Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Connecting Indigenous and Pacific Peoples

Pasifik Currents – Spring Edition 2020

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April Ingham and Greta Thunberg in Swedish Lapland

Talofa Lava Friends,

Happy International Women’s Day!  Spring is starting to show itself here on Vancouver Island.  The days are getting longer, blossoms are slowly revealing themselves and a buzz of excitement is in the air as Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) grows ever nearer to our 45th Anniversary on April 8!  This is a special time of celebration and reflection for PPP, and we are thrilled to mark this milestone by embarking on a Wayfinding 2020 mission.

With the support of funder Tamalpais Trust, a San Francisco-based organization supporting Indigenous-led projects, PPP will connect with former, current and potential future partners throughout the South Pacific in a deep listening and learning mission. Ironically this mission recently began with a trip to Sápmi Territories (Swedish Lapland, Arctic Circle) where we witnessed Pawanka Fund’s transformative approach to philanthropy through global Indigenous solidarity and self-determination.  This incredible initiative is highlighted in the enclosed article.

Findings and inputs from Wayfinding 2020 will inform PPP’s strategic plans for 2020-2025 to ensure they support South Pacific Islanders’ stated priorities and self determined solutions. It is anticipated this will lead to strengthened partnerships, more impactful programming and the transformation of our Pacific Resilience Fund (PRF) into an Indigenous led fund.  So, watch for our continued updates on social media and through Pasifik Currents.

These have been busy and productive days here at PPP with lots of exciting programs in the works or just completed.  Want to learn more? Check out our 2018-19 Annual Report and Audited Statements and our recent articles about our activities including the Climate Connect Indigenous Youth Workshop in November 2019, plus check out the touching outcomes of our recent PRF Samoa Campaign as experienced first hand by our President Muavae Va’a in December 2019. You will also see our recent solidarity statement for Wet’suwet’en; and our newest feature Pacific Pulse, a curated and synthesized selection of emergent Pacific news, plus lots of other great updates!

Our Board, Volunteers and small team of Staff are working hard to be of service to the Peoples of the South Pacific.  To this end, we also work in solidarity with Indigenous peoples worldwide alongside many strong allies.  As we near our 45th Anniversary we urge your continued engagement and expanded charitable support of our mandate – Please donate today!  We look forward to celebrating this amazing milestone with you throughout 2020!

Yours in Solidarity for Peace,

April Ingham

Executive Director

Reindeer, kick sleds, toboggans and snow angels… Pacific Peoples’ Partnership?

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By Art Holbrook

April at Sami Gathering Space at Jokkmokk Market

Why are we writing about a winter gathering in Northern Sweden when the focus of Pacific Peoples’ Partnership is the people of Oceania, mainly the tropical island nations of the Pacific?

We’re writing because April Ingham, executive director of PPP, received an unusual invitation. She was invited to observe the guiding committee meeting of Pawanka Fund, to witness this relatively new global Indigenous led fund in action.  April formed part of their 20-person

A Ingham checking out a traditional Sami Teepee

delegation, which included respected Indigenous leaders’ representative of the seven geographic regions of the world, plus many of their funding partners. The meetings were held in Jokkmokk located in the Swedish province of Lapland.  Jokkmokk is just north of the Arctic Circle and is a center for the Sami people.

The Pawanka Fund was established six years ago as a direct outcome of a UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Issues meeting.  That forum put forward a UN resolution which urged government, intergovernmental and non-governmental organisations to continue to contribute to Indigenous led funds, as well as to entrust funds for Indigenous issues and the United Nations voluntary fund for Indigenous peoples.

The Pawanka Fund is Chaired by Dr. Myrna Cunningham-Kain, who also sits with April on an Indigenous led fund working group hosted by the United States-based International Funders for Indigenous Peoples (IFIP). It was expected that April’s learning experiences at this meeting would contribute to the working group’s knowledge sharing principles and PPP’s own Pacific Resilience Fund’s transformation.  April has attended IFIP meetings in Canada and the United States, but this is the first time she has traveled to an international gathering of these funders outside of North America.

Pawanka Delegation with the UN Permanent Forum for Indigenous Peoples Chair Anne Nuorgam

The Pawanka gathering brought together representatives from around the globe including Hawaii, Asia, Kenya, South America, the US and Russia, along with US based global funders committed to Indigenous led philanthropy including the Tamalpais Trust, the NoVo Foundation, the Christensen Fund, the Swift Foundation, the NiaTero Fund, and the Tenure Faculty.  A UN Special Rapporteur also participated. The protocols, logistics and hosting of the meetings was organized by Gunn-Britt Retter, a Pawanka guiding committee member and a Sami Arctic Council leader.

April was invited to the Jokkmokk gathering to learn about the processes for administering an Indigenous led fund, and about the methodologies that ensure the fund’s founding principles uphold Indigenous worldviews and self-determined processes. She was also there to learn and prepare, as PPP will soon undertake the transformation of our Pacific Resilience Fund (PRF) into one led by and for Pacific peoples, this is part of a major new initiative we will be launching later this spring.

