Report on ṮEṮÁĆES Climate Change in the Salish Sea Course on Pender Island, (Feb 17-21 2020)
By Erinanne Harper, March 2020. xʷənen̕əč (Salt Spring Island, BC)
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In February 2020, I was fortunate to have been sponsored by many friends and allies to attend the 5 day ṮEṮÁĆES (pronounced “tlu-tla-chus”) Climate Action Project on Pender Island on behalf of Transition Salt Spring and our Climate Action Plan Update. It was organized by SGI CRC (Southern Gulf Islands Community Resources Centre) in cooperation with the W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) Leadership Council and the W̱SÁNEĆ School Board with financial support from the CRD, Real Estate Foundation of BC, and SGI CRC along with in-kind support from Poets Cove Resort, community organizations, and local trustees to promote educational/cultural tourism and contribute to a more resilient economy.
I was eager to gain a deeper connection of this region I’ve called home all my life, along with a better understanding of the culture and people who have also called this place home for time immemorial.
The intent of the course was to explore the history of changing lands and waters in the Southern Gulf Islands, San Juan Islands, and surrounding Salish Sea to understand challenges of climate change impacts on the region. Also to explore strategies and actions that can support community resilience, reconciliation with Indigenous peoples, and inter-island coordination and cooperation, both locally and internationally.
The group of attendees and presenters was composed of a mix of people, some living on Pender Island involved in various environmental activities, some from the Lummi Nation in Washington, some youth and elders from Saanich studying or involved in education and SENĆOŦEN (sunchothen) language, others from nearby Islands of Bowen, Thetis, Salt Spring and Vancouver Island. Our theme was looking through the lens of personal experience and historical relationship to the land as a way to see new opportunities for grounded and embodied climate actions.
The course was held at Poets Cove Resort on South Pender Island which itself has been centre of controversy as they were unethical in the construction of the project in regards to attention and care to First Nations traditional sites. An ancient Coast Salish village and cemetery site were illegally destroyed in 2003. In 2005 the developer was charged with violating the 1996 Heritage Conservation Act, the first time that the government has attempted to enforce the Act. Just prior to this course commencing some of the elders and community held a burning for the ancestors as a way to make peace with the act and allow for good energies to hold the participants during this time of coming together and learning. They offered a table of food as part of the ritual and said the ancestors of both Indigenous and settlers were there and happy of the work we were about to do.
History not so distant past
As one of our first exercises, we were honoured to participate in a ‘Kairos Blanket Exercise’. This was an hour long participatory reenactment of the history of Indigenous people in Canada in relation to infringement upon rights, territory, life and liberty by the settlers and government.
We all stood in the middle of a circle on about 6-8 blankets spread on the floor like an island of land. We were given scripts to read at designated times between readings by the 2 facilitators. The story recounted the encroachment upon territory with treaties, the removal of children from their parents for residential schools, enfranchisement which removed the land and tribal rights of native people in exchange for the right to vote, reservation systems, the Indian Act, and outlawing of ceremonies, language, drumming. The blankets were gradually pushed together with less and less land upon which to stand. Some were isolated from each other, others were killed through disease, illness, malnutrition, war and heartbreak. It was a heart-wrenching experience to consider our shared and much untold history along with all those things happening to you or people you know and love.
We closed with a circle where everyone shared their feelings. I spoke of my grief at knowing this had happened and rage that my culture had perpetuated it and gratitude that everyone in the room had prioritized coming to be here to experience this. Others shared similar feelings and one native elder shared more personally her families’ experiences in residential school which were quite sickening and too graphic to be retold here. The last residential school was closed in 1996 in Saskatchewan.
Language of the Land
W̱SÁNEĆ (Saanich) people have lived in this region since time immemorial and they include the Nations of Tsawout, Tsartlip, Pauquachin, and Tseycum as well as Lummi across the US border. Their traditional language is SENĆOŦEN and many are trying to learn it after it being lost through government policy of banning it, including violently punishing children in residential schools who were caught speaking it. Some of the elders have had to go through much healing in order to be comfortable engaging with their native language after the trauma of their childhoods. Their bravery and knowledge has been critical for the remembering and documenting of an almost lost language.
Their alphabet was developed in the 1970’s and there is now a K-6 immersion program in Brentwood Bay teaching First Nations kids SENĆOŦEN. There are about 5000 members of W̱SÁNEĆ first nations on the peninsula. The language revitalization program is a key component to resurgence of their culture because of the values and relationship to the land and culture embedded in the words and phrases. Using the language is a way to remember and reaffirm the culture of connection, care and understanding of the landscape from which they received everything needed to survive and thrive in this region.
