FolkWoman

I currently live, create, and tell stories on the unceeded territories of the Tsimshian Nations also known as Terrace BC. My closest neighbours are the Kitselas First Nation and the Kitsumkalum First Nation.

The lands are sacred and I continue to learn from the example of First Nations, Metis, and Inuit what it means to be an advocate.

As a descendant of the Acadian Deportation, my family has been touched by social inequality in a way that still affects our present family. I wish for peace, a return to traditional forms of knowledge, and better control for peoples of all cultures and nations over their own governing. I also know that this wish is not too much to ask.

As a white settler's descendant I experience privilege and I am sorry that this is true. My life as a disabled single mother has taught me that privilege is something easy to forget, easy to dismiss, and in the past I'm sure I've hurt those I consider friends. I ask you now to forgive me but only if you're ready.

If you are First Nations, Metis, Inuit, or Indigenous, then Thank YOU.

First Nations in Canada have been fighting to be seen and heard, likely you haven't received any recognition for it.

Thank you.

Thank you for valuing yourself. Thank you for being an ally in trying to make this world better. Thank you for surviving, if you had to.

Special Notes:

I want to thank the Gitxaala Nation for hosting my family when my father came to work there on the Island to build the steel and roof for the "New School," though I hear it's old now too. We homeschooled and followed my father to many places, but this living village felt like a community from the moment we stepped off the float plane. Thanks for sharing such remarkable food diversity and environmental education while we resided there. The sheer breadth of your community's traditional knowledges and observations of history are impressive.

I also would like to thank the Village of Gitlax̱t'aamiks, of the Nisga'a Nation for putting up with our family as we biked through town and ate up the $0.05 candy from the store. Thank you to Chester from this same community who lent me my first book of non-western myths at the age of 9. You taught me much simply by lending me a book. Thank you for believing the future can change.

In the language of the Tsimshian lands I reside: Hasa̱g̱u nm t'oya̱xsn da g̱asg̱aaw waan.

In my Maternal Language: Merci pour tout ce que vous avez fait.