Mastodawn

You can view the #Ravensong war #canoe & symbolic #paddle #PublicArt at #NIWRA. It's beside the big turtle pond.
https://www.niwra.org/

Bill Helin is of #Tsimshian / #Norwegian decent and is a member of the Tsimshian Nation, born and raised in the Northwest Coastal community of Prince Rupert, BC. His father was Arthur Helin, his Grandfather Henry William Helin, was Chief of the Gitlan Tribe, and his Grandmother Maud Helin, was Chief of the Gitgeese Tribe. Bill spent many hours listening to his grandmother in wonder, as she told him many Legends of the Tsimshian People. By the time he was three, he was already drawing and it wasn't long before he was amusing his family, friends and teachers with caricatures and cartoons. For the most part Bill is a self-taught artist. He learned from books, and was soon mastering techniques such as three-dimensional forming, called repousse. In the 1980’s Bill was sponsored to go to K'San, BC's famous #IndianArt and Carving School in Hazelton. In February 1988, Bill attended the renowned Gemology Institute of America in Santa Monica, California, completing advanced courses in gold smithing and gem setting. Today he lives and works from his studio/home on Vancouver Island.

Bill spent most of his career, which started in 1979, carving traditional Tsimshian wood carving, jewelry and paintings. His art has evolved from creating large wood projects such as a 40 foot long Ravensong Canoe in 1993 and working on the world’s tallest totem pole with Richard Krentz in 1994, to illustrating children’s story books and working on many animation projects. Other projects include working with NASA and the Canadian Space Agency to design three mission patches as well as some education materials.

Check out his website:
https://www.billhelin.com/

Charring Auh May 1

The image displays a collection of Northwest Coast Native American masks, likely from a museum or cultural exhibit. These masks are significant in the cultures of indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, including tribes like the #Tlingit, #Haida, #Tsimshian, #Kwakiutl, and Nootka.

Charring Auh May 1

Charring Auh Mar 3

#Tsimshian[a] (/ˈsɪmʃiən/; Tsimshian: Ts'msyen, lit. 'Inside the Skeena River') are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince

Charring Auh Feb 19

Swamp Grass. Used as weft material in wrapped-twined baskets. Nootkan #Makah).

11. Yellow Cedar Bark. #Nootkan (Makah).

12. Bark Splitter. For cleaning skins and splitting cedar bark, #Tsimshian (Gitksan), s

13. Bark Beater, #Kwakiutl.

DoomsdaysCW Dec 21

How #Indigenous #FoodSovereignty can improve #FoodSecurity

Sustainable Bites: Food and Our Future What can we do to help make our food systems more sustainable? UBC researchers share small steps that can make a big collective impact. 

March 24, 2025

"Indigenous households experience food insecurity at rates two to three times higher than non-Indigenous households in Canada. #Agroecologist Dr. #JenniferGrenz, an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Forestry and Faculty of Land and Food Systems, studies Indigenous food sovereignty and food systems, and how to revitalize them.

Did you know?

#Kwetlal, or #camas, a lily-like plant with a starchy bulb, was an important staple for #IndigenousPeoples along the #SalishSea.
Kwetlal was cultivated in Garry oak #ecosystems by #W̱SÁNEĆ and Quw’utsun Peoples, until #colonization nearly destroyed these unique food systems.

What does Indigenous food sovereignty mean?

" 'Indigenous food sovereignty is the reclamation and revitalization of our food systems,' says Dr. Grenz, who is Nlaka’pamux of mixed ancestry, whose family comes from the #Lytton First Nation. She grew up and lives on the coast of BC.

"The lands across #BritishColumbia, Dr. Grenz explains, were purposefully shaped since time immemorial for foods, medicines and technologies by the Indigenous Peoples who lived there until colonial settlers dispossessed them of their lands, culture and traditions.

" 'Indigenous food sovereignty is also about #CulturalResurgence: being able to access those foods and medicines again and find new ones as we face a changing climate,' said Dr. Grenz. 'Heal the people, heal the land. Heal the land, heal the people. I think that’s really what food sovereignty is about.'

"Revitalizing Indigenous food systems can help diversify and localize food systems in ways that could buffer against #FoodInsecurity in a changing climate.

"Dr. Grenz’s research team is working alongside Indigenous communities impacted by the 2021 heat dome and wildfires to understand the effects on culturally important plants.

" 'If you think of land as just vegetation and an aesthetic notion of what belongs, you’re going to have very different approaches and different outcomes to recovery than if you see that land as a food system, not just for humans, but for our animal, bird, fish and insect relations,' says Dr. Grenz. 'We’re working alongside communities to develop those Indigenized processes around wildfire recovery that honour Indigenous food systems, sustainability and resiliency.”'

How can #Settlers support the revitalization of Indigenous food systems?

"Learn about the histories of the lands you live on and what the traditional food systems were, what they are now and what they could be, says Dr. Grenz.

"Incorporating reciprocity into your relationship with the land is also important. 'Learn about the plants of those lands and find a way to invite them into your life. How can you take care of them, nurture them and steward them?' asks Dr. Grenz.

"One way might be to Indigenize your own back yard or community garden. Or learn about Indigenous food system protocols and the concept of '#HonourableHarvest.'

How can land-based learning support Indigenous food sovereignty?

"Land-based learning is an opportunity to get students and people out on the land—and start taking steps to give back while they are learning.

"At #UBCFarm, Dr. Grenz and students are starting two different Indigenous food systems to work as part of the agrarian food system that exists there — 'essentially bridging two food systems, #decolonizing and #Indigenizing our understandings of what foods are and how those two systems work together to benefit both.'

"In one, they are establishing a Garry oak ecosystem and growing camas, which is a traditional food system of the W̱SÁNEĆ  and Quw’utsun Peoples. Another type of #ForestGarden, similar to other Coast #Salish, #Tsimshian or #Haida food systems, will see the forest shaped by different plants like beaked #hazelnut, #elderberry, #salmonberry and #thimbleberry.

The students will be able to practice how to care for plants ordinarily thought of as forest plants, and 'learn how to reclaim traditional #LandStewardship practices to actually increase the production of those berries.' "

Source [includes video links]:
https://beyond.ubc.ca/how-indigenous-food-sovereignty-can-improve-food-security/

#SolarPunkSunday #FirstNations #Quwutsun #ClimateChange #Resilience #DecolonizeYourDiet #HonorIndigenousFoodSystems #LandBasedLearning #IndigenousFoodSovereignty #IndigenousFoods #BuildingCommunity #CommunityGardens #FoodForests