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  • 1 Sep 2021 5:50 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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


  • 24 Aug 2021 6:02 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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.


  • 3 Jul 2021 7:45 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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.


  • 2 Jul 2021 7:43 AM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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


  • 1 Jul 2021 6:02 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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.


  • 30 Jun 2021 6:01 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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.


  • 29 Jun 2021 5:59 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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.


  • 28 Jun 2021 5:58 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    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.”


  • 17 Jun 2021 7:23 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Olivia Daniel, a University of the Fraser Valley student, is the recipient of a BC Historical Federation scholarship for her essay “Underneath a Hood or Covered in Soot: The Ku Klux Klan and Ritualized Racism in Abbotsford, B.C. During the Early 20th Century.” Her essay was written for History 490 instructed by Dr. Ian Rocksborough-Smith, University of the Fraser Valley. Below, Dr. Rocksborough-Smith interviews Olivia about her essay.


  • 17 Jun 2021 1:40 PM | Anonymous member (Administrator)

    Chinatown Through a Wide Lens: The Hidden Photographs of Yucho Chow, written by Catherine Clement and published by the Chinese Canadian Historical Society of British Columbia is the recipient of the 2021 Lieutenant Governor’s Medal for Historical Writing, as presented by the British Columbia Historical Federation.

    Yucho Chow was Vancouver’s first Chinese commercial photographer and its most prolific. His lens captured thousands of faces of all skin colours, religious beliefs and backgrounds and chronicled a tumultuous time in Vancouver’s and Canada’s early history.

    Catherine presented at the 2021 BCHF conference gala awards evening (virtually) on June 5. You can see her presentation below.

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British Columbia Historical Federation
PO Box 448, Fort Langley, BC, Canada, V1M 2R7

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The Secretariat of the BCHF is located on the unceded territories of the Coast Salish speaking Peoples. 

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