INTERESTING NEWS Canada’s Oldest First Nations Newspaper - Serving Nuu-chah-nulth-aht since 1974 Canadian Publications Mail Product Vol. 46 - No. 02—January 31, 2019 haas^i>sa Sales Agreement No. 40047776
Fisheries court appeal attracts coast-to-coast involvement By Eric Plummer Ha-Shilth-Sa Editor
Photo by Denise Titian
Nuu-chah-nulth master carvers Gord Dick, Tseshaht and Tim Paul, Hesquiaht, wait to make a presentation to the Nuuchah-nulth Board of Directors about the Language Revitalization Pole project they will be working on over the coming months.
Carver creates totem pole at UVic Hesquiaht artist commissioned to create carved centerpiece, backed by UNESCO By Denise Titian Ha-Shilth-Sa Reporter Victoria, BC – 2019 is being celebrated as the UN International Year of Indigenous Language and the University of Victoria has been chosen as one of the sites for a major UNESCO project. The UN International Year of Indigenous Language – Language Revitalization Pole has been commissioned by the First Nations Education Foundation (FNEF) and Hesquiaht master carver Tim Paul will design and carve the pole. The red cedar log, estimated to be 800 years old, is a windfall and comes from Huu-ay-aht traditional territory. In yet another Nuu-chah-nulth connection, the pole will be carved in Port Alberni at the workshop owned by Tseshaht master carver Gord Dick, who told Ha-ShilthSa he would be honoured to help work on the pole if Paul would let him. With his signature warm smile, Paul told the younger artist he would welcome to contribute. Master carver, artist and Hesquiaht elder Tim Paul says this pole will symbolize the importance of language and cultural teachings for Indigenous peoples. “It is especially important now because
of who we are today with English being our first language,” said Paul. But he has confidence in the next generations and their ability to keep the languages alive. Many Nuu-chah-nulth elders lost their ability to speak their first language at residential schools. Paul told Ha-ShilthSa the story of his late uncle, Moses Smith, whose first language was Chinehkint but he lost it after attending residential school. According to Paul, Moses had a very patient uncle who took Moses to Chinehkint territory and brought his first language back to life for the young man, immersion-style. It was hard work but it came back. “Uncle Mo said dictionaries are good, we learn words, but we also need to learn to speak to each other with it,” said Paul. Over the years Paul has worked with dozens of Nuu-chah-nulth elders who have documented their himwitsa (Nuuchah-nulth storytelling, usually by elders to children to pass on life lessons). “Some of these stories have been saved and can be transferred to new technology and the kids know how to use these devices; they can take it home with them,” said Paul. Paul said he has been working with younger Nuu-chah-nulth people in lan-
Inside this issue... Fisheries court appeal.................................................Page 3 Tseshaht and PAPA sign agreement ...........................Page 5 LNG pipeline protest..................................................Page 7 Canada’s new food guide.........................................Page 10 Carver harnessess tradition...................................... Page 15
guage immersion programs. “There’s Marika Swan, Layla Rorick, Giselle Martin and Tsimka Martin who are working hard to preserve the language,” said Paul. He expects to begin carving the pole sometime in February or March, depending on when they can get the log to Port Alberni. He has already drawn a conceptual design which he says incorporates the teachings of 18 Nuu-chah-nulth women that he’s worked with over the years and who gave everything they had in terms of teaching language and culture. “I need to recognize and thank them,” he said. The theme for the pole is ten relatives of the Nuu-chah-nulth people: sky, sun, moon, mountains, rivers, lakes, land, sea, wind and stars. There will be an eleventh relative included on the pole, earthquake, which is sent to teach humility and remind human beings of the all-encompassing power of the creator. “Oral history, songs, dances, ceremony, and art were – and continue to be – the vehicle for transmitting history, knowledge, and sovereign rights from generation to generation,” said Paul in a FNEF media release. Continued on page 4.
Vancouver, BC –The legal fight for future generations to pursue a livelihood on their territorial waters continues in February, when five Nuu-chah-nulth nations return to court for a fisheries rights appeal. The nations that operate T’aaq-wiihak fisheries, which include Ahousaht, Tlao-qui-aht, Hesquiaht, Ehattesaht/Chinehkint, and Mowachaht/Muchalaht, will be closely watching developments in the B.C. Court of Appeal when proceedings run Feb. 11-15 in Vancouver. Following a judgement from the Justification Trial last April, this next phase of legal proceedings is set to once again delve into the scope that the nations can exercise their aboriginal right to harvest and sell species caught in their territorial waters. In 2018 Justice Mary Humphries defined the extent that the nations can catch and sell fish from their hahoulthee, but subsequent assessments of her ruling has brought concerns from Nuu-chah-nulth that she erred in her judgement on the scope of the aboriginal right. Particular attention has been paid to Humphries’ restriction that the nations can pursue “a small-scale, artisanal, local, multi-species fishery to be conducted within a ninemile strip from the shore.” Also known as the Ahousaht et al. court case, this next phase of proceedings has brought Nuu-chah-nulth fisheries rights to a Canada-wide scale, with intervenors selected from across the country to help inform the appeal court. Six intervenors have been selected to speak for aboriginal fishing rights, including the Mi’gmaq of Listuguj, whose home territory stretches through Quebec’s Gaspe Penninsula, into New Brunswick and Maine. Their commercial fishing rights were upheld by the Supreme Court of Canada in 1999, but still struggle to exercise this in the face of federal restrictions, wrote Justice Barbara Fisher in her reasoning from selecting the intervenors. Fisher will be one of three judges overseeing the upcoming appeal. On Canada’s West Coast the Council of the Haida Nation has been selected due to it “distinct perspective” on rights to territorial resources. “It has a unique perspective on the process of reconciliation that will be helpful to this court,” wrote Fisher. Continued on page 3.
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