Land Treaties
First occupation in these territories by First Nations groups is evidenced through place names, oral history, stories and mythology, archeology, traditional knowledge and land use. There is no argument that they have been occupying these lands for thousands of years.
The land treaties with the British Crown were evidence that the colonialists recognized the need to make agreements with the local people in order to gain proper access to the land. The major fault in the history as we know today, is the vast difference between Indigenous and colonialist worldview specifically in our understanding of how humans and the natural world interact and relate to each other. This seeded the Doctrine of Discovery which gave European Settlers the belief that they were ‘bringing civilization to savage people who could never civilize themselves. The ‘civilizing mission’ rested on a belief of racial and cultural superiority’.
I would argue that this belief and our western understanding is based on a long history of being in turn colonized and divorced from original indigenous place-based traditions and knowledge that was once all of our heritage. Through the waves of conquerors and influence from various empires throughout Europe and Asia, we have forgotten ourselves and have been molded by and continue to spread, the modern beliefs of separation which we now find hard to identify as something that could be acceptable or legitimate without romanticizing or infantilizing. Modern Western and especially North American settlers and those brought up in this culture see ourselves as separate from the land, able to own, trade, buy and sell land with title for exclusive private use with regards to the overlying laws of governing bodies. Land can be conquered, the animals and plants, water, minerals and materials can be mined and left with little concern. We are not of the land, we use the land for our needs.
In W̱SÁNEĆ understanding, people are related to the land and have the duty to steward it. Their meaning, livelihood and spirituality come from connection to the land as a co-inhabitant of life on earth. They see the land as a relationship in which there is give and take, gratitude and offerings, support and connection, rights and responsibilities.
In 1846, The Treaty of Oregon was the agreement between the British and Americans which determined the 49th parallel as what would become the Canadian-American border. This was the first major colonialist land use agreement in this region.
It is widely assumed that the Canadian region of the Salish Sea was purchased from First Nations through the Douglas Treaties in 1852. The elders stories and many historical records recall that the Douglas Treaties we not mutually understood as a land purchase but rather from the Indigenous side, as a peace treaty and ongoing contract for the colonialists to rent the land from the First Nations.
Their history tells of a settler logging operation happening on Cordova Bay which was concerning to the indigenous people. They gathered up their canoes and went to speak about it. When they showed up looking fairly threatening to the loggers, the logging was stopped. Near the same time an indigenous youth was killed for trespassing on a settler homestead. When the Douglas Treaty was presented soon after with gifts of blankets and papers to sign, the Indigenous leaders understood this to be a peace offering to apologize for the wrongs committed by the settlers. They could not read or understand what they were signing as the concept of land ownership was not familiar and the documents were blank when signatures (x’s) were collected. The terms of the treaty were written after the fact.
In 1870 Indigenous people were excluded from preemption and purchase of land, other non-whites were also excluded as their population numbers grew. In 1871 when BC joined Canada, these pseudo agreements like the Douglas Treaties and the various other regional relationships were brought under federal jurisdiction of the Canadian Government.
In 2007 Tsawwassen First Nations made claim to rights on Pender Island which created conflict with the W̱SÁNEĆ First Nations partially because no other clear treaties or land agreements had ever been negotiated. Also there is ongoing conflict now between various indigenous people and various levels of government due to confusion with elected Tribal governments which are recognized through The federal Indian Act which is not in accordance with the traditional hereditary chief system and shared oral traditions.
Land Ethics, Principles and Governance
The W̱SÁNEĆ people have a different relationship to the land based on their worldview and covenant with their creator (XALS) who, as their creation story goes, threw some of their ancestors into the water to create the Southern Gulf and San Juan islands. The people therefore understand their relationship with the islands and land to be one of relations looking after each other. People look after the land and the land looks after the people. ṮEṮÁĆES means ‘relatives of the deep’ which is what the islands are to the W̱SÁNEĆ people.
Considering the difference in worldview and actions that result in honouring this perspective, their traditional culture creates a framework for climate action to unfold naturally from this integral relationship. This is the foundation upon which techniques and strategies are built that are in harmony with the natural world.
In the book, ‘Drawdown’ (p.124) by Paul Hawken, under ‘Land Use’ is listed Indigenous Peoples Land Management as solution #39 with reduced CO2 emissions of 6.19 GT and 849.37 GT of CO2 protected from being released. Higher rates of carbon sequestration and lower rates of deforestation are identified on indigenous managed lands through: Home Gardens, Agroforestry, Swidden (shifting), Pastoralism, Fire Management, and Community Managed Forests. Protecting and increasing traditional Indigenous land management is supported as an adaptation and mitigation strategy for reducing the negative effects of climate change.
