to Tla’amin.”

Although the next several years of hosting are already booked by other nations, Blaney said he looks forward to Snuneymuxw hosting soon; a lot of work went into planning this year’s cancelled journey and “youth and elders really look forward to it every year — it is such a good show of our cultures,” he said.

“We really look forward to touching their shores in further years when they can host again,” he said. “We’re excited to welcome the Pacific North West to our territories, to our homeland.”

Meanwhile, although Klahoose First Nation had to postpone their Awakening of the Canoes annual safety event that prepares paddlers for Tribal Journeys, they haven’t canceled it outright, Simkin said — but will announce a rescheduled date, she hopes in September.

Next year’s Tribal Journeys Paddle to Tla’amin is scheduled for July 27 to Aug. 1, 2021 — and roughly a dozen teams are already registered for the 2021 event. Information can be found at www.paddletotlaamin.com.

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32 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

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NmTC hosted a youth camp in Tla’amin in 2017. File photo.

MOVING FORWARD WITH DELICATE BALANCE AS SUMMER GATHERINGS CANCELLED Skayu Louis, an organizer of the annual multi-nation IndigenEYEZ youth camp in the Okanagan, writes about remembering history, healing in time of stillness

By Skayu Louis Summer is usually a time for our communities to gather and connect. However, this year, most of the annual events we have come to look forward to — canoe journeys, culture camps and more — have been postponed indefinitely. COVID-19 presents many uncertainties for future in-person gatherings in the 2020 season and beyond.

Though this physical separation is important in order to protect vulnerable community members, it brings a sense of loss for those of us who organize events. Our summer for IndigenEYEZ camps, youth gatherings, and facilitation have come to a swift pause as large gatherings remain an impossibility.

IndigenEYEZ is an organization, community, and growing network that brings together multiple nations for an annual week-long camp in the Syilx Okanagan Nation along the Smalqmix River. Our summer youth camps 34 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

are aimed at forging connections between people of various Indigenous backgrounds — they are attended by youth from a variety of cultures, including Coast Salish, Okanagan, Tsilcotin and Dene.

Our camp events typically take place in early July and host between 50 to 80 people for a weeklong shared experience of creative engagement and land-based sensory activity.

Our gatherings are rooted in the Indigenous knowledge, stories and languages of the spaces from which they are held. Activities range from smoking salmon along the river to hosting our annual shadow puppet storytelling event. Gatherings are often held in a temporary tipi village established for the purposes of our camps.

Our IndigenEYEZ family began to grow while being hosted in the traditional village site of the Smalqmix peoples, located on the Lower Similkameen Indian Band. The camp

space and village site remind us through our smaymay — our oral histories — that pandemics in varying scales have swept through our territories in years past.

At the site of Ashnola, our story of Acxulaxw tells of a time when in the mid 1700s a sickness came through our valleys and impacted mostly adults, while sparing youth and elders into a scenario of famine.

An Okanagan gathering party found the Smalqmix community in despair — our nations joined at that time permanently through sharing food and mutual aid.

Strategies of distancing enabled the gathering party to take care of the Smalqmix community from summer into fall, and then through the rest of the year. They ended up staying in the valley on a permanent basis, and our contemporary Smalqmix community can trace their lineages to that history of distinction and togetherness.

While this has been an important story to orient camp comers in past years into the space of the Smalqmix, its teachings have pronounced meaning as we enter a new era of this new global pandemic. We remember to take these measures seriously, even if it means cancelling programs, and important gatherings that are keystone in the resurgence of our youth.

For the foreseeable future, it seems difficult to host spaces and gatherings to create youth/ elder relationships, mentorships, and fulfill intergenerational knowledge transmission. Yet it remains important that our youth have access to this knowledge for strategies of coping with all of the nuanced difficulties that this reconfigured pandemic reality has brought our communities, as well as, important medicinal knowledge that can strengthen our relationship with land and help promote a localized defense against virus transmission. We know Indigenous communities have been disproportionately impacted by COVID-19 and that our elders are especially vulnerable, at the same time. Our elders are the keepers of our knowledge, languages, and stories.