April will be traveling to a number of South Pacific nations to meet with former and current partners, development experts and community leaders, as part of our Pacific Wayfinding 2020 Learning Mission.  The findings from that mission, sponsored by Tamalpais Trust, will contribute to PPP’s strategic plan for 2020-2025, and will guide the development of our programs, operations and lead to a transformed PRF.

April arrived in the regional center of Luleå before a number of the other participants.  Since prior to joining PPP April lived in Fort St. John, B.C., she is no stranger to cold weather and had time to enjoy the snow and -12 Celsius weather, exploring the small city and kick sledding across the ice in Luleå’s Gulf of Bothnia harbour.

As the delegation joined her in Luleå, they took a four-hour bus trip to Jokkmokk.  Outfitted with winter gear provided by the gathering’s

Pawanka Delegation experiencing snow together!

host coordinators, the delegates from warmer climes had the new experience of traveling in a blizzard in Arctic darkness.  Arriving at the lodge where the meetings were to take place, April was able to introduce her tropical colleagues to kick sleds and tobogganing and the all-important winter skill of making snow angels.

Gunn-Brit gave the group a warm welcome to the Sápmi Territories and provided a brief introduction to the Sami people and Jokkmokk, a training center for Sami artists.  Dr. Myrna Cunningham-Kain provided an orientation to the work of the Pawanka Fund.  She explained the importance Pawanka places on meeting in remote regional locations, which helps to remind participants about the diversity of Indigenous peoples. She emphasized how Pawanka is building a process that utilizes Indigenous world views and processes to transform philanthropy.  Pawanka is defining the ways and means outside of traditional grant making, while also documenting and generating knowledge, strengthening itself as an Indigenous led fund and advocating in philanthropy.

Jokkmokk Northern Lights by Ellie Lanphier

Over the next six days the participants shared their knowledge and experiences as they compared their successes and challenges in supporting Indigenous led projects.  As participants reported on the projects they championed, they explored ways to improve on their collective successes and about how to make projects self-sustaining after the grants that have helped them to begin have expired.

Funders spoke about the lessons they have learned and areas where they might improve including systemization of communications, strengthening monitoring and evaluation and following up activities.  There was a recognition that there is growing interest in Indigenous led funds that presents both opportunities and challenges.  Meanwhile, sharing carefully verified stories at the UN and other venues ensures that the funds fulfill their responsibility and benefit future generations.

On another day, a panel discussion emphasized the importance of developing strategies that are complimentary, based in reciprocity, holistic in approach and that further the values of Pawanka.  Indigenous understanding of how strategies might work was highlighted by Dr. Hussein Isack, the Kenyan representative of the Global Indigenous Advisory Committee, who spoke of the importance of developing grassroots

Young Sami men wrangling Reindeer for the races

connections by using the metaphor of the acacia tree.  He hoped that Pawanka will develop deep roots and a wide trunk and that it will grow strong as the organization flowers.  He emphasized that organizations must stay grounded by their roots even as their leaves synthesize and grow.  Another participant emphasized the need for cultural due diligence even as organizations must recognize that “due diligence” can be interpreted in different ways in different cultures.

In another panel discussion, Danil Mamyev, an Altai Russian delegate, emphasized through his interpreter that Indigenous peoples, cultures and languages are like natural biodiversity and cannot be separated.  He shared how elders in his community spoke of how their feelings and perceptions were contained in songs and actions from the past.  But now his own children have lost that understanding.  Where previously one word could contain an epic poem, now words have narrowed in meaning.

After an agenda-packed few days, the participants got to relax and enjoy the Sami National Day, wandering amongst the 415-year-old Sami outdoor market that Jokkmokk is famous for.  While some of the delegates were leaving, April had the opportunity to join an outdoor gathering of Sami youth where she met Greta Thunberg, who had been spending time with the Sami youth.  Greta gave a brief speech in which she said,

Sami Youth Climate Action with Greta Thunberg

“We have a lot to learn from those that live by and with nature, and some have done so for hundreds of thousands of years. We have to listen to and give space to Indigenous peoples of the world because we are largely dependent on them, as they are protecting and taking care of nature and its biodiversity, which is necessary for our future survival. By protecting nature, forest and oceans we can take ourselves out of the situation we find ourselves in.  And we must understand that nature is something we cannot continue to exploit, rather something to depend on and something we have to take care of.”

A Sami Political Leader at the climate action event gave a message of solidarity with for the hereditary chiefs of the Wet’suwet’en, a message April found especially heartwarming to hear so far from home.

As April summarized her experiences after returning home, “I arrived home exhausted and full to the brim with inspiration and new learnings.  I am excited to apply this new knowledge in our Wayfinding 2020 Deep Listening Mission which will guide PPP’s work beyond our 45th anniversary.”

Prepared by Art Holbrook, PPP Board Member and Chair of the Communications Committee.  Art has been a board member at PPP for the last two and half years.  He has traveled to Papua New Guinea and Vanuatu and has developed an affinity for the people of the South Pacific island nations.