We enjoyed a presentation by Lorenzo Magzul, a Mayan indigenous scholar on food systems and climate change who spoke of his research in his homeland of Guatemala. He emphasized the social capital that comes from localized food systems and the networks and support systems which help build relationships of trust and reciprocity through many formal and informal groups and committees. Resiliency is developed through the networks built informally through getting other tangible needs met. Some of these groups are having success working on adaptation strategies such as diversifying their crops, breeding varieties to adapt to shifting climate and weather patterns, and new irrigation techniques. Where these networks are poor they are driving the mass migrations from food insecurity and drought. The UN recently ruled that countries could not send climate change refugees back.
First Nations hold clear beliefs in their worldview, ceremonies, and ecological understanding in their various advanced living technologies such as reef net fishing, clam garden tending, and land management through fire. Connection to seasonal cycles through the 13 moon calendar guides the seasonal cycle of fish and food harvest, weather, gathering, tending and cultural activities. Recognizing how important this cultural narrative is to the balance of living within the means of the land, gives a deeper and more foundational understanding of what could truly help our disconnected modern society adapt to survive and thrive through the unfolding changes of climate.
Being connected, helping each other, sharing, gifting, playing specific roles in community, respecting the rights and ways of others, these systems all contributed to a method of governance and are deep teachings that could be of great benefit to the broken cultures of our lost world. Land management structures where different families or leaders are called on for different needs is a bottom up structure that broadens the network of decision making and knowledge keeping. Rather we see rather from our federal and provincial governments that they attempt to inform and consult but have failed to meaningfully involve First Nations in meaningful collaboration and true empowerment. In this failing, deep and important knowledge is missing from high level decision making that affects First Nations and the rest of Canadians.
Lisa Wilcox (daughter of John Wilcox of Duck Creek Farm) who works with Islands Trust in Victoria, shared the idea of cultural community wealth including 6 critical areas of importance: Linguistic, Familial, Social, Navigational, Aspirational, and Resistant/Resilient. Many of these were (and are) targeted intentionally during colonization to destroy the connection that held indigenous people so strongly to the land and their culture and make it easier for settlers to benefit from the resources and land. Wide-scale recognition and adoption of these values would be a solution to the climate crisis, reorienting peoples actions and activities through a heart centred and connected understanding of the rightful and balanced human place in the world and with each other.
Stories held much knowledge, teachings and warnings and were told in context for specific purposes. Restraint was a show of respect. We visited a cultural site of medicine harvesting and the Pender Island Conservation Association representatives were proud of some new displays they had erected to give some explanation of the traditional use of the site. The Indigenous people in the group were very reluctant to give us any information about the site and finally explained that not everything was for everyone to know. Some knowledge was sacred or held for specific purposes or times. They were sensitive and upset about their knowledge being on display or exposed to people who don’t understand the context, relevance or use.
It was interesting to me to consider the different worldview of W̱SÁNEĆ vs Settlers (conservationists in this case) in the context of conservation, relationship to land and interpretation. It felt like the difference was based on a perception of humans either being generally harmful to the land, or in a healthy relationship to the land. The underlying assumption that colonialists will take advantage of the land (as we have proven generally to do) and that the land needs to be protected from us, isolated, and you could even say deprived of the healthy and balanced interactions with indigenous humans that over 200 yrs ago were so common, natural and sacred.
Forest Management
Our predominant forest in the Gulf Islands is the Coastal Douglas Fir Ecosystem which is 0.25% of BC, 25% of which is in the Islands Trust Area. It is the most threatened ecosystem in Canada with the main threats being logging and development with Climate Change adding further pressure with droughts, storms, and fire hazards. Trees are dying at unprecedented rates, specifically Western Red Cedar, Douglas Fir and Grand Fir. 68% of this land is held privately which has many groups like Raincoast Conservation Society trying to connect with landowners to grow the voluntary stewardship movement.
Wildfire is a major threat to this region especially with increased droughts in summer and more intense storms. We spent some time addressing wildfire risk mitigation including learning about what Parks Canada is doing with their park land adjacent to Magic Lake Estates on North Pender Island. Magic Lake had its notorious beginnings in the 1960’s when a high-density vacation home development was planned for the west shore of the island. Eventually, about 600 acres of mostly half-acre properties spread out along the waterfront and into the forested hillsides beyond. The subdivision, the largest in Canada at the time, helped inspire creation of the Islands Trust regulatory agency in 1974 whose mission was to promote more responsible and sustainable development in the Gulf Islands.
