There was a Truth and Reconciliation ceremony at Gorge Harbour on Monday, September 30. It consisted of sacred songs and sharing experiences, as well as Chief Steven Brown’s perspectives on how the Klahoose are reclaiming their present and their future.
Patrick Aleck, a resident of Penelauket Island and member of the Stz’uminus First Nation, stated, “I had a vision when I was making B2-beats to the song. It’s a paddle beat, to paddle our kids home. I had a vision of all the grandmothers and grandfathers and parents waiting for the children to come home on the beach. Then the kids jump off. All the parents are waiting, ‘We’re excited you have come home, our children.’ My thoughts were, what if we had everything that we have within us? The elders and our people would be standing on that beach with their regalia and their songs, ’We are excited you have come home, our children.’ Imagine if we had that! This is what we’re trying to get with our children because they are our jewelry of life, our children, our jewelry of life. The reason why we do what we do is for our children, and we should never forget that.”
“I’m speaking to those Elders, their inner children, their little boys and girls that came home. It’s not their fault, what they went through. We’re excited you’re still here with us. We need to acknowledge our survivors. We need to acknowledge and embrace what they went through and what they weren’t able to do.”
Centuries before there were reserves or residentual schools, markers like the Klahoose arborglyph were used in the hundreds of miles of trails connecting pre-contact First Nations – photo used in CKTZ’s Deep Root series
“My father went to residential school. He wasn’t able to be a father because of his own pain. I grew up around addiction and domestic violence. I understand why now, because I’ve been doing my own intergenerational trauma work since 2011. I’ve been doing it with my mentor, Rod Jeffries. I didn’t understand why things were the way they were because we didn’t talk about what we’re doing today.”
“My dad didn’t talk about it. He’s slowly starting to talk about it now.”
“My grandfather, Ralph James, went to Kuper Island Residential School. My grandfather, he said, ‘that’s like a slap in the face, just giving us money.’ That’s what he thought.”
“We had to fight for the Truth and Reconciliation Commission to be acknowledged. They didn’t just give it to us. It’s only been over 15 years of acknowledgement of this horrific legacy that Canada has put on my people.”
“Don’t be so quick to move forward, we’re simple people. We like to take our time. So we need to do that. There’s no deadline on this. There’s still people doing their healing work. Yes, we’re moving forward, but don’t be in a rush. Don’t trip over yourself while you’re moving forward. Sometimes we’ve got to get away from that thinking so we can move forward. I have only been doing my work since 2011, but I still have family members that need that hand. We’re still going through grief and loss every day in every Indigenous community, and everybody’s going through that right now. We need to be patient with one another. We need to love one another. We need to be kind to one another.”
Georgina Silby, Community Events Coordinator for Klahoose, announced,* “The Chum salmon arrived to Klahoose on Saturday night. It’s really beautiful driving through the village right now. There’s several families who are busy smoking their fish. Norman is multitasking. He’s smoking fish and he made it here today. So a big thanks to Norman for following through on that commitment. When the fish arrive, everything else usually comes to a standstill for the families that love to do that and do the hard work together.
Patrick Alec: “I really enjoyed sitting with the elders last night, with the brother Duane’s family, they’re preparing the fish. I really having homemade bread with the elders and laughing and joking around.”
A couple of young men spoke about their experiences on Tribal Journeys.
Mikey explained “I have experienced a journey that was far more than just traveling from one place to another. It was profound connections to the water and people who have lived there for generations.”
Georgina Silby: “What was your favorite part of the canoe journey?”
Mikey: “Probably paddling and dancing.”
Centuries of tribal journeys are celebrated by this sculture in the Suquasmish Museum and Cultural Center – photo by Shutterbig photos via Flickr (CC BY-ND 2.0)
Georgina Silby: “Klahoose has been involved in a lot of canoe journeys this year, including what Mikey and Andy mostly referred to as the Tribal Journeys. Klahoose sponsored some of our youth to go down to Puyallup, Washington. Suquamish (WA) was one of our favorite stops because it’s where all the canoes from three different directions met. Suquamish is positioned so that if you came down the mainland coast, or if you came down Vancouver Island, or if you came down the West side of Vancouver Island past Esquimalt, everyone meets there.”
“I was one of the adults supporting the youth to be on the journey. There’s a lot of things that happen with tribal journeys. When you travel to another nation’s territory, you ask permission to come ashore, you set up your camp, there’s a feast, and then there is the sharing of songs and stories and dancing. You actually need to get some sleep because depending on the tide, you might end up leaving at literally 4 or 5 AM in the morning to go with the tide.”