Pasifik Currents – Winter 2019

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One Wave Gathering 2019 Delegation spends time with Chris Paul on Studio Tour

Talofa Lava PPP Friends and Members, 

Please remember Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) with your donation today! You can do so securely HERE.  Every dollar donated makes a huge difference to PPP. We leverage your donation to secure resources critical to our sustainability and solidarity building programs like the recent One Wave Gathering in Victoria, and knowledge sharing programs like RedTide 2020: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit. Plus this supports our work with HELP Resources, to transform the informal economy in Papua New Guinea.

Enclosed in this edition of Pasifik Currents you will find a treasure trove of impact stories made possible with your support. We hope you enjoy these articles that make tribute to our President Emeritus Dr. Boutilier; acknowledge our many One Wave Gathering collaborators; introduce new climate program partnerships such as with CAYAC; showcase the power of Indigenous solidarity with Maunaukea; and shed light on the escalating human rights crisis faced by our friends and partners in West Papua.   It is also a time of commemoration, join us if you can for our 44th Annual General Meeting on December 10th as we mark International Human Rights Day.

As the only Canadian organization dedicated to the South Pacific, we are honoured to be your partner in ensuring Indigenous and South Pacific peoples are leading the way to a resilient future. Exiting times are coming as we mark our 45th Anniversary with a series of new programs and initiatives. We thank you for all your support, as we have so much more to accomplish together!

Yours in Pacific solidarity,

Mua Va’a, President

April Ingham, Executive Director

The Longhouse Dialogues: Raising a West Coast Village in Honour of Women

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By April Ingham, Executive Director, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

Women Honouring Canoe Ceremony.

In 2017 Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) produced a historic and award-winning program, our 10th One Wave Gathering, with the permission and guidance of Coast Salish and South Pacific Elders and Leaders.  Central to this community building event was the raising of four temporary Longhouses, designed to house community-based programming.  They were raised upon the lawn of the BC Legislature, which Elders told us was once a village site for Lekwungen peoples.  

This temporary Longhouse village was the inspired vision of artist Hjalmer Wenstob who conceived of these Longhouses and created them in his Nation’s Nuu-chah-nulth style.  Hjalmer is an exceptionally gifted artist that believes strongly in creating meaningful opportunities for youth engagement, so he mentored four young artists who designed and helped paint each of the Longhouse fronts to represent their individual Nations.   These talented young artists were Sarah Jim (Coast Salish), A.J. Boersen (Nuu-chah-nulth), Juliana Speier (Kwak’waka’wakw), Jazzlyn Markowsky (Māori) and a stunning dance curtain, later gifted to Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, was created by James Goldsmith-Brown (Esquimalt Nation). The Longhouses were then programmed with drumming, storytelling, sharing of culture, song and games by members of the respective Nations on September 14, 2017.  The project was life changing for many and its legacy continues to live on in the spirit of all who participated and attended.  

In 2018, our friends at the British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC) reached out to PPP and other organizations, to explore possible side event programming opportunities that could align with the Women Deliver Conference to be hosted in Vancouver June 3-6, 2019. This major international event would bring 7000+ International Women leaders together, and to complement this program, free accessible side-events would provide spaces for the local communities, guests and all interested to gather and explore topical and localized issues of matter to women.  BCCIC knew of PPP’s role in helping to realize the Longhouse project and encouraged us to consider raising them as a village once again, but this time as a location for dialogue and exchange near the conference site in downtown Vancouver.

People gather in front of the Longhouse to listen and learn.

Time was short, and PPP was a bit too stretched to really consider the additional project.  But BCCIC encouraged and offered support. We were intrigued but knew that we could only proceed if the right conditions were in place.  This meant the artist Hjalmer Wenstob would need to agree to participate as he maintained stewardship of the Longhouses, further it was essential that the installation and programming for the four Longhouses would have the permission and support of the three host nations Squamish Nation, Musqueam Nation and Tsleil-Waututh Nation respectively.  If all these conditions were in place, then we would need the permission of the City of Vancouver and Parks Board, support from Women Deliver Mobilization Canada. After all that we would need to find funding, figure out the complex logistics, find programming partners, plus round out and build the Team capacity to make it all happen.

It was a daunting process, with numerous variables that could send the project off the rails.  But the idea persisted as we knew it would offer a unique space to uplift gender equality and Indigenous issues.  Once we had Hjalmer’s agreement and the support of his family, we proceeded to engage with the three host nations to secure their permission, guidance and support.  We were fortunate to have a champion in Squamish Nation Council Member Deborah Baker. Deborah knew about our work at PPP and helped us to navigate the protocol and ultimately earn the support of Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.  Once we had this critical support and permission in place everything else began to flow…  

The City of Vancouver and Parks Board approved our extraordinary request to raise the Longhouses for just over a week in Harbour Green Park, this was a 5-minute walk down the seawall from the Vancouver Conference Centre.  Women Deliver Mobilization Canada, which helped to nurture and support side events, stepped forward with ongoing encouragement, connections and a financial contribution; LUSH Handmade Cosmetics supported the program with a substantial donation and volunteer support.  BCCIC brought the local knowledge and coordinating Team necessary for organizing the programs, logistics, etc. PPP was the lead liaison with the artist and three host Nations, plus we safeguarded the integrity of the program to ensure it was aligned and remained respectful to the intentions of those that helped birth the original project.  

