Klahoose expands global repatriation efforts with database, app

This winter, Klahoose Elder Kenny Hanuse led a procession of band members from the nation’s main office to the community’s cemetary in Squirrel Cove for the burial of two ancestors returning home. 

Klahoose youth Brandon Harry and Chief Kevin Peacey carried small cedar boxes containing the remains of the ancestors, recently repatriated from the Royal B.C. Museum. 

As the … Read More

Elder profile: Stz’uminus’s George Harris (Wholwolet’za)

By Edith Moore, NmTC communications liaison

Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council is run with guidance from an Elders Council with representatives from its 11 member nations. The Salish Sea Sentinel is profiling a new elder from the council each month. 

What a pleasure it … Read More

NmTC Elders Council reinstated with ceremony

A council of Elders who guide Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council have been welcomed back for another year with a ceremony. 

Members of the Elders Council were blanketed and honoured with a song during the tribal council’s Annual General Meeting in Richmond, B.C., in late January. 

NmTC Communications Liaison Edith … Read More

Healing totem pole unveiled in Victoria

Perry and Tom LaFortune. Photo: B.C. Ministry of Health.

By Cara McKenna 

A Coast Salish totem pole that was carved by two brothers from Tsawout First Nation in honour of their late mother has been unveiled in Victoria. 

The Crossing Cultures and Healing Pole now stands outside of the B.C. Ministry of Health’s headquarters … Read More

Artist brings ‘feminine Coast Salish’ style to Stanley Park studio

Photo and story by Cara McKenna 

It’s a shadowy, black night near Second Beach in Vancouver’s Stanley Park, but a warm light emanates from the window of Chrystal Sparrow’s art studio. 

Inside, the Musqueam artist’s temporary workshop is cozy, scattered with her flowy Coast Salish pieces and carvings by her … Read More

Lummi highlights orca preservation in Florida museum exhibit

Photo: Kristen Grace, Florida Museum

A new museum exhibit in Florida shines a light on endangered killer whales and their cultural importance to Coast Salish people in the Pacific Northwest. 

Whale People: Protectors of the Sea opened on Dec. 8 at the Florida Museum of Natural … Read More

U.S. Coast Salish leaders travel to Canada for NEB hearings

A group of U.S. Coast Salish leaders travelled to Victoria to testify at the National Energy Board’s oral evidence hearings on Nov. 28. 

Representatives from Lummi, Swinomish, Tulalip and Suquamish travelled across the border to present their concerns to Canada’s energy regulator alongside their Canadian relatives. 

… Read More

Stz’uminus elders describe orcas as ‘family’ at NEB hearings

By Cara McKenna 

When Pearl Harris of Stz’uminus First Nation was a child, she learned to see the killer whales who would pass by her territory as family. 

The elder said southern resident orcas would often come up to shore of Shell Beach, and she would watch and listen to them.  

With guidance from her grandmother, Harris learned … Read More

New calf born to endangered orca population

Photo by Melisa Pinnow, Centre for Whale Research

A new baby orca has been born to the endangered southern resident killer whale population, according to the Centre for Whale Research (CWR) in Washington State. 

The centre announced on Jan. 11 that a … Read More

Digital weaving: Online tool teaches math using Tla’amin basket designs

SFU math professors Veselin Jungic, left, and Cedric Chauve at Tla’amin Nation. Submitted photo.

By Cara McKenna 

A new interactive online tool uses basket weaving patterns from Tla’amin Nation to teach mathematics. 

The application will allow students of all ages to digitally … Read More