It is Heritage Week in Canada and we have been asked to explore our community’s heritage. When we see the word “heritage” we probably think of the carvings, rock paintings and oral histories of Indigenous people, artifacts in museums, documents and photographs in archives, art in art galleries, written histories, stories and legends in libraries and our older buildings.
A community’s heritage is found in the traditions of its people, people who may have lived here for thousands of years or who have come recently from different parts of the world. Music, dance, drama, clothes, myths and legends and food, to name a few, are all part of a community’s heritage. On the Coast we have the Coast Fiddlers who play a variety of music from different traditions, a Métis group keeps its heritage alive and our French language is taught in the French immersion school. Exchange students come each year to the Coast to learn about our culture and to share theirs. Our forestry, fishing and sea transportation heritages are not forgotten: Pender Harbour, Sechelt and Gibsons all had or have festivals to remind us of how vital these activities were to the Coast’s residents. Our thriving cultural heritage owes much to festivals such as the annual Writers’ Festival, Sechelt Arts Festival and the Festival of the Performing Arts.
On the Sunshine Coast we can explore the Coast Salish heritage in the tems swiya Museum and view the totem poles, we can walk through our communities and see our tangible history in the older buildings, visit our local museums, archives, libraries and art galleries. We have residents from many parts of the world now living on the Sunshine Coast but who remember the heritage of their homeland. To celebrate Heritage Week in multicultural Canada, cook a traditional meal, wear traditional clothing, sing, dance and read something traditional and above all enjoy the natural heritage all around us in this changing world.