Lead Artist Hjalmer (far right) with his brother Timmy and Federal International Development Minister Monsef dance as Orcas.

And so, it happened, on May 30, 2019 that our Squamish Nation friend and Cultural Coordinator Sheryl Rivers blessed the grounds at Harbour Green Park, and then Hjalmer, his family and our crew – working together raised four Longhouses in Honour of Women.  The scene was one of true magic to behold. This was the first time that all four Longhouses had stood together since 2017. They sat regally amongst the trees in this beautiful seaside park. Nestled into the green space, they stood more prominent than the cityscape hidden behind.  The Longhouses faced the water side by side. It was a powerful image to behold. Sheryl told us that this was what it would have been like in traditional times and that it made her heart swell.

The Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish Longhouses were offered at no cost in support of local NGOs and community groups as bookable spaces to hold community programming, workshops and dialogue sessions.  We even provided a green technology suite for sound and film projection. Many outstanding programs took place in both Longhouses with crowds big and small. The topics were diverse and included: Combatting Sexualization & Hypermasculinization (YWCA), From Surviving to Thriving: Social Ingredients of Health (Check your Head), Inter-Generational Dialogue: What Activism Could Look Like (Canadian Council of Young Feminists) and many more.   

The Kwak’waka’wakw Longhouse provided hospitality and organizing space, and the South Pacific (Māori Marae) Longhouse was offered as sacred space for contemplation, informal gathering and cultural exchange.  Outside the Longhouses stood an outdoor stage where ongoing presentations, including several important ceremonies, music and speeches, took place. Everything was designed to be as low impact and zero waste as possible and was powered by solar and green energy technology. A Team of committed Volunteers supported the programming and hosting of the Longhouses each day.  And each night the Longhouses were watched by Moose Hide Campaign volunteers, complemented by a security detail.

The opening ceremony was performed just after noon on May 31, 2019.  This was officiated by Sheryl Rivers, with welcoming speeches from Squamish Council Member Deborah Baker and special guest and witness Florence Dick of Songhees Nation. Florence’s Nation’s support and that of the Lekwungen speaking peoples was critical to the Longhouse project’s very creation in 2017. I acknowledged this important historical connection and shared words from PPP about the creation of the Longhouses and those that helped to birth them.  Many other special moments and ceremonies happened throughout the time of the installation which carried through to June 5th.  A highlight for me was the Women Honouring Canoe Ceremony which was brought to us by the Iisaak Olam Foundation.  

This special ceremony took place on June 3rd, a few hours after the Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women’s report was released by the Government of Canada.  Beginning at the steps of the Women Deliver – Vancouver Conference Centre site, Iisaak Olam Foundation representative Eli Enns spoke about the report and his organization’s campaigns, he spoke of the connections between the desecration of land, the man-camps brought in to do so, and resulting violence against women.  

The young activist, Ta’Kaiya Blaney, being held up in the canoe.

A dug-out cedar canoe carved by Master Tla-o-qui-aht Canoe Maker Joe Martin was then raised by men representing the Moose Hide Campaign.  Carried within this canoe was young climate activist Ta’Kaiya Blaney from the Tla’Amin Nation.  Squamish women and Council members led the procession with drumming and song. They were accompanied by Culture Saves Lives and many other solidarity friends.  Approximately 200 people joined the procession and walked together in solidarity to honour the missing and murdered in solemn and thoughtful procession along the seawall to the Longhouses.  

Upon arrival at the Longhouses Ta’Kaiya was lifted towards the sky by the men who had carried her all along the pathway.  She then shared powerful words of tribute to her own recently passed mother and to all the missing and murdered, her words left us in deep contemplation.  And then she uplifted us all with a song of tribute and our collective tears flowed. Following reflections and speeches about the injustices and need for real action, Squamish Council Member KWITELUT/KWELAW’IKW, Carla George acknowledged Martina Pierre from the Lil’ wat Nation for her gifting of the “Women Warrior Song” a song in honour of the missing women, which we then sang and drummed together.  

It was intimate moments like this that made this community building experience so special.  It was the conversations on the side, the talking circles, workshops, dance and sharing that took place over the six days, that the Longhouses were raised and programmed by and for community.

Participants gather to discuss the transformative power of Indigenous art.

Prior to closing ceremony, PPP had the opportunity to facilitate a session called the Transformational Power of Art.  Fitting that this would focus on the Longhouse project itself.  Hjalmer and his brother Timmy shared a Nuu-chah-nulth dance and mask to ground the participants in their rich cultural traditions.  Then Hjalmer shared the creation story of the project along with the impacts it has had on him, his family and others. Also presenting was A.J. Boersen, the young artist who created the design on the front of the Nuu-chah-nulth house.  He was accompanied by his proud Foster Father Rheal and A.J. shared how this project had changed his life in so many good ways, he added “the drive behind my art is that each of us has an “inner warrior” – no matter who you are the fight is worth it.”  A.J. just graduated from High School in Victoria.  His Longhouse façade was installed in his school for a week prior to graduation and AJ was his class valedictorian.  He is now off to college with a promising future as a professional artist.  

