GN Community Updates

The old village of Dals or Ta’altz is located at the head of Seymour Inlet on Salmon Arm. Stories recorded in the 1890’s say that it was one of the origin places of the ‘Nakwaxda’xw people. In 1883, the Indian Agent defined an 80 acre reserve at Dals. At that time it was a salmon station with three houses. Today it is an abandoned 7 acre reserve known as Kuthlo IR #18.

Katie Adams

There are only a few people today who know about the old village of Dals and the treaty office library is interested in any stories that people may want to share about this and any other village sites in Gwa’sala ‘Nakwaxda’xw Territory. The following story is adapted from a longer story recorded in 1987 by Katie Adams (Ubumpa), a respected Nakwaxda’xw elder from the village of Ba’as at Blunden Harbour.

Legend of the Thunderbird and the Whale

There was a big tribe at a place called Dals at Seymour Inlet, way near the head. And people from that village would go out in their canoes and get lost and wouldn’t come back. Sometimes whole families went out in a canoe and just disappeared without a trace.

There were less and less people and so the people got together to find out what was killing their people and to decide what to do. One man said “Well, let’s make two big canoes and we’ll put them together and make a whale out of it.” And that’s what they did. They made a whale out of the canoes and when it was all finished they tried it out in front of the village. You know how the whale comes up and down? Well do you know what they did to make it go up and down like that? They’d all run from the tail to the head and then they’d run back to the tail. And when the head was sunk down in the water, the tail would come up. Smart people. And they pounded up clamshells to use for the blowhole. And it looked like steam coming through the blowhole but it was really clam shells all pounded up until it was just powder.

So they travelled down the channel, up and down like this. They hired all the people and they had a whole bunch of poles ready in case there was a big monster getting them. And just when they got around the point - all of a sudden the lightning came and there was big thunder roaring across the sky. And a great big thunderbird came and grabbed that canoe that was made like a whale. The thunderbird thought it was a whale and grabbed it by the tail. The people in

the canoe started pounding and pounding its wing and when they broke its wing, the thunderbird dropped the canoe from way up out of the water. 

The whale canoe went shooting down to the bottom of the sea and it was such a heavy thing that it went down fast and was buried in the sand under the water. So they had to get all the different tribes to help: the crab tribes, the starfish tribes, the devilfish tribes and all the different animals. And the crabs were the fastest ones to dig it out - and the starfish.

Three times this happened. And the third time they managed to kill the thunderbird family – the father, the mother and the son and they thought that their people would never die off again when they went away on those trips.

But when they went up a great big mountain to look around for where the lightning and thunder started from they found a baby in a cradle in the thunderbird home. It was still just a little infant and they left it there. They left the baby so that it would continue with the lightning and with the big roaring noise that it makes. And that’s why we own the thunderbird. And if they hadn’t left that baby in that cradle, there would be no thunder today.

Legend recorded by Colleen Hemphill, 1987

Hello everyone! I hope you all enjoyed your Halloween. I know the elders certainly did. The elder Halloween party was a huge success. Thank you to all those were able to make it. The next elders’ meeting will be Wednesday, Nov.17th at 12 noon at the Elders’ Centre. I will be gone to do the 

elders’ Christmas shop Monday Nov.8th So I will be out of the office Monday & Tuesday.

Gilakasla

~ Silena George, Elders' Coordinator

During the first week of November, approximately 20 members of our community, including Band Office staff and a group of students from the Eke Me-xi School, had a chance to learn about working better with groups. The trainings were on Deep Democracy, a facilitation method from South Africa that focuses on making decisions together and honouring the wisdom of each person. They were held at the Elders’ Centre and led by Aftab Erfan, a graduate student from the University of British Columbia, who is helping us implement some of the CCP action items.

Here is a taste of the ideas covered in the workshops and the discussions we had:

Whenever a group (a family, a class, a business, a community, a society) comes together, often one or a few people make decisions on behalf of everybody else without consulting them. We may call these people “leaders” at first, but when they get too far removed from the rest of the group they begin to be more like “kings”. Inevitably, when there is a “king” making all the decisions, others who don’t have a voice begin to feel left out and upset. They may start to go against the king’s orders – first quietly (through jokes, gossip etc) and then more loudly (through strikes, attacks etc). A wise king, or an effective leader, is one who recognizes the wisdom that every individual in the group has and tries to include that wisdom in the decision making. When everybody feels like they have a voice, then they work with the leader instead of working against the leader. 

During one workshop, we talked about leadership in the G&N community. Most participants felt that it’s important to improve communications between the leaders and community members, so that we avoid having the “king ruling over his subjects”. 

Most participants also agreed that as community members we need to hold our leaders accountable and step up to take part in conversations about how the community is run. Part of holding ourselves accountable as community members is to be more thoughtful and engaged when we elect our leaders: we need to elect people whom we know and trust, but also people who are qualified and competent and have leadership qualities. (Think about this as you go to the polls for the Band Council by-election in a couple of weeks!)

One of the best things about the workshop was having a mix of youth and adults together. The young people struggled at times to participate in the political conversation and were feeling left out and bored. But half-way through the workshop we used democracy to vote on how we should proceed. Using the wisdom of the entire group we voted to start talking about our hopes and dreams, and to bring the conversation to a level that could engage everyone. 

This shifted the dynamics of the group. Some people had to leave, but those who stayed became much more enthusiastically engaged in the conversation.