“Mary and Norman Harry Sr were there as the grandparents of all of the kids that came. We’ve just done all of that in one day, including the paddling for hours. There’s usually big houses or long houses everywhere that we stop. It’s like 10 PM. The kids are still dancing hard with all the other kids from all the other canoe families from many nations, many tribes. By 11 PM, I’m like, ‘I have to get them to go to sleep. We have to get up early, to get to the beach and leave.’ These guys, they just were so into it. Their spirits were so awake and they were so happy to be with their friends that they made, their relatives, the culture.”
Norm Harry added, “I wanted to address the canoe team. You guys did a wonderful job. Two weeks away from home though, I found that hard, but it was always a good learning experience for me to watch the young people on the canoe. I thank my wife Mary for standing by me. We always work as a team. Like today, we’re in the smokehouse. We’re preparing our food, it’s going to be a good winter.”
“We don’t usually talk about our traditional swimming and that. I’m really proud my grandson’s doing it. Andy and I are three weeks into it. It’s tough. It’s hard to go back to the old ways, just like when we have no computers, no phones, no nothing. We go back to the old ways of living, and it really teaches our people, can we really do it.”
One of the highlights of the ceremony was Chief Steven Brown’s address: “Today we come together not just to reflect on the past, but the future that we’re building as Toq qaymɩxʷ (Klahoose). Before we move forward, I do want to take a moment to acknowledge all of those who came before us, and those who are no longer with us, especially the children who never came home. We carry their memory in our hearts as we work to build a future that honours their legacy and ensures that a tragedy like that never happens for our people again.”
“I remember when I was younger, we got a basketball court in the community. Even the kids like me, who were absolutely garbage at it, had a place to hang out and have fun. It felt like such a big achievement for our community that we have this beautiful thing.”
“Today we look at how far we as Klahoose have come and we aren’t just talking about basketball courts anymore. When you look around, we’re talking about owning the Gorge Harbour Marina Resort, we have the Klahoose Wilderness Resort, we have geoduck, scallop, oysters, clams, and seaweed tenures. We have the QXMC Sawmill. We have the largest forestry tenure in our traditional territory – that is Klahoose. It’s not us going to others asking, ‘Can you please consider our opinions?’ We don’t have to reconcile that part. Thanks to generations of resiliency and hard work, we’ve moved from small dreams to big accomplishments of owning our land and our economy, something that I think we can all be incredibly proud of.”
“This is what reconciliation looks like, through our lens, not Canada’s lens. It isn’t just about acknowledging the past, it’s about reclaiming our present and our future. It’s about visibility, pride, and ownership that we get to have.”
“When you drive from the ferry, you see the Gorge Harbour Marina that we have and then, as you’re going by, you see the beautiful artwork by Kenny. When you come into our community, you’re greeted by a welcome pole carved by our members Stephanie and Ernie. If you need lumber for a project, you can go see Kevin at the sawmill. At our school, Jessie is teaching the next generation Ayajuthem (Éy7á7juuthem). If you go up Humphrey Channel, you can visit our award winning resort and see Randy and the members greet you with song and culture in such an incredible way. If you venture a little bit further up Toba, you can also go and see a Klahoose Bear Tour, led by Benny and some of our members, showing that we have this beautiful presence in our territory and how far we as Toq qaymɩxʷ can come. These are not just signs of success, they’re symbols of resilience. They remind everyone who lives or visits our territory who the original people of this land are. It’s our people. I’m incredibly proud of how far we’ve come as a Nation and how far we’re going to continue to go. We’ve rebuilt an unmistakable presence in our territory.”
“Today when you travel through our home territory, you see us. You see the strength, the pride, and ownership that we have worked so hard to regain. And this is why reconciliation to me isn’t just about being grateful to Canada for doing the bare minimum. It’s about what we’re doing to make a better future for our people.”
“It’s about a kind of reconciliation that allows us to build thriving businesses like this and come together and celebrate with culture and our community as one. I also want to thank the team of the Gorge for hosting us today, as well as our team for organizing this incredible event. Patrick, for speaking, our elders for being with us and sharing our culture.”
“I stand here deeply proud of what our Nation has accomplished, and I can’t wait to host next year’s event, or at least maybe the following, hopefully, at our Klahoose Cultural Centre. Another milestone that we’ll get to celebrate, and I look forward to all of us spending time in that space. So let’s continue to walk forward with pride in our hearts and strength in our steps.”
Links of interest:
Top image credit: Photo used for the ‘Awaken the Canoes’ episode of the Deep Roots series on Cortes Radio, courtesy Klahoose First Nation.
*Revision: Cortes Currents was originally thought of using the references to Chum Salmon in a separate article about this year’s run, but spliced them back into the written version of this story on Oct 3.
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