PPP is incredibly honoured to be part of programs like this that truly transform our communities and enrich our relationships with understanding and compassion for one another.   We are especially grateful to BCCIC and their entire team of staff, contractors and volunteers; to Women Deliver and our friends at CanWaCH who coordinated the Mobilization Canada program; the Vancouver Foundation; the City of Vancouver and Vancouver Parks Board (who were amazing – see we didn’t kill the grass!); to LUSH Handmade Cosmetics; to our key partners: Moose Hide Campaign (and their extraordinary volunteers), the Iisaak Olam Foundation, Culture Saves Lives… and so many more.  

Participants performing a Women Warrior song.

Most importantly we thank artist Hjalmer Wenstob and his entire family and group of supporters that made the Longhouse Dialogues and installation possible.  And to all who contributed to their creation. Our hands are raised in respect to Sheryl Rivers who coordinated the cultural programming and officially spoke about the missing and murdered, and to Joleen Timko that shouldered much of the coordination detail. It truly takes a team to make projects like this succeed and we are indebted to all that contributed. 

PPP offers our deepest respect and acknowledgement to the Squamish, Musqueam and Tsleil-Waututh Nations.  Without your permission, guidance and support we would not have proceeded. We are honoured to have had your trust and support that ensured a proper foundation for the Longhouse Dialogues to honour women.

To learn more visit: https://www.facebook.com/pg/pacificpeoples/photos/?tab=album&album_id=2431127203593015 

You can help support work like this by donating today!

My Life in the South Pacific

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By Taylor Blais

Taylor enjoying a beach in Fiji

Fiji is paradise. White sand beaches, crystal clear blue water, thousands of coconut trees. These certainly were my expectations when moving here. But I soon learned that there is way more to it than that. That the “single story” that I had been told about Fiji my entire life, that it is a vacation spot, is only dipping my toe into what it actually is. 

I have been living in Suva, the capital of Fiji for about 2 months now, and my preconceived notions about Fiji have changed completely. As an intern with the Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM), I’ve had the privilege of working with the most amazing people. I work with leaders in the international feminism world. Strong women and men working very hard to better the lives of people in Fiji and around the Pacific. It is very hard not to be absolutely star struck by these individuals. I work for the organization that held the first ever Pacific Feminist Forum (PFF) in 2016. The organization, which, together with a working group of regional partners, recently organised the 2nd PFF in May of this year and plans to create more of these spaces in the future. This event brings human rights activists together from around the South Pacific to discuss major women’s and human rights issues affecting them directly. Fiji is a hub for feminism around the Pacific and it has established itself as a leader. Spearheading so many amazing movements within Fiji, but also inspiring so many women around the Pacific to start their own movements in their respective countries. I did not get the chance to attend the PFF this year, but I have gotten the chance to transcribe some interviews that were done with women from all around the pacific that attended, individuals from Vanuatu, Samoa, a lot of Small Island Nations. I have been so intrigued as to how highly they all speak of FWRM. How inspired they are about the changes that FWRM has made, and the plans they have for the future, and how they can implement these different ideas, in their own ways, in their own communities.

A mural depicting their vision on the wall in the FWRM office.

 I also attend classes at Fiji’s regional University, Fiji National University (FNU) and learned a lot about how climate change is affecting Fiji, and many Small Island Nations around the Pacific directly. Because of sea levels rising drastically, they are losing land mass and resources by the minute. It is widely acknowledged here that climate change is occurring because it is affecting them directly; no one is ignorantly refusing to believe that climate change is occurring because they do not have the privilege to do so. There are many amazing organizations such as International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), Pacific Islands Development Forum (PIDF), South Pacific Tourism (SPTO), and so many more within Fiji that work on conservation and activism and advocacy around climate change in the Pacific. People in Fiji are fighting the good fight against climate change even though they release some of the lowest amounts of carbon emissions around the world. It is the Western world that fuels climate change, but now the South Pacific is taking on the brunt of the consequences. 

Yes, Fiji is made up of beautiful crystal-clear waters, and I have drunk from a lot of coconuts during my time here. But It is so much more than that. One of the biggest lessons that I have learned in my little time working and living here is to never judge a book by its cover. Fiji is so much more than its looks, and it is a force to be reckoned with on a global scale. Never underestimate.

Taylor participating in a workshop

Taylor is entering her third year of Psychology at the University of Lethbridge with minors in Women & Gender Studies and Population Health. She is interested in international women’s and human rights issues, as well as global health. Taylor has been working as an intern with The Fiji Women’s Rights Movement (FWRM) for almost three months, during which she has been working primarily with the communications team, engaging the public through social media and learning about the digital side of social justice work. She had the privilege of attending the “Pacific Connections: Community Filmmaking for Gender Equality in the Pacific” workshop held at the University of the South Pacific (USP). Taylor’s passion for women’s rights and feminism has grown immensely since she has started working for FWRM. She hopes to continue this nature of work in the future, carrying the skills that she has built from this experience into her future endeavors.

