Discovery Friday, August 4, 2023
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G O I N G P L A C E S, N E A R & F A R ....
Vancouver’s Revived Indigenous Heritage Continued from previous page was carved by Wayne Alfred and Beau Dick in 1991 based on a design by Russell Smith. “We wanted this pole to be a beacon of strength of our young people and show respect for our elders. It is to all our people who have made contributions to our culture,” Beau Dick wrote. The Chief Skedans Mortuary Pole was carved by Bill Reid with assistant Werner True in 1964 to replace an older version that was raised in the Haida village of Skidegate about 1870, to honor the Raven Chief. Patrick isn’t exactly happy with the totem poles being here, which he considers appropriation (exploitation? a balm to soothe a guilty conscience?) rather than a way of raising awareness, respect and honor for indigenous heritage. A totem pole, he explains, was like legal title to property, marking the land as yours, and would be carved with symbols that basically tell the story of that family. Only one of the totem poles is legitimately where it should be, he says: the Rose Cole Yelton Memorial Pole of the Squamish Nation, raised in 2009, to honor Yelton, her family and all those who lived in Stanley Park. It was erected in front of the home site where the Cole family lived until 1935. She was the last surviving resident of the Brockton community when she passed away in 2002. “The Totem was the British Columbia Indians coat of arms,” a bronze plaque reads, using language that might be considered inappropriate today. “They were not idols, nor were they worshipped. Each carving on each pole has a meaning. Such skills, though, had to be resurrected because the government criminalized indigenous art, language and culture, with the intention of eradicating indigenous culture and assimilating the people into Christian society. Because art – the shapes, line and symbols – took the place of written language, the practi-
cal effect was cultural genocide. “Art was criminalized – it is hard to relearn it, but people found other ways to preserve their art,” Patrick tells us. For example, people would make bentwood boxes but weren’t allowed to give them away (that would be considered an illegal potlatch), but could sell them. “For 100 years, indigenous people were forced into residential schools,” Patrick says. “Oral history made it easy to eradicate. Potlatch, language was criminalized, but people practiced in secret. We have to relearn history.” These house poles, he says, tell the story of that family. Founded in 2002, Talaysay Tours is owned and operated by Candace and Larry Campo, Shíshálh (Sechelt) and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish) Nation members. “Our goal is to support culture revitalization, education and reclamation.” Talaysay Tours, 334 Skawshen Rd, West Vancouver, V7P 3T1, info@talaysay.com, Toll Free 1 (800) 605-4643, 1 (604) 628-8555,www. talaysay.com.
Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro
From Stanley Park, I take an Uber across a bridge to a neighborhood that reminds me of going to Brooklyn from Manhattan. Salmon n’ Bannock Bistro is (so far) the only indigenous restaurant in Vancouver (though Inez Cook, the owner, has just opened a second location at the international departure terminal at Vancouver International Airport). “It was always a dream,” she tells me – not just to have a restaurant, but to revive and share indigenous culture. Inez says that like so many of her generation, she was not raised with native heritage. She shows me a children’s book, “Sixties Scoop,” she has written which describes how she is Nuxalk, born in Bella Coola, BC, but was taken away when she was one year old and adopted by a Caucasian family in Vancouver. “I am part of what’s called Sixties Scoop, when the government took native
kids and adopted them out to non-native families. Our native status was given up and we were supposed to grow up without our culture, without our heritage,” she writes. The “Sixties Scoop” began in the 1950s and lasted until the 1980s. As an adult, she went to find her native roots and discovered she had a younger sister who was also given up for adoption. That has made her all the more purposeful in showcasing her heritage with pride. (Inez also serves on the board of the Aboriginal Tourism British Columbia.) Cook was raised with the foods of her adoptive mother’s family who were Dutch Mennonite, so when she decided to open an indigenous restaurant, she needed to research native ingredients and First Nations cooking techniques. “I