Many of our languages from the Coast Salish world into the Interior have been hard hit by the impacts of residential school, colonization, and past pandemics and regardless of the pandemic we are in an era that is critical for youth/elder knowledge transmission. As we look forward into future camp scenarios, it will be a very delicate balance of how to engage our knowledge keepers and youth simultaneously in a shared space given the risk of future waves of COVID-19.

The lived and embodied experiences that sharing space on the land offer cannot be replaced in digital format, but perhaps they can be adapted in the interim to assure our continued connections are in place. Much of Turtle Island have turned to programs like Zoom to continue business as usual, modified programming, language classes, and general community engagement — while this model cannot suffice in the long term, there may be opportunities to engage the community that we have cultivated.

As one of the hosts of our major summer camp gathering, I will continue to pitch our tipis to keep them alive through this season of stillness. We will continue to check in with our elders. We will continue to check in with the youth, and we will persist into the future with stories of resilience that another pandemic has come and gone.

Photo: Skayu Louis.

TLA’AMIN ACTIVIST HONOURED WITH INDSPIRE AWARD Tla’amin youth activist Ta’Kaiya Blaney has been honoured with an Indspire award.

The actress and musician was honoured in the “Youth — First Nation” category for her advocacy work that began when she was just 10 years old.

Blaney was one of eleven recipients of the 2020 Indspire Awards, which were filmed March 6 and will be broadcast on June 21.

The Indspire Awards are one of the highest honours within the country’s Indigenous community — recognizing outstanding First Nations, Inuit, and Métis people in various fields including arts, business, culture and more. Blaney was the only awardee from B.C. this year.

“In all they do, these individuals are deeply inspirational, and as leaders in their respective fields, they are motivating young Indigenous people to strive for success,” said Roberta Jamieson, the president and CEO of Indspire.

Blaney, a member of Tla’amin First Nation, has spoken at United Nations conferences, environmental events and classrooms as well as performing songs she has written.

When she was 13, she became the youngest person ever to have intervened in the UN Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues.

“Ta’Kaiya uses her many talents to complement her activism,” said a statement from Indspire.

“She travels across Canada and around the world to effect change as a youth ambassador who believes that the recognition of Indigenous rights is vital to the health of the planet.”

The national broadcast of the Indspire Awards ceremony will air on CBC, APTN and CBC Radio One. More information is available at indspire.ca.

Photo: Indspire.

36 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

INDIGENOUS PLANNING STUDENTS PRODUCE HALALT CHILDREN’S BOOK UBC students recently wrapped up practicum placements in Halalt, Homalco nations Post-secondary planning students at Halalt First Nation have worked with the community to create a children’s book.

The book titled A Story of Xeláltxw Mustimuxw was released to the nation after students Andrea Oakunsheyld and Phil Climie completed their practicum earlier this year.

They were part of a cohort from the University of British Columbia’s Indigenous Community Planning program who have completed work placements at various nations.

Those students and others who completed work at the Homalco and Qualicum nations presented their final work via Zoom on April 15.

“Each journey is completely different,” said Jesse Hemphill, an instructor with the program.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 37

“By coming together … we’re able to learn from each other and learn from these different experiences.”

At Halalt, students Oakunsheyld and Climie began their work in September of 2019.

The nation already had a draft comprehensive community plan in place, so the pair helped the nation to round it out and to start to implement goals.

“A children’s book was actually one of their recommended actions from last year,” Oakunsheyld said.

Since she had previously specialized in children’s literature, and the book also fit into other community goals such as education and youth engagement, working on it seemed like an obvious choice.

The students met with elders to discuss stories and teachings which shaped the book. The story is told from the perspective of a little boy from Halalt who is sitting with his grandmother and hearing stories about the land.

“We started to see a narrative emerge and so we just started placing pieces together,” Oakunsheyld said.

“It ends with grandmother saying the lands and waters around Halalt have changed and are very different, but they’re also the same now.”

The book includes various Hul’q’umi’num’ words and was illustrated by Oakuncheyld and Climie.

Meanwhile, two other UBC planning students worked with Homalco First Nation to draft a new comprehensive community plan.