People & Passages:

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Ruby Kafalava joins the PPP Board of Directors.

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership is proud to announce that we have welcomed Ruby Kafalava onto our Board of Directors!  Ruby is originally from Tonga and is involved with keeping her culture, language and traditions alive in Canada through her participation as a dancer in Pearls of The South Pacific, an authentic cultural group based on Vancouver Island. She is also a mother of two young girls and works as a professional caregiver.  We are fortunate to have her join the PPP Team!

 

(L to R) Pia Ambiwa and Evangeline Kaima support Serah Maim, interim chair of the Wewak United Vendors’ Association in mobilisation, organisation of market and street vendors.

Our Papua New Guinea partner HELP Resources is pleased to announce the start up of the formative Wewak United Vendors Association (WUVA). The two women facilitators/educators are: Pia Ambiwa – an experienced community organiser, counsellor, educator with faith-based organisations and with the Ok Tedi community development initiatives, and Evangeline Kaima – secondary school teacher who taught for many years then joined the East Sepik Council of Women (ESCOW) as the head of a community-based literacy Tok Ples pre-school program. There she previously  built up a network for 300 enthusiastic community-run pre-schools and literacy programs for women and children. For the last two decades Evangeline has led the rollout of a Personal Viability program that supports local farmers, traders and small-scale entrepreneurs so that they may succeed through maximum use of local resources and belief in their own power to overcome poverty, debt and dependence.

PPP was saddened to learn of the recent death of Sir Hekenukumai Busby of New Zealand.  Sir Busby was recognized as a leading figure in the revival of traditional Polynesian navigation and ocean voyaging using wayfinding techniques.  He built 26 traditional waka, including the double-hulled Te Aurere which has sailed over 30,000 nautical miles in the Pacific.  Our deep condolences to his family and community.  

In March 2019, PPP Executive Director, April Ingham, was invited to attend a reception where she met Canada’s Governor General, Her Excellency, the Right Honourable Julie Payette, whose credentials include a career in engineering and serving as a Canadian astronaut. Taking place in Victoria, this reception kicked off a meeting of the heads of 17 United World Colleges (UWCs) across the globe. The Governor General is an alumna of the UWC in Wales and a strong supporter of the UWC Movement. Pearson College UWC  based in Victoria, hosted this year’s international meeting.

PPP Executive Director, April Ingham, with Canada’s Governor General, Julie Payette.

“We have to work globally – and that was a privilege given to me in my teen years when I attended a UWC school,” said Ms. Payette. “Speaking with and sharing ideas with people from all over the world who bring different ways of thinking made us progress better and faster – this is what Pearson College impresses upon us.”

PPP’s Executive Director added her own perspective to this opportunity to represent Pacific Peoples at this event: “It was my deep honour to meet our country’s inspiring Governor General and hear her stories of being on the space shuttle looking down at Earth, made all the more special given how hard she fought to realize her dreams.  Women like her are really out of this world – amazing!”

Bougainville Independence Referendum is a Milestone to Monitor:  Originally scheduled for 15 June 2019, the much-anticipated independence referendum will now be held in Bougainville, Papua New Guinea on 17 October 2019. The vote is the result of an agreement between the Government of Papua New Guinea and the Autonomous Bougainville Government.  This delay is due to a dispute over funding. In the next issue of Pasifik Currents, we will provide you with some background and links to this milestone event.

PPP is Hiring Summer Interns!  We will soon be hiring Communications, Programming and Development interns. Please watch our website for more information on how to apply or drop us a line at info@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org and we will forward details.

 

PPP Winter 2019 Updates

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April & Mua at South Pacific Christmas Celebration

Talofa Lava Respected Friends!

2019 is shaping up to be a year full of Pacific Promise. This past December our Board of Directors launched an annual appeal and were thrilled to see such a wonderful response. Thanks to the generosity of our community we raised over $13,000 and grew our PPP Esmonde Endowment Legacy Fund by an additional $9000!

As we grow closer to our 45th Anniversary in 2020, we have many exciting programs underway or in development and look forward to sharing updates with you. Within this edition of Pasifik Currents we share an inspiring summary report of Vendors’ Collective Voice from our partner HELP Resources in Papua New Guinea. This critically important program is designed to improve the lives of women market vendors and their families in PNG.

From March 8 to 10 PPP is thrilled to host Australian Aboriginal Artist Florence Gutchen, and Australian Arts Administrator Lynette Griffiths soon to be in residence at the Museum of Anthropology for their exhibition “Marking the Infinite” Contemporary Women Artists from Aboriginal Australia  as featured in the article from our Board member Dr. Carol Mayer, Curator of Oceania, at MOA. Be sure to follow our social media to get the latest details!

