Blog & News

BCHF vice-president Mark Forsythe interviews BCHF director Greg Nesteroff, co-author with Eric Brighton of the new book Lost Kootenays: A History In Pictures. In the first of two installments, they look at some of the photos featuring the West Kootenay. You can find part 2 here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QlyQd3yHCM4

The Strand Theatre on Third Avenue as it appeared in 1965. It had disappeared by 1974. Exploration Place P993.11.1.6044.1

By Mark Forsythe

Loki the Magpie is a tad lonely. He’s accustomed to swapping tales with visitors to the animal biome at the Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre in Prince George, but when the facility was forced to close during the COVID-19 pandemic, things suddenly got a lot quieter.

Loki thrives on interaction with people and is known to quote back phrases or summon his own, like, “Hey you, come here!” The bird enjoys being at the centre of attention, and like everyone else at Exploration Place, is keen to greet more humans.

During the pandemic closure, Exploration Place was able to undertake major reconstruction of gallery spaces and curate new exhibits. Staff have also collaborated with the Maiyoo Keyoh Society to help repatriate a headdress that belonged to a hereditary chief of the Susk’uz Whut’en, George A’Huille.

They partneredwith the Lheidli T’enneh to establish a new free-standing childcare centre in Lheidli T’enneh Park, home to Exploration Place. The Lheidli T’enneh occupied a village here for some 9,000 years, until they were expelled by settlers. (Lheidli T’enneh means “the people who live where the two rivers flow together.”)

The owners of the Prince George Real Estate Company standing in front of their building, 1910s. Exploration Place P988.15.55

Exploration Place curator Alyssa Leier says the new childcare centre will “focus on Indigenous ways of knowing and will be unlike anything in Prince George.” It will bring 75 new spaces to the city; programming will emphasize language, culture, and Elder involvement.

This evolving relationship dovetails with a commitment to collaborate more directly with First Peoples and Knowledge Keepers with a hope to build trust and understanding. The repatriated headdress is a good illustration.

Jim Munroe, president of the Maiyoo Keyoh Society, stumbled across an online description of the headdress in the permanent collection of the Royal Ontario Museum (ROM) while researching a land title case. Jim realized it connected directly to his wife’s family. Petra Munroe is Hereditary Chief of the Maiyoo Keyoh and the headdress (made from her ancestors’ hair) was worn by her great-great-grandfather some 140 years ago.

A missionary, Father Adrian-Gabriel Morice, gave it to the Museum of Archaeology in 1893 and it has been at ROM since 1912. The family approached Exploration Place for assistance, applied for a provincial Repatriation Grant through the BC Museums Association, and travelled to Toronto to view the head-dress on display beside one worn by Chief Sitting Bull. Now it’s coming home.

Left: Sketch by Father Adrian-Gabriel Morice OMI, circa 1885. Courtesy of Maiyoo Keyoh Society. Right: The George A’Huille headdress is made of dentalia (flute shaped seashells) strung on the hair of revered female ancestors. This headdress is a physical connection to ancestral direct link to the responsibility and governance of Maiyoo Keyoh, 170,000 hectares of land about 100 km northwest of Prince George. Coutesy of Maiyoo Keyoh Society/Royal Ontario Musuem ROM 2016-15387-3

Chief Petra Munroe told CBC Radio: “The headdress is so important to tell the story of where we came from.” Since Exploration Place is a Class A facility and a designated repository it can safely hold the headdress on the family’s behalf or until they are able to create an appropriate space for it. “It’s up to the family,” says curator Alyssa Leier. Plans are in the works for a ceremonial welcome this fall when it goes on display. “[We want] to show other nations that this is possible. If we could do it, they could do it,” says Chief Munroe.

In 2017, the Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre and the Lheidli T’enneh First Nation received a Governor General’s History Award for Excellence in Community Programming for a new permanent gallery, Hodul’eh-a: A Place of Learning. It features a pit house entryway, a new cottonwood dugout canoe (the first built in more than 100 years), photos, artifacts, and a central hearth. The gallery space has become very popular and is used for school and community programs.

CEO Tracy Calogheros and curator Alyssa Leier commented in BC Studies: “The award celebrates a new gallery in the Exploration Place but it also recognizes a shift in the way a regional museum thinks and in how it works with and represents the First Nation in whose territory it is located.”

This marked an important change in how stories are told at Exploration Place. “The exhibitions did not represent Lheidli T’enneh culture or portray that nation’s resiliency and determined efforts to keep its culture alive in the face of colonial oppression and loss of lands and resources. The museum was missing valuable insight and a large piece of our region’s history.”

What’s curator Alyssa Leier looking forward to in a post-COVID-19 world? “Our reopening! The new childcare centre will make positive change for the community, and repatriations are really important as we try to decolonize these spaces.”

Loki the Magpie will have much to talk about.