Homalco started their planning process in mid2018, led by co-ordinator Jeannie Hill. They partnered with UBC students Pearl Penner and Kate Davis to continue the work in September of 2019.

Because of the COVID-19, the Homalco plan is complete but remains an early draft, and the students weren’t able to present their final work to the community.

“The biggest limitation we came up against was COVID-19,” Davis said.

“We were forced to cancel all all our community visits and engagements from March 12 onwards.”

The challenge was one that affected all the planning students in this year’s cohort — but Hemphill underlined the lessons that lie in having to adapt.

“This year has brought so much that is unexpected,” she said.

“I am so proud of this year’s cohort of Indigenous community planning students. … They’re prepared to go out into incredibly challenging scenarios.”

38 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

UBC students Pearl Penner (left) and Kate Davis (right) learn about the history of Homalco from Elder Bill Blaney at his home in February, 2020.

Submitted photo.

Sq’éwlets community members prioritize action items with UBC practicum students at a community dinner in January.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 39

COAST SALISH BOOK REVIEW: NOTABLE RECENT PUBLICATIONS Editor’s note: As COVID-19 continues to make an impact, many of us have more down time at home to practice hobbies such as reading. Because the Salish Sea Sentinel is a Coast Salish publication, we are printing this book review from anthropologist Bruce Granville Miller, wherein he lists some notable publications by and about remarkable Coast Salish people and the lands they live on. Enjoy!

By Bruce Granville Miller In recent years, a number of biographies and autobiographies of Coast Salish people have been published. Markedly, many of these are about women and most emphasize women’s efforts in pulling their families and communities through the dark times of the twentieth centuries and

their achievements in bringing about better times. These books and films concern people from both sides of the border, but still within the Coast Salish lands.

Below I have noted a few notable publications that have been published in recent years with a brief synopsis of each.

Written As I Remember It: Teachings from the Life of a Sliammon Elder, Elsie Paul in collaboration with Paige Raibmon and Harmony Johnson (UBC Press, 2014, 457 pages).

This book is the product of a collaboration between three women; one an elder, another a UBC historian, and the third, the elder’s granddaughter. The book begins with a discussion of the territory, the people, and the language. The volume emphasizes the teachings which have informed Elsie Paul’s life, her experiences as a child with her grandparents, and the residential school experiences of her family members. The book also includes “teachings for moms” including those around married life, spiritual activities, dealing with grief, community work and healing. A distinctive feature is that the book is in first person—it is Elsie Paul’s voice you hear. Perhaps for this reason, the book conveys a very strong sense of at least one corner of the Coast Salish world over the period of Dr. Elsie Paul’s life.

“Call Me Hank’: A Stó:lõ Man’s Reflections on Logging, Living, and Growing Old, Henry Pennier, edited

by Keith Thor Carlson and Kristina Fagan (UT Press, 2006, 123 pages).

A historical photo of Sophie Frank, right.

40 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

setbacks with his characteristic humorous spirit. Great photos are included.

Tulalip: From My Heart: An Autobiographical Account of a Reservation Community, edited by Darleen Fitzpatrick (University of Washington Press, 2013, 307 pages).

Harriet Dover Shelton, an elder enrolled in the Tulalip Tribes in Puget Sound, provides a harrowing first-person account of her own life and a look at those who came before her. She was born in 1903, a member of the historic Snohomish tribe, one of the constituent groups which makes up the contemporary Tulalip Tribes. Her narrative begins with the story of the Snohomish who signed the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855 and those who opposed it, and the difficult experiences the Snohomish had in leaving their homelands on Camano and Whidbey Islands, and elsewhere, to settle on the reservation around Tulalip Bay. Beyond this, Mrs. Dover recounts her education during the “flapper era,” and her developing political consciousness which led her to work with the Tulalip Tribes and service as the first woman on the Tulalip Board of Directors and as chief judge of the Tulalip Court of Tribal Offences. All of this is informed by her spiritual training. Here is a short snippet of her voice: “My father and his parents and their group used to talk about the Salmon Ceremony. I talked about it to Wayne fifteen or twenty years ago. He said we ought to do it. He said, “Think about it.

Present it to the Board.”

This short first-person book was first published in 1972 and reissued with an introduction in 2006.