RedTide 2020: International Indigenous Youth Climate Action Summit organizing is under way with foundation work to ensure that Indigenous youth are centred fully within this important initiative. PPP Associate Pawa Haiyupis is facilitating the participatory engagement process and coordination of this environmental action program planned for the Summer of 2020. Dates and details for how you can get involved and support RedTide 2020 will soon be circulated. If you have an interest to engage within this powerful program, please email PPP at info@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org.

One Wave Gathering 2018 continues to reverberate! In Spring 2019, One Wave programming is part of several community-building arts projects soon to be announced. And as the province of British Columbia gets ready to host the International Women Deliver Conference, PPP is helping mobilize critically important Indigenous and Pacific-focused side events. If you or a colleague are attending this Conference or you want to get involved, please let us know!

Lastly, as storm season in the South Pacific is upon us, PPP urges you to remember our Pacific Resilience Fund . This flexible fund allows PPP to provide small grants in support of community initiatives that build resilience in South Pacific communities. Recently we were pleased to receive the phase 1 final report from the Loreto School in Fiji for their school rebuilding, and we hope to join them on their next project phase where they plan to finish a walkway that keeps students mud-free as they traverse the school grounds during severe rain events. And, we are working with Samoa Social Welfare Fesoasoani Trust as they design and deliver citizen defense programs for young offenders in Samoa, both building and protecting community. It’s much-needed work like this that keeps us inspired and Pacific peoples strong.

Thanks for joining us on this journey!

Muavae Va’a, President         April Ingham, Executive Director

 

Note: PPP Board Member Lorna Eastman generously transferred her personal Endowment Fund of $6500 into the PPP Esmonde Endowment Fund, which was then matched with $2500 from the Smart and Caring Fund (Anonymous Gift). All funds are held in trust within PPP’s Esmonde Legacy Endowment Fund held for perpetuity with the Victoria Foundation.

Unravelling Ghost Nets, Making Torres Strait Connections

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By Carol E. Mayer, PPP Board Member

From February 24 to March 16, 2019, ghost nets are the centre of attention at the UBC Museum of Anthropology (MOA) in Vancouver, British Columbia. This is when MOA is hosting Lynnette Griffiths and Florence Gutchen, two artists from the Island of Erub (Darnley), located in the Torres Strait between the northmost tip of continental Australia and the island of New Guinea. The Ghost Net exhibition will become a permanent MOA exhibition.

Carol with ghost net artists at the Erub Arts Centre, May 2018. Credit: Lynnette Griffiths

I first met Lynnette and Florence in May 2018 when I visited Erub to document the creation of Eip Kor Korr, a sculpture made of synthetic fishing nets. They and the other artists asked me why I travelled so far to see what they were doing. I told them the reason really goes back 15 years earlier, when I came to Erub to attend what was meant to be the celebrations for a successful Native title claim—a legal milestone that would have seen Native title recognized over all the outer community islands in the Torres Strait. However, at the eleventh hour the Australian Federal Court withdrew consent, leaving the islanders with nothing to celebrate.

On Erub, disappointment was replaced with the decision to go ahead and celebrate their traditional ownership of the Island despite the court proceedings being abandoned. I was privileged to witness and film the day-long event. A commemorative t-shirt had been made for the occasion; it is now on display at MOA. I left with a lasting memory of the islanders’ determined effort to turn a negative situation into a positive one. Indeed, Native title was granted two years later.

Now I journeyed back to Erub to witness this same determination as the islanders once again came together to turn a challenge into a victory. This time the challenge came from the sea. North Australia is one of the last remaining safe havens for endangered marine species. Marine turtles are especially vulnerable to entanglement in “ghost nets”: fishing nets that have been lost at sea, abandoned, or discarded when they become damaged. When these nets float on ocean currents they invisibly and silently entangle marine wildlife—hence the name “ghost.” Between 2005 and 2015, up to 10,000 turtles became entangled in such nets.

Eip Kor Korr being constructed by Racy Oui-Pitt, Florence Gutchen, Ethel Charlie and Ellarose Savage. Credit: Lynnette Griffiths

For Erub islanders, turtles are a traditional source of food and an integral part of their belief system and culture. The islanders began to gather these nets from the reefs and beaches, often with dead animals still entangled in the webbing, and started to take them apart to see whether they could be used for crafts. They discovered the multi-coloured strands that run through the centre of the ropes and began using them to weave figures of small animals. They then simply decided to go big, creating full-scale figures of turtles and other large sea creatures. These sculptures soon caught the attention of the Australian Museum in Sydney, and one was commissioned for the collection. The rest is history. Today, these ghost-net sculptures are part of a worldwide movement, in which the artists of Erub work with local and international museums to create powerful installations that oscillate between art and the living environment.

I encountered ghost-net sculptures for the first time in 2017, where they were installed in the exhibition Ghost Nets of the Ocean at the Ethnography Museum in Geneva, Switzerland. I was struck by the similarity of these powerful sculptures and the Native title t-shirt collected so many years before: both reflected the tenaciousness of a community in deploying its collective creativity to bring attention to outside challenges, whether political or environmental. The relevance of the ghost-net sculptures to MOA was emphasized for me by our commitment to exhibit contemporary art that speaks to similar challenges here in British Columbia and elsewhere in the world. With monies from MOA’s O’Brian Strategic Acquisitions Fund, we were able to purchase a hammerhead shark sculpture and to commission a giant turtle. I journeyed to Erub in May 2018 to document the making of our turtle and to talk with the islanders about the impact of the ghost nets on cultural life.