The Exploration Place Museum and Science Centre is owned and operated by the Fraser-Fort George Museum Society. Visit www.theexplorationplace.com

Find out more about the headdress and its repatriation on this BCMA podcast: https://museum.bc.ca/brain/repatriation-discussion-with-maiyoo-keyoh-society/

To learn more about the Maiyoo Keyoh Society and to support their work, visit https://maiyookeyoh.com/

Listen to Chief Petra Munroe’s CBC Daybreak interview with Carolina de Ryk starting at 53:00: https://www.cbc.ca/listen/live-radio/1-109/clip/15845074

Prince George, 1915. Exploration Place A988.30.14

Sandra Moorhouse-Good (mother), Aunalee Boyd-Good, Tseskinakhen William Good (father), and Sophia Seward-Good, 2019. Photo: Sean Fenzl

By Aimee Greenaway with Aunalee Boyd-Good, Sophia Seward-Good, and Thea Harris

Vancouver Fashion Week was the catalyst for two fashion designers to create contemporary Coast Salish music with their family.

Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good are the sisters behind Ay Lelum, The Good House of Design, a second-generation Coast Salish design house. When they needed original music for their Vancouver Fashion Week showcase in 2018, they collaborated with their family of artists for ideas. “We didn’t know where to start,” says Aunalee Boyd-Good. “The challenge for recording music is—where do you begin?”1

Their father, Tseskinakhen William Good—hereditary chief, master carver, and knowledge keeper from the Snuneymuxw First Nation—has his own traditional songs. But it was their brother, artist W. Joel Good, who suggested they contact Juno-award winning and multi-platinum producer Rob the Viking in Nanaimo for beats.2

The collaborative process between Ay Lelum and their producer is reciprocal and based on respect for working with important cultural information. “We can’t just cut a Hul’q’umi’num word off, because you are changing its meaning,” says Sophia Seward-Good. “In our language, you have to make sure you are pronouncing your word correctly, otherwise you change the whole thing.”3

Tseskinum William Good wearing his running clothes, circa 1900. Photo: Good family

Ay Lelum’s songs include non-conventional instruments including spinning wool, strumming taut wool, carving chips, and sharpening knives, and incorporate sounds such as bird calls, and babies talking. “So much in day-to-day artistic practices and life are rhythmic,” says Aunalee. “It’s like life embodied in the music.”4

Their father’s singing and drumming is featured in the songs “Story of the Grizzly Bear” and “Modern Prayer.” Their music, like all their art, is guided by their father’s teachings.

All generations of their family collaborate on Ay Lelum’s music, including Aunalee and Sophia’s niece, Thea Harris. “I am a passionate weaver, and I had such a strong feeling that I needed to be part of the process with the ‘Spindle Whorl’ song,” says Thea. “Being part of their creative process, I feel less like a maker and more like a witness. The music exists in another place, and we are chosen to be vessels of this knowledge and art.”5

The multi-generational approach to the family’s artistic work is intrinsic. “Based on Coast Salish teachings, my grandparents set the table that whoever wants to be a part of a creative process can come,” Thea reflects. “And my aunts make space for that, too, through their generosity of being open to the process, people, and everything that comes forward.”6

Every song is developed differently. “It is an intuitive process,” says Aunalee. “You are tapping into something ancient and traditional.” Her sister, Sophia, describes the process: “Normally, our plan is whatever artwork we’re using or story we’re telling, I go and learn our Hul’q’umi’num language around that framework. Then we go in and we allow the rhythmic words to guide our beat.”7

From their instruments to the artistic process, Ay Lelum is decolonizing their music. “We had a song and a dance for everything,” says Sophia. “We don’t hear those songs. Those songs were taken. Aunie and I have the chance to make songs for everything—our fashion, our history, our language revitalization. You don’t have to go to a museum to hear our music: you can get it off Apple iTunes.”8

Thea believes that Ay Lelum brings forward music and language in a way that offers hope for younger generations. “There’s a feeling in communities of lost music, language, protocols, and ceremonies, which is frustrating and can slow down momentum,” she explains. “I feel so strongly that it doesn’t take a special combination; we can all access ancient knowledge if we are generous with ourselves and are willing and open to access that knowledge.”9

Ay Lelum’s music has aired on CBC Music’s Reclaimed with host Jarrett Martineau. Their recent release, Run, was based on the story of their great-grandfather Tseskinakhen William Good (1878–1966), a world-class runner at the turn of the 20th century. In an interview in the 1990s, Elder Hazel Good described how her father won the 440-yard [402-meter] race at the World’s Fair in San Francisco in the 1890s, which gave him the designation of the fastest man in the world. But Good never received his medal—he was disqualified for being Indigenous.10

From 1908–1950, William Good, son of Snuneymuxw Chief Louis Good, served as a police officer and was awarded the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation medal (1953) for his outstanding police service.11 “He was a non-drinker all his life and did his best to keep alcohol and bootleggers off the Reserve,” according to grandson Tseskinakhen William Good. “He was the first police officer in Snuneymuxw and upheld the law.”12

Ay Lelum’s music evokes powerful emotions. “If you get emotional hearing our language and songs, that is your spirit longing to connect with our ancestors,” says Sophia. “I think our music definitely evokes emotion and connection that feels lost.” As artists and modern storytellers who use their moment on the runway to honour the past and look towards the future, Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward Good weave sound and fabric into an invitation to connect with Coast Salish culture.13

Find Ay Lelum’s wearable art garments here: https://www.aylelum.com. Find their singles and EPs on Apple Music or follow them on Facebook and Instagram.

