Despite many meetings, some Treaty 8 members say the consultations should’ve focused less on compensation and more on protecting treaty rights. “There’s spiritual sites all over this place,” says Chief Roland Willson of the West Moberly First Nation. “Anywhere around here you put a shovel in the ground and start digging, you’ll find arrowheads, remnants […]
Indigenous
Culture camp teaches provincial staff about area First Nations
Eighteen provincial workers recently spent two days camping in the Peace River valley learning about Treaty 8 First Nations beliefs and culture. They camped through a hailstorm on Bear Flat, learned the basics of smudging, and the surprisingly difficult process of taking down a teepee. Renee Simard frequently interacts with First Nations people with her […]
Pemmican Days a contest and culture filled extravaganza
Pemmican Days at Saulteau First Nation was three hot days of contests, games, food and friends. Two moose were cut up to be roasted or smoked. “They’re just volunteering because they want to eat moose meat,” Vern Lalonde joked as people swarmed the butcher’s table. Two low fires smoked away with drying racks over top […]
Paddle for the Peace takes on new political urgency
Green leader Elizabeth May calls Site C ‘a monstrosity,’ says Trudeau must seek new advice on damDipping a paddle in the Peace River, the red-orange canoe glides down the water. Hundreds of other boats float beside, behind and ahead towards Bear Flat, where BC Hydro is working to purchase farmland to realign Highway 29 in preparation for the Site C reservoir.It’s cold and quiet, this peaceful river, but powerful currents boil from under the surface, rushing from the Rocky Mountains all the way e
Q&A: Dr. Harry Swain, former Site C panel chair becomes outspoken opponent
Dr. Harry Swain knows more than most about the Site C dam. With a Ph.D. in economic geography and 22 years of federal civil service under his belt, Swain spent two years as chair of the federal-provincial joint review panel tasked with evaluating the environmental, economic, and First Nations impacts of the largest public works […]
Northern Lights College receives $75K to support aboriginal students, enrolment
Northern Lights College has received a one-time $75,000 provincial grant to support the success and increase enrolment of aboriginal students. Thirteen other post-secondary institutions in B.C. also received funds, part of a government plan to increase the number of credentials earned by aboriginal learners by 75 per cent within the next four years. This equals […]
Spirit of the Peace Pow Wow unites young and old
Young dancer initiated On Sunday, 13-year old Trevor Penner, stood at the edge of the Taylor arena waiting. As a circle of drummers beat on one large drum, singing together, Josh Matwiy stood with him, ready to accompany Penner through his initiation into pow wow. “It means a lot to me because I’ll be recognized […]
Caribou calves give hope for dwindling population
A caribou maternal penning project in northeastern B.C. has seen the numbers of a herd increase from just 16 animals to over 50, three years after the program began. I spoke with Harley Davis, a Saulteau keeper of the caribou, and Roland Willson, chief of the West Moberly First Nation. Saulteau and West Moberly manage […]
Indigenous doula collective to support mother-centred birth care in B.C.
‘For Indigenous people, birth is supposed to be a ceremony,’ says doula from Squamish Nation A woman from the Squamish Nation is leading a resurgence of mother-centred birth care in B.C. by helping start a new Indigenous doula collective which aims to support women in the powerful experience of giving birth. “For Indigenous people, birth […]