It is an account of life in the period from the 1920s to the 1970s for a Coast Salish man and his family, including experiences hop-picking in Agassiz and his years as a logger. The editor writes, “Hank’s primary form was the anecdote, a brief, often humorous story . . .” The small volume tells a poignant story of a man struggling with his identity as the child of a mixed-marriage. The narrator is injured while logging at age 55 and forced to ignominiously fill potholes, but recounts these

Two chapters in ‘Be of Good Mind’: Essays on the Coast Salish, ed. Bruce Granville Miller (UBC Press 2007, 323 pages).

A chapter written by Naxasalhts’i (Sonny McHalsie), ‘We Have to Take Care of Everything that Belongs to Us,” is a fascinating narrative of how he has come to learn of his Stó:lõ

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 41

Thompson-speaking territory upriver from Stó:lõ lands and Ewen’s story reflects the complexity of a reserve with diverse peoples and ideas of identity, property and ownership in a period just before the establishment of a new form of Stó:lõ self-governance. The chapter reveals Ewen’s efforts to maintain kin ties amidst the historic changes.

Twana Narratives: Native Historical Accounts of a Coast Salish Culture, William W. Elmendorf (UW and UBC Press, 1993, 306 pages).

I have included this book in the review because the material it contains is overwhelmingly rich in content and vitally interesting. As a young anthropologist, Elmendorf had the good fortune to work from 1934 to 1940 with Frank and Henry Allen, born in the Hood Canal area in the mid-nineteenth century and fluent in Twana and English. Elmendorf had the good sense not to interrupt when the two brothers separately (the brothers were at odds) described Twana culture.

Elmendorf has placed these dialogues into seven topics. The brothers did not generalize; they were highly specific. Page eight is titled “The Yakima are not smart west of the mountains,” for example, and provides a story of people inexperienced in camping in a coastal area and drowning as the tide came in late at night. One of the stories is of a Skokomish boy who gets a shaman power and cures a sick Klallam man. A Chehalis boy encounters underwater wealth power, and there are many more.

culture from his elders and from teachings of his ancestors. It is an unusually direct and frank first-person account and he describes his education in spiritual and cultural life as a gradual and continuing process of coming to understand more deeply what he has been told and what he observes. Another chapter by the anthropologist Crisca Bierwert,“I Can Lift Her Up,” is an evocative account of Fred Ewen, a man living at Seabird island in the 1940s. Bierwurt builds off accounts recorded in 1945 by Estelle Fuchs, a fieldschool student under Professor Marion Smith.

In that period Seabird Island was a “resettlement area for First Nations people.” Many came from

42 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

Katie Gale: A Coast Salish Woman’s Life on Oyster Bay, Llyn De Danaan (University of Nebraska Press, 2013, 304 pages).

This is not a first-person account but rather a remarkable book about a Coast Salish woman born in the 1850s who survived the violence and turbulence in the period when her people were forced out of their traditional hunting and fishing grounds to move onto

Gale’s tombstone in the woods, overgrown and forgotten. This experience led De Danaan into a long period of deep research into the life of her predecessor on those grounds and waterways. In my view, the book depicts the dangerous and difficult period of dislocation for Puget Salish people in the mid- to late nineteen century better than any source I know.

Esther Ross: Stillaguamish Champion, Robert H. Ruby and John A. Brown (University of Oklahoma Press, 2001, 312 pages).

There are several tribes in Puget Sound which remained unrecognized by the US government until the 1970s, even though these groups had participated in the signing of the Treaty of Point Elliott in 1855. The Stillaguamish are one of these, and the biography, written by historians, tells the life of a woman who was born in 1904 in Oakland, California, and moved to her families’ traditional lands after her education.

The authors write “In high school, Esther had experienced the cruelty of racial discrimination.

Before her Indian heritage was known, she was treated as one of the crowd, but once it became known, she was teased unmercifully.

Her self-esteem was crushed . . . she was further deflated to learn that there was no Stillaguamish tribe as such. Her grandfather’s people had ceased to exist.” After relocating to Puget Sound, Esther Ross put her whole being into the difficult, consuming fight to reestablish her tribe as a political entity and to regain their rights devolving from the treaty.

