National Indigenous History Month

Philip Kevin Paul is a rare young poet with the voice of an elder. Paul's oral tradition and life perspective are as old as the hills themselves, but their addition to Canadian poetry is long-awaited and increasingly vital.Philip Kevin Paul's poems rise from the belly of awareness.

Respected Cowichan Tribe Elder and botanical expert, Luschiim Arvid Charlie, began his education in early childhood, learning from his great grandparents and others of their generation. Luschiim's Plants represents his dedication to the survival of the Hul'q'umi'num' language and traditional knowledge of plants for future generations.

This book was published in 2019 by the W̲SÁNEĆ School Board in consultation with the University of Victoria, Faculty of Law

According to W̱SÁNEĆ oral history, the W̱SÁNEĆ people have lived on their territorial homelands back to the time of creation. The W̱SÁNEĆ way of life has been passed on to each succeeding generation through an educational way, centered in large part on the W̱SÁNEĆ Reef Net Fishery. This fishing practice formed the backbone of W̱SÁNEĆ culture and society. Despite being protected by the Douglas Treaty of 1852, over the next 163 years of colonization, the knowledge, ceremony, practice, and educational way of the SX̱OLE (Reef Net) was nearly lost. Using a framework for Indigenous Resurgence, this dissertātiō or path focuses on the revitalization and restoration of the SX̱OLE.

When he is gifted a handmade drum by his mother, Ren learns the teachings of the drum that she also passes down to him. Ren discovers that through this special drum, he is able to connect to his culture and find a confidence in his voice to joyfully share in singing the traditional songs of his Nuu-chah-nulth Nation.

Written from a nuučaan̓uł perspective this dissertation documents the reclamation of knowledge, teachings, culture, language, responsibilities, and identity through my personal (re)connection to my family’s ḥaḥuułi and hereditary home, čaačaac̓iiʕas. In specific and intentional ways my research, fieldwork, and dissertation are part of a story of reconciliation between myself and čaačaac̓iiʕas, the ḥaḥuułi that my family was dispossessed from because of the impacts of colonization. Despite the near severing of our relationship with čaačaac̓iiʕas and the near destruction of our ḥaḥuułi, čaačaac̓iiʕas is thriving and now is the time to pick up my responsibilities and begin to re-establish a relationship with the natural and spiritual worlds found there.

My thesis serves two purposes: First, my research addresses what I have come to recognize as colonial misunderstandings of nuu-chah-nulth ha'wiih. My research and writing invoke new ways of thinking about nuu-chah-nulth people, leaders and knowledge. I accomplish this by writing conversationally and by including unedited interviews and poetry. All of which require readers to consider my research outside of their usual perspective. Second, my research responds to a cultural need to archive important family knowledge while providing the opportunity to define, for outsiders, who we are. The interviews archive, in part, the knowledge and teachings of a cha-cha-tsi-us-aht ha'wilth.

There is one question Canadians have asked Jody Wilson-Raybould more than any other: What can I do to help advance reconciliation? This has been true from her time as a leader of British Columbia's First Nations, as a Member of Parliament, as Minister of Justice and Attorney General, within the business communities she interacts with, and when having conversations with people around their kitchen tables. For Wilson-Raybould, what individuals and organizations need to do to advance true reconciliation is self-evident, accessible, and achievable.

"This exhibition celebrates the career of Kwagiulth (Kwakwaka'wakw) carver Ellen Neel (1916-1966), the first woman carver of monumental totem poles. Further, it acknowledges Neel's influential role as a professional artist and her contribution towards the recognition of what Neel called "Indian Art". “Our art continues to live, for not only is it part and parcel of us, but can be a powerful factor in combining the best part of Indian culture with the fabric of a truly Canadian art form."- Ellen Neel."--Legacy Art Galleries website.

Drawing on memory, legend, and his own art, Neel recounts his struggle to reconnect with his culture and become an accomplished Kwakwaka'wakw artist. His memoir is a testament to the strength of the human spirit to overcome great obstacles and to the power and endurance of Indigenous culture and art.

Kwakwaka’wakw laws surrounding cultural property and Canadian intellectual property laws often treat art objects differently. How can the divergences between the two legal systems be reconciled? This thesis attempts to answer this question by examining the relationships surrounding the Victory Through Honour totem pole that was gifted by Ellen Neel, a Kwakwaka’wakw totem pole carver, to UBC to make right the use of the Thunderbirds name for the university’s varsity sports teams.

A stunning tribute to the art and life of one of the greatest Indigenous carvers of the last fifty yearsBorn in 1955 on Village Island, Kingcome Inlet, British Columbia, Beau Dick was a Kwakwaka'wakw artist, activist and teacher. He lived and worked in Alert Bay. Although foremost an artist, Dick was actively engaged in all aspects of Kwakwaka'wakw culture: studying and revivifying the traditions of carving, dancing, and storytelling.