As we talked about our hopes and dreams for the future several themes emerged. One idea that several people shared was to put some basketball hoops in the Community Hall so that young people can reach their dreams of becoming exceptional basketball players. We talked about how we might go about doing a simple project like this without playing “king” and leaving out parts of the community. (After all, we all know that when people feel excluded and resentful they are capable of ripping up the new flooring in the Hall!) Here are some ideas that emerged, most of which the students are able to take on:

Ideas for achieving our dream of putting basketball hoops in the Hall:

- Writing a letter requesting support from the Band Office

- Developing a Hall policy that reflects everyone’s needs

- Having individual conversations with community (including youth) about their needs and use of the Hall

- Conducting a door-to-door survey

- Looking into past initiatives: what has been done already

- Holding Chief and Council responsible for making decisions

- Creating a Youth Council that helps advocate for the interests of young people and that become a model for good governance

We left the workshop energized by the idea of a Youth Council, and the potential for young people to become leaders. In light of what we learned in this workshop, we all recognized that collaboration is important and it is difficult. The emerging Youth Council has challenges to meet, but it also has the possibility to make a better future for the G&N community: one little basketball hoop dream at a time!

The work on the water has come to an end for the watchmen pilot project. This work was funded through Coast Opportunity funds conservation allotment. We had some excellent success in achieving our goals as well as the side benefits that came from having the boat.

Because this was a pilot program we have had to lay off 2 of our watchmen techs until next year and we have kept one of the techs working for the next couple of weeks. The techs affected by the immediate lay-off were Doug Johnny and Leslie Walkus. Colin Smith is staying on for an additional 2 weeks to finish off the paper work, build a presentation and deliver it over the next few weeks to the school, Elders, Chief and Council as well as some off-reserve groups.

Colin and I will be working closely together to review this year’s work to ensure that we achieved all of the goals we hoped to. Colin will also be creating the program and budget for next year. We will be looking to expand the watchmen program to a ¾ year program but to do this we need to find more funding. Colin has lots of paper work to do over the next couple of weeks! When the final report on the pilot program is finished we will have copies available at the Band office for those of you who are interested. Stay tuned and I will let everyone know when this work is complete.

I would like to thank the Crew for their hard work during this project. They have mentioned that it was with great pride that they were able to represent all of you when they were interacting with everyone they met. The crew learned something every single time they went to work and never came back to Tsulquate without some new wisdom that they could save and pass on to others when the time is right. Thank you Doug, Colin and Leslie.

I would also like to thank Chief Paddy Walkus, Hereditary Chief Tom Henderson and Hereditary Chief Willie Walkus for their support of the project as well as the words of advice and wisdom that allowed us to move the project in the right direction.

And most importantly we would like to thank the Elders who gave of their time, knowledge, wisdom and support. We look forward to expanding on our relationship with you next year to gain even more knowledge and wisdom.

Well we have some very exciting news from the economic development department; we have received funding from Coast Opportunities Fund to help us create an economic development corporation. 

We put together a very good application with a specific goal of having an economic development corporation that is separate from the politics of the band. The idea to separate business from politics was a common theme in the CCP work that the community did recently.

We will be having our first community meeting for economic development in the next 2 weeks. At this meeting we will be asking the community to help us envision what an economic development corporation looks like to you. 

We will also begin the process of finding out what the community wants for economic activity in the community. We will work towards setting up a corporation that will allow the First Nation to enter into business opportunities with the least amount of liabilities and the maximum tax benefits.

The first meeting will not be too technical! We need your input to make sure that we are going down the right path. We will be looking for people who will want to take an active role in a working group to move forward.

This first community meeting will see honorariums to the Elders who come and participate. At future meetings honorariums will be split by all who attend and participate in the meeting. Remember this is very important work and we need the community to participate in this!! We need to take pride and ownership in this work because it will affect all of the people of the Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw Nation for generations to come.

All of the work that takes place will be reported on and will be available through this newsletter and/or on the website. I really look forward to the work that we will be doing!

- Conrad Browne, Economic Development -

As of November 3, 2010, the housing renovation projects are as follows:

Canada’s Economic Action Plan (CEAP) - INAC funded project (5) units: Crystal Walkus, Brandon Walkus, Samson Cecil, Herbie Bell, & Leroy Charlie. Herbie Bell and Samson Cecil’s units are complete thanks to William Henderson for Herbie’s & Eddie Charlie for Samson’s. Brandon Walkus is about 95% complete thanks to Randy Walkus, and Crystal Walkus is in it’s first stages thanks to Terry Walkus. Wade Charlie will be responsible for Leroy Charlie once it gets underway. CEAP Retrofit - CMHC funded project (7) units: Grace Smith, Terry Walkus, Simon Walkus Jr., Eddy Walkus, Steve Walkus, Martha Walkus & Jessie Walkus.

Terry Walkus, Martha Walkus, Steve Walkus, Simon Walkus Jr. & Jessie Walkus are in the first stages of renovations. Contractor’s for these units are Terry Walkus, William Henderson, Eddie Charlie, Alvin Walkus, Murray Giesbrecht. Eddy Walkus is about 50% complete.

Regular renovations - INAC funded (7) units: Rita Walkus, Mathew Walkus, Mary McDougall, Alice George, Duplex 233-A&B, & Andrea Walkus - Andrews. Funds just came in for these units and will begin a.s.a.p. Contractors for these units are: Eddie Charlie, Randy Walkus & Oliver Walkus.

Still awaiting bids for Rita Walkus & the duplex. 3 new units are to be built within the next 6 months, and we are pretty excited about this because we are trying something different this year! We will be using panel system walls for these houses instead of stick build, which will be less time consuming, less materials needed, and less waste . 

Please be sure to keep your Housing applications up-to-date if you wish to remain on the housing list. Chief & Council would like to see it updated every year or whenever there is a change in your living situation or number of dependants. This will help determine the size of units your family will need as we progress with the land expansion in the future. Once our Gwa’sala-‘Nakwaxda’xw web site is up and running you will be able to access housing applications and update them on line.

If you require any information please do not hesitate to call me at 250-902-2304 or email me at lornah@gwanak.info