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Friday, August 9, 2013
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Healer HONOURED
GARDEN named for Thomas
Allan WISHART/Free Press Nita Tinsley, Sophie Thomas’s oldest granddaughter, left, Emily Tinsley, Sophie’s oldest daughter, and her husband, Ted, take a walk through Sophie’s Garden, dedicated June 29 at the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for the North.
Allan Wishart allanw@pgfreepress.com Chief Stanley Thomas said June 29 was only a new beginning. The son of the late Sophie Thomas, and a member of the Saik’uz First Nation, told a group gathered at the BC Cancer Agency’s Centre for the North, “She left us a lifelong story to tell. “Today we start another chapter.” June 29 saw the Healing Garden at the centre officially named Sophie’s Garden, in honour of Sophie Thomas, a respected Dakelh Elder and traditional healer. “It is a great honour they give my mother,” Stanley said. “She plowed a great path for me and my family.” Then he amended one of his remarks. “It’s our mom, not my mom,” he said, indicating his brothers and sisters also present. Then he amended it again. “I think I can safely say she was all of our’s mom.” Pamela Tobin, the regional director of operations for the agency, worked with Sophie on the design of the garden. “One of the stipulations for the company which won the contract to build this facility was to make it as welcoming as possible for the Aboriginal communities in the north.” So she called Jasmine Thomas, Sophie’s great-granddaughter, and asked for her fam-
ily’s input. “We pulled together a committee, which Sophie was part of. We met with the architect and planned the garden, and what would be in it.” Sophie passed away just a few days after that first meeting, but her family continued to work closely in the design of the garden, making sure the plants were indigenous, and were ones Sophie had used in her own recipes. “All the plants here have healing properties,” Tobin said. “Some you rub on your hands and then your face, and it keeps mosquitoes away. Others have healing properties for cancer treatments.” The centre and the garden opened in November, and Tobin said the healing garden has seen a lot of use. “We put the plants in last summer, and were very happy to see they all came back. You come by here anytime, and there are people out in the garden. Staff members will sit out here for lunch, clients and visitors will come out and just sit for a while.” Looking around the grounds, she laughed. “When we started the planning, in 2009, this was just a parking lot. Sophie’s dream has come true.” Sophie’s daughter, Maureen, unveiled a plaque in the garden honouring Sophie, and read a quote from Sophie on the plaque: “If we look after our earth, it will look after us. If we destroy it, we’ll destroy ourselves.”
Allan WISHART/Free Press Jasmine Thomas, a great-granddaughter of Sophie Thomas, drums and sings while Maureen Thomas, Sophie’s daughter, unveils a plaque marking the healing garden at the BC Cancer Agency Centre for the North as Sophie’s Garden, recognizing the contributions of the late healer.