This book is a close look at the life of one significant person and the history of fishing and treaty rights in the state of Washington. poorly provisioned camps and reservations in southern Puget Sound. Katie Gale, however, was among those who did not move onto the Puyallup reservation, finding her way instead into the oyster business, an historic activity of saltwater Coast Salish peoples. She, however, was drawn into the new capitalist economy, eventually marrying a settler with whom she had children and ran the oyster business. As her husband grew prosperous, his interest in having a Coast Salish wife declined, and the two engaged in a bitter divorce prior to his death. The book has a curious origin; the author lives on a piece of land once owned by Katie Gale, and came upon

Bruce Granville Miller is a professor of anthropology at the University of British Columbia. He is the author and editor of several books about Coast Salish history and Indigenous rights.

SALISH SEA SENTINEL • 43

Nancy Cottingham Powell at the launch of the North Shore Culture Compass, a free online resource. Photo by Mike Wakefield.

‘CULTURE COMPASS’ FEATURES COAST SALISH HISTORIES ON NORTH SHORE Online resource allows people to learn about Tsleil-Waututh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh place names, artworks and more A new online resource means people can learn about the North Shore’s Coast Salish culture and history from home.

The North Shore Culture Compass is a digital platform that catalogues various artistic, historic and cultural aspects of the area into an interactive map.

To create the platform, creators North 44 • SALISH SEA SENTINEL

Van Arts worked with various community partners including the Tsleil-Waututh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Nations.

“This is a tool where you can learn about culture in the safety of your own home,” said Nancy Cottingham Powell, the executive director of North Van Arts.

“It is a living tool and we knew that when we

launched, that this is just the beginning. We’ve been working on this project for three years now.”

The Culture Compass first began when the organization received federal funding in 2017, and the tool was officially launched during an event in March, shortly before things drastically changed because of COVID-19.

An original intention of the tool was to encourage people to get out in the community, but until then, it means people can connect with the area’s culture from home, Cottingham Powell said.

It’s based on the widely-used concept of “cultural mapping,” meant to safeguard and highlight the cultural diversity in different areas worldwide.

“UNESCO recognizes that cultural mapping is critical in preserving both the tangible and intangible components that comprise a community,” she said in a statement.

“This interactive tool is a way to appreciate all the North Shore has to offer.”

The North Shore Culture Compass, created

by Esri Canada, is divided into 10 sections that are based around a free submission process. The sections include: First Nations, Public Art, Cultural Spaces & Facilities, Intangibles & Stories and more.

The user can filter the map by category, and when a user clicks on a point on the map, they will find supporting information in the form of photos, text and relevant links.

There are more than 400 listings in total.

For the First Nations section, North Van Arts worked with members of Tsleil-Waututh and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh to include traditional place names and the Coast Salish names of important animals that frequent different areas, both with audio pronunciations.

What’s seen on the map now, Cottingham Powell said, is “a great starting point” that will continue to grow and evolve.

North Van Arts has received funding from Canada Council for the Arts’ Digital Strategy Fund to continue the effort and plans to continue community engagement in order to include more information such as shareable cultural stories.

“We’re going to just keep feeding that onto the map and people can come back again and again and there will always be new stuff to check out,” Cottingham Powell said.

The tool can be accessed at northshoreculturecompass.ca, and submissions can be made via the website’s “getting on the map” section.

From left: City of North Vancouver Mayor Linda Buchanan; Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Councillor Deanna Bridgit George; Squamish Nation, Councillor Syetá x tn Chris Lewis; District of West Vancouver Mayor Mary-Ann Booth; District of North Vancouver Mayor Mike Little; North Van Arts Executive Director Nancy Cottingham Powell; Dennis ThomasWhonoak, Tsleil-Waututh Nation Economic Development. Photo by Mike Wakefield.

The launch event of the North Shore Culture Compass, a free online resource initiate by North Van Arts, at The Polygon Gallery on March 12, 2020. Photo by Mike Wakefield

Lori Baxter (left) and Sheryl McGraw (right) demonstrate the North Shore Culture Compass. Photo by Mike Wakefield.

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