Endnotes

1. Interview with Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good by John Harris, 2020. Thank you to John Harris for generously sharing the recording of his interview with his aunts about Ay Lelum’s music.
2. Aunalee Boyd-Good, “Creating a Coast Salish Symphony with Rob the Viking,” Salish Sea Sentinel, October 2019, https://salishseasentinel.ca/2019/10/creating-a-coast-salish-symphony-with-rob-the-viking/
3. Interview with Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good by John Harris, 2020.
4. Interview with Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good by John Harris, 2020.
5. Interview with Thea Harris by Aimee Greenaway, June 18, 2021.
6. Interview with Thea Harris by Aimee Greenaway, June 18, 2021.
7. Interview with Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good by John Harris, 2020.
8. Interview with Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good by John Harris, 2020.
9. Interview with Thea Harris by Aimee Greenaway, June 18, 2021.
10. Michael Munro, “Medal Withheld Because of Native Ancestry,” Nanaimo News Bulletin, October 19, 1995.
11. “William Good of Indian Reserve Awarded Medal,” Nanaimo Free Press, April 3, 1954.
12. Wall text, Tseskinakhen William Good (1878–1966), Nanaimo Museum, June 21, 2021.
13. Interview with Aunalee Boyd-Good and Sophia Seward-Good by John Harris, 2020.

Thea Harris and Sophia Seward-Good pulling wool taut for Aunalee Boyd-Good to play. Photo: Raymond Knight

Surrey Centre Cemetery sits on the top of the hill above Mud Bay, overlooking farm land and the surrounding area as it has done for the last 135 years. As the local communities have grown and prospered, we can find jewels of local history in the stories of our pioneer families in their final resting place.

Through granite, marble and even wood-carved stones that dot the historic grounds, we find those that forged a new home and built a community. The cemetery holds the stories of veterans of all conflicts, including the Boer and the US Civil War as well as the family of an emancipated US slave who came to call Cloverdale home. Other features of the cemetery include a butterfly garden and a tree descended from the fields of Vimy Ridge.

This is part two. Sue presented part one at the BC Historical Federation conference 2021.

Maurice Guibord, director of the Société historique francophone de la Colombie-Britannique, will engage you with his presentation which incorporates his research on the Francophone heritage of Surrey. The presentation was delivered at the 2021 BC Historical Federation conference.

Ride the rails… virtually! The Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society introduces you to their rolling stock, station and volunteers through two video productions presented at this year’s BCHF conference. Your hosts John Sprung, Michael Gibbs and Stephen Plant take you through a question and answer period and introduce the videos.

Video content is produced and copyrighted by the Fraser Valley Heritage Railway Society, located in Cloverdale. Visit their website: https://fvhrs.org/ and their YouTube channel: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCLpkQn01Ltvkjs6Sm2fi9KQ

Métis Artist Pat Calihou introduces you to his heritage by way of a 40 foot traditional bateau he built in 2019-20 at Fort Langley National Historic Site. Pat’s great-great grandfather Michel Calihou was a river boat pilot for the Hudson’s Bay Company in Edmonton in the early 1800s and also built the large, heavy vessels, called York boats, that carried furs and goods between trading posts and forts.

Pat shares his struggles and triumphs of building a full size bateau, in the winter, using hand-forged nails and hand-bent planks. The presentation was delivered as part of the BC Historical Federation’s 2021 virtual conference.

How can historians use new digital tools to enliven and deepen our study of the past? In this presentation, Dr. Kyle Jackson introduces the field of digital history on a global scale, as well as several local experiments underway at Kwantlen Polytechnic University and the City of Surrey Archives.

Students Emily Deasy, Lucas Akai and David Piraquive share their experiences as authors of a smartphone app tour comparing the Spanish Flu and COVID-19 pandemics in the Lower Mainland.

This presentation was originally delivered at the 2021 BCHF annual conference.

As a poet and a writer she’s explored history (Children of Air India, un/authorized exhibit and interjections); science and poetry (Listening to the Bees); and forthcoming this spring, Book One of her epic fantasy in verse, Bramah and the Beggar Boy, that deals with history, science, bees, among other subjects.

Renée Sarojini Saklikar, who was Surrey’s Poet Laureate 2015-18, spoke to her work in these areas during the recent BCHF conference. You can watch her presentation below.

One of the most moving presentations of the recent BCHF conference was by Baltej Singh Dhillon, the first member of the RCMP to wear a turban. Dhillon went on to spend nearly 30 years with the police force. You can watch his presentation below, which is subtitled “A Journey Through Adversity Charged With Responsibility and the Discovery of Self-Resliency.”