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

TFN receives $7.2M for housing project

Photo: Selina Robinson, B.C.’s housing minister, announced the new funding at Katzie Nation in late November. Photo courtesy of B.C. government.

Tsawwassen Nation has received $7.2 million in provincial funding that will go towards a new multi-family rental housing project. 

The grant will allow the … 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

Confronting reconciliation myths: Kwul’a’sul’tun speaks at VIU

Photo: VIU

By Julie Chadwick

Years ago, Doug White III (Kwul’a’sul’tun) asked his late grandmother Dr. Ellen White (Kwulasulwut) what would be lost when there was no longer a number of people who could fluently speak their language.

What she … Read More

Stz’uminus health officer breaks barriers

When Stz’uminus member Shannon Waters graduated from medical school, she realized that instead of treating people who are sick, she wanted to prevent people from getting sick in the first place.

So after two years of doing family practice, … 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

Elder profile: Tla’amin’s Elsie Paul (qaʔaχstaləs)

From left: Elsie Paul, Kylie Paul, baby Nathan, and Noreen Galligos-Paul during a baby welcoming ceremony at Tla’amin last year. Photo by Phil Russell. 

By Edith Moore, NmTC communications liaison 

Naut’sa mawt Tribal Council is run with guidance from an Elders Council with representatives … Read More