Category Archives: Indigenous Nations

Indigenous Nations History

Nisg̱a’a joyful as they prepare for return of totem pole

Trends to watch, inspirational

Windspeaker, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

The House of Ni’isjoohl and its community in northern British Columbia are joyfully preparing to welcome home their memorial pole, which has been in the National Museum of Scotland, Edinburgh for 94 years.

In an act expressing its commitment to the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, the National Museum of Scotland announced the return of the pole last December. Although the United Kingdom may think of it as a repatriation of an Indigenous artifact, for the Nisg̱a’a it is a rematriation.

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Food Security, Indigenous Nations

First Nations youth make their mark by cultivating ancient food systems in their territories

An inspiring trend to watch:

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Two dozen young men spilled out of their tents just after dawn, pulled on gumboots and work gloves, and lugging shovels and buckets, trudged down a logging road to a remote bay on Vancouver Island’s wild West Coast. 

There was a moment of calm punctuated by the breaths of two killer whales breaking the surface of the bay while they waited for the tide to drop so they could begin work. 

The moment the waters retreated, the group of First Nations youth, their adult mentors and knowledge holders, squelched onto the tidal flat in unison to haul rocks, debris and shift shellfish as quickly as possible before the ocean waters flooded back in. 

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Community, Development, Indigenous Nations

Richard Andrews First Month as Project Manager of the Village Commons

Richard Andrews compared his first month as Project Manager of the Village Commons, in downtown Mansons Landing, to the years he was the Executive Director of a non profit in Vancouver.

“There’s a lot of planning going on right now.  We’re in  phase one of our build. We have the welcome pole to make, and a big pavilion. The funnest work is going to be making a playground.  The vending zone and the playground are mysterious right now. I have an idea of what they might be. I have an idea of what people want because we have  a lot of documentation from the Cortes Community Economic Development Association (CCEDA) about the community process they went through to determine what was to be done with this property,” he said.

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Indigenous Nations

‘Listening to the land’: Totem pole raised in Naa’waya’sum gardens

Editor’s note: Another example of the rebirth of First Nations culture on the West Coast.

By Alexandra Mehl, Ha-Shilth-Sa, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

Tofino, BC – On Tuesday, Aug. 1, Naa’was totem pole was raised at Naa’waya’sum garden in Tofino, depicting “responsibilities to future generations”.

“This here is like a legal document of our peoples,” said Joe Martin (Tutakwisnapšiƛ), Tla-o-qui-aht master carver.

The Naa’was totem pole was carved by Joe in collaboration with Gordon Dick, Robin Rorick, Patrick Amos, and Robinson Cook. 

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Forests, Indigenous Nations

First Nations leader celebrates evolution of stewardship in Great Bear Rainforest

Canada’s National Observer, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter

There are new measures to better protect bear and fish habitat in the globe’s largest remaining coastal temperate rainforest, thanks to First Nations’ increasing role in stewarding the Great Bear Rainforest (GBR).

The new protections resulted from the latest five-year review of an agreement between the B.C. Ministry of Forests and two First Nations alliances — Coastal First Nations and Nanwakolas Council — which represent 11 of the 26 Nations with territory in the rainforest.

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