Two small groups piloted a new format for reconciliation work on the Sunshine Coast last Friday.
Shíshálh Nation member xets’emits’a Candace Campo brought two groups of about eight people through skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) territory shorelines around Gibsons, including the historic reserve of Chekwelp. Campo, who runs Talaysay Tours, has family ties to skwxwú7mesh Nation and worked with the syiyaya Committee in partnership.
Rachel Yordy, coordinator for the syiyaya Committee, said the walking tour was held as a pilot to see whether it could work as a format while COVID-19 health restrictions remain in place. The group had held reconciliation workshops with shíshálh Nation members and in Pender Harbour but had to cancel other similar planned events once health restrictions took effect.
The committee is also planning small outdoor tours in Roberts Creek and Sechelt. “It seems like there’s a lot of interest in this kind of thing on an ongoing basis,” Yordy said.
Participants learned about the cultural and political links between the nations and their connections to local ecology, including cedar trees. “Archeological evidence has shown our people have been here 12,000 and even 14,000 years, but the development of the forest emerged about 5,000 years ago and from that our material culture also grew. So the cedar really helped us build our culture,” Campo said. Another tree, Douglas fir, is still used ceremonially. “In general our people used over 120 plants for food and medicine,” she said.
Campo also explained the impacts of colonialism on the Nation’s ability to practise their culture and traditions, for example the banning of potlatch ceremonies, and provided examples of how communities have rebounded.
Following the tour, a dialogue about reconciliation was held, with attendees welcomed to speak about their experiences with and understanding of reconciliation.
“The whole purpose for us is around creating space for meaningful conversations about what reconciliation is,” said Yordy, adding that local developments and broader movements such as Black Lives Matter mean such conversations are especially important.
“It’s not like one dialogue is going to change everybody’s life forever, but just being in a space where we’re sharing perspectives that are somewhat similar with other people and in a space where we can talk about that, there’s something that can feel like we’re participating in a change process,” she said, “that we’re not alone in the journey, and that there are other people who care about these issues and that we want to do things on a local level, together.”
To register for a tour, contact the committee at: [email protected]