Residents have pressured parks to mitigate wildfire risk and so Parks Canada is trialing land management which involves falling small young trees and trimming up dry lower branches to reduce the dry fuel which can exacerbate a small fire creating larger and harder to control fires. Frequent small burns were used by indigenous people on a cycle of about every 20 years to control the land and favour conditions for deer and camas lily.
Parks Canada plans to burn the small piles of brush as a thought to mitigate the potential of harm from larger burns. We discussed other options such as mulching in rows on contour to promote the wood absorbing moisture from the ground and feeding the soil, or chipping which they were concerned could actually shift the makeup of the forest floor and soil structure as well as be challenging to bring a chipper all the places needed. Biochar may be another worthy option to consider.
Food Gathering and Seasonal Observations
The 13 moon Calendar was a potent tool for tracking the relationship between natural cycles, weather, and seasonal activities. The moons each relate to salmon fishing, food, medicine and plant harvesting, clam digging, hunting, foraging, and cultural activities such as making clothing or repairing tools and equipment. It is a tool giving people a clear directive of what the important jobs were and when to do them. Each family or person had designated jobs to do and everyone was busy. The calendar ensured the right timing of food gathering as well as a way of ensuring other important foundational activities were completed in addition to gathering culturally to strengthen social ties.
Some elders recalled their elders’ stories which indicate the shift we have observed in the rhythms of nature. Orca whales used to line up in pairs in the hundreds along the Canada US marine border off of Pender island at summer solstice. It was connected to the cycle of their salmon fishing and greeting of different pods reuniting and has been recorded in much fewer numbers by scientists more recently. The Southern Resident Orcas are truly specific in their diet of eating only chinook salmon, even eating singular chinook out of pods of other fish. This specific culture of whales do not eat other fish or mammals as do the transient Orcas which are more aggressive.
The Ocean Spray flowering was the indication of the peak of Sockeye Salmon, but no longer. Once, the Varied Thrush came just before the salmon berry was ripe, telling it to hurry along and ripen, but times are changing. The time to harvest Salmon was after the eagles started to fish but now, as foretold by prophecy by Arvol Lookinghorse as an indicator of troubled times, the eagles are more abundant on the ground at garbage and transfer stations.
The reef net fishery was a strong and important fishing technology with various locations designated to specific families to steward. Clam beds and other food gathering areas were also designated very precisely to specific families and mutual respect of those areas was taken seriously. If someone trespassed somewhere they were not allowed, they would make an apology and offering of reparations, if the apology was accepted the matter was closed and final without lingering resentment or issue.
Deer hunting on the Saanich Peninsula followed their seasonal cycle as well. Deer would go in the same direction together towards the sea when the fly maggots would hatch in their noses, they would rub their noses in sand and eat leaves with salt at the high tide mark to deter the maggots. Hunters would hide in hutches of salal and chase the deer into the water. Other hunters would come by in canoe, slit their throats and haul them into the canoes.
It was emphasized that indigenous people need support to continue to reclaim their traditional food harvesting techniques. To do that they need access to land and the resources that are being continually mined and appropriated from them. How can the reef net fishery make a strong comeback with no salmon to catch? How can the 13 moon calendar be relevant when there are no salmon or camas fields and deer trails are fenced off and no hunting signs posted?
How do we open the post colonial door together?
We can’t go back in time to correct the past. There is no request to live or write apologetically but this is not the same as not apologizing. We are starting to really see how deeply hurtful our shared history has been. It’s time for settlers to take right action to go forward with greater understanding, humility and curiosity as to how we can come together to create a future which rightly honours all who walk this land together. We can only go forward in the best way to live in greater harmony by learning from our past mistakes and creating new and better relationships that nurture life.
Reconciliation is a long and bumpy road. We need to recognize the critical need for returning sovereignty to the First Nation people over land and their culture so they can have the choice of how to go forward in the best way for them. Settlers need to recognize all the riches that have been stolen from the land and the First Nations people and be open to exploring what amends might truly look like. They say” Ask yourself why you would obey an authority, rather than refusing to obey any authority.” They see creator as the authority, they work by Natural Law which governs all living beings. This is the force to be obeyed or else you hear of the consequences in many of their oral teachings.
We are asked to consider: given what they were as a people, what are the W̱SÁNEĆ people trying to be today? Looking at the values that are embedded in their language, traditions and worldview, how can we use our privilege and power to support expanded understanding of how to live in right livelihood and relation to this land and go forward in a good way together?
Support for Language Learning, Place Renaming, Land Reclaiming, Cultural Sharing and Revitalization in a modern context will take a lot of work, and that work will be easier when settlers understand the important roles we can play using the privilege we have gained from colonizing this land.
~ HÍ SW̱ KE