The Long Journey to Tla’amin Treaty

It has been a very long road to treaty for the Tla’amin people. Even before Sliammon Nation (the English name for Tla’amin) entered the British Columbia treaty process in 1994, there were leaders with the vision that someday there would … Read More

A song on the water

Young Tla’amin (Sliammon) activist Ta’Kaiya Blaney – centre of photo with drum – recently offered a song for the Shawnigan and Sooke watersheds. The water ceremony took place on the shores of Shawnigan Lake.

Local residents and neighbours of Malahat First … Read More

Welcome to the world

About 20 babies and other young children were ‘blanketed’ in a unique welcoming ceremony at Snaw-naw-as First Nation on March 19.

One of the children (main photo) was Cadence Sam, who is in the main photo with her parents Amanda Bob … Read More

Homalco radio station tunes in

An Aboriginal radio station, a decade in the making, could soon become a reality. And a Coast Salish name for the station is already being discussed, said Darren Blaney who is a councillor for the Homalco First Nation. “Some of the … Read More

The Drum: Sounds of Connections

By Lawrence Mitchell, ‘Ćum’qwa:tun’ Snaw-naw-as First Nation

Snaw-naw-as hasn’t really had its own song and dance group. If it did, it has been a long time since it has performed. In fact, a lot of the culture was withheld from … Read More

It’s canoe season

Even before the first day of spring, paddlers have been on the waters of the Salish Sea, alone or with their crew, preparing for another season of racing.

Meanwhile, in workshops around the coast, master carvers like Elmer Sampson are building … Read More

Coast Salish art on Salish ferries

John Marston from Stz’uminus First Nation will be putting his artistic mark on the Salish Eagle.

That is one of the new Salish Class vessels which BC Ferries said are “named to recognize the Coast Salish as the original mariners … Read More

‘Child’ ruling effects could be far-reaching

By Cara McKenna

Canada must make up for longstanding discrimination against First Nations children on reserve by urgently acting to make things right, say advocates working in Coast Salish communities.

The Canadian Human Rights Tribunal ruled Jan. 26 that the … Read More

A trauma shared

Former Vancouver police detective Lori Shenher literally wrote the book on the infamous missing and murdered women investigation. That Lonely Section of Hell: The Botched Investigation of a Serial Killer Who Almost Got Away tells about the first assignment in … Read More

Fighting for sisters… Fay Blaney’s life

By Cara McKenna

On a typically grey winter day in Vancouver, Fay Blaney is walking through the heart of the Downtown Eastside with several other Indigenous women’s advocates.

The women enter the Aboriginal Front Door Society where they’re about to … Read More