wanted the restaurant to showcase food from the land and sea that the Indigenous people had traditionally hunted, harvested and eaten – everything from fiddlehead ferns to bison and sock-eye salmon,” she told the BBC. “I wanted to incorporate their traditional methods too: how they smoked food or preserved it over the long winters. I did a lot of asking and learning, then began to improvise.” (https://www.bbc. com/travel/article/20210317-the-restaurateur-who-overcame-canadas-sixties-scoop) “The Olympics was coming. I dove in.” She opened Salmon n’ Bannock in 2010 to offer native cuisine with a modern twist. Her team is indigenous, the menu based on what’s in season and available. She would ask them, “What’s your favorite dish?” and bring modern inspiration. Some of the more interesting items on the menu this evening: pemmican mousse with bannock crackers; game sausage (this evening it is elk and huckleberry which is sensational); bison bone marrow served with sage rub and bannock crostini; bison pot roast with mash; smoked sablefish on Haudenosaunee corn polento,. I have
E V E R Y D A Y C H E A P S K A T E
Sometimes You Need a Microscope to Get to the Truth BY MARY HUNT
I wouldn’t go so far as to say I am a fine print junkie -- but I could see that happening. This fascination I have with the fine print is not some weird quirk I’ve had from birth or even a learned behavior that I pursued. It’s the result of getting burned just one too many times because of what lurks in the fine print -- on credit card applications, sales flyers, even the label on a popular laundry detergent. One of my most irritating lessons in small print had to do with the terms and
conditions on a credit card application. Who could even read that? Talk about fine print. I signed the thing acknowledging that I’d read all of it, sent it in, got approved and used the account. Now, mind you, this was back when we were working our way out of a horrible pit of debt. There was a reason for this particular account because it was a “fixed rate credit card,” not one of those variable interest rate deals. Fixed rate as in the interest rate will not change, right? It doesn’t take a genius to know what that means. And then it happened.
The company sent a letter informing that the interest rate on this account was changing. Going up, not down! What? In a flash I was on the phone with customer service only to be informed that fixed rates are always tied to an index. Should the index change, the fixed rate changes right along with it. Really? The agent read me the text of the application I’d signed and even emailed a copy. I swear this feature was disclosed in 2 pt. type -- that’s the teeniest of tiny. Continued on page 5
the Fish n’ Rice” - wild sockeye with Anishinaabe wild rice. She will take a native ingredient like soapberries or kelp, or a traditional recipe, and turn it into something new. Her twist on pemmican, a staple for her ancestors, is an example. The traditional way of serving pemmican was as a mixture of dried meat and berries, which were buried to provide food on a journey. Instead, here the pemmican is made of bison meat, smoked, dried and ground before blending it with cream cheese and sage-infused berries. Cook worked for airlines for 33 years which enabled her to experience other cultures around the world including returning to Vancouver in time to open her second 2nd location, at Vancouver airport. “I’ve lived all over the world- I wanted to take people on a journey to experience the culture of land...Food and culture bring people together,” For Inez, the restaurant is a chance to show indigenous culture and real people in a contemporary setting, rather than as displays in a museum or separated on a reserve. “We could be your doctor, lawyer, your neighbor,” It’s an intimate bistro setting – only about eight tables (24 guests) – but its reputation is going global. Time, Elle Magazine have raved and on this evening, seven media people from France have arrived, and Inez greets them in French. Salmon n’ Bannock Address: 1128 W Broadway #7, Vancouver, BC, 604568-8971, salmon.n.bannock@gmail.com, www.salmonandbannock.net Indigenous Tourism BC offers travel ideas, things to do, places to go, places to stay, and suggested itineraries and a trip planning app (https://www.indigenousbc.com/) Next: Trail to Discover British Columbia’s Indigenous Heritage Goes Through Whistler-Blackcomb _____________________________ © 2023 Travel Features Syndicate, a division of Workstyles, Inc. All rights reserved. Visit goingplacesfarandnear. com,
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