Jimmy J. Thaiday and Jimmy K Thaiday carry hammer head ghost net shark along an Erub beach. It is now on display at MOA. Credit: Carol Mayer

I arrived at the Erub Arts Centre, where the artists work, to see hundreds of metres of fishing nets strewn everywhere, all waiting to be unravelled and transformed into works of art. On the table in the studio the metal framework for MOA’s turtle had been welded together by Jimmy K. Thaiday in readiness for the women to start their work. During my time I saw the shell, flippers, underbelly, and finally the head take shape. I also met Lorenzo Ketchell, the designer of the t-shirt.

About halfway through the process, the decision was made that MOA’s turtle would be a middle-sized female specimen—a teenager—and her Erub name would be Eip Kor Korr. There was no question of her travelling home with me, though, as she first had another journey to make. She was wrapped, crated, and shipped to Cairns where she was exhibited alongside other ghost-net sculptures at the Cairns Indigenous Art Fair. She was then re-crated and flown more than 7,000 miles/11,000 kilometers to Vancouver, where she was unpacked at MOA in readiness for her installation in the Multiversity Galleries opposite the Erub t-shirt I collected so long ago.

Today Eip Kor Korr swims above museum visitors’ heads alongside the hammerhead shark, where she is, as Florence says, “a beautiful piece of art declaring the message that we must keep the water clean: we look after the sea and the sea looks after us.”

Florence Gutchen creating Eip Kor Korr’s flipper. Credit: Carol Mayer

Lynnette’s and Florence’s MOA residency is funded by the Andrew Fellowship, which also funded the 2006 MOA residency of Teddy Balangu from Palembei, Sepik River, Papua New Guinea. Since then, MOA and the Pacific Peoples Partnership (PPP) have worked with Teddy and others to raise global awareness about impending mining activities at the headlands of the river, and in 2017 co-hosted the visit of three artists: Claytus Yambon, Nancy Wani, and Edward Dumoi. During this visit the artists, PPP, and Elaine Monds (Alcheringa Gallery) gave presentations at an international symposium being held at UBC. These events, and more, point to the depth of commitment PPP has shown to Indigenous rights, especially as they pertain to the cultural and environmental damage caused by resource extraction, overfishing and the abandonment of fishing gear that has trapped and killed innumerable marine species, bringing many to the brink of extinction.

During their time in British Columbia, Lynnette and Florence will be giving public workshops at MOA, Musqueam Reserve, and schools in the Vancouver area. They will also be meeting representatives from Global Ghost Gear Initiative Secretariat and the Vancouver Aquarium, and will then travel to Vancouver Island as guests of PPP. There, they will participate in a video about their experiences, plus visit Alcheringa Gallery and the Royal British Columbia Museum. They will also host a public program organised by PPP. For this, they are bringing the frame of a large barracuda so that workshop participants can “dress” it with scales they create from fishing nets.

Underscoring its global relevance, this project was started in Geneva; it will continue in British Columbia and then be taken to England, carrying with it the ethos of collaborating across continents and countries. At the same time, the project will deliver new skills and create an opportunity for people to talk, discuss, and share. Both MOA and PPP consider themselves fortunate to work alongside such powerful advocates. We welcome the prospect of creating relationships that will reach into the future.

Carol welcomes Eip Kor Korr tot MOA. Credit: Nancy Bruegmann

Carol E. Mayer is the head of the curatorial and interpretation department at the Museum of Anthropology and an associate to UBC’s Department of Anthropology. In 2006 she began a long association with Alcheringa Gallery when she travelled with Elaine Monds to the Sepik River. Soon after that she joined the Board of the Pacific Peoples Partnership. Her research interests include the history of Pacific Islands collections in Canada, the exploration of intellectual property rights, and the building of collaborative networks between the Pacific and the Pacific Northwest. In 2013 she organised the PAA International Symposium in Vancouver, Canada, and curated the exhibition and authored the publication Paradise Lost? Contemporary Arts of the Pacific. She also co-authored (with Anna Naupa and Vanessa Warri) the book No Longer Captives of the Past: The Story of a Reconciliation Ceremony on Erromango. Her recent exhibition and publication, In the Footprint of the Crocodile Man, opened in March 2016. She has been granted numerous awards, including from the Canadian Museums Association and the International Council of Museums. She has also received the President’s Medal of Excellence and the Independence Medal from the Republic of Vanuatu.

 

HELP Resources and Pacific Peoples’ Partnership Collaborate to Strengthen Sepik Women Market and Street Vendors’ Collective Voice in Shaping Informal Economy Development

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By Elizabeth (Sabet) Cox

In Papua New Guinea (PNG), even when you live on customary land and subsist largely on the natural food resources available in your rural village, you will need cash. Outside informal trade, there are few alternatives to finding the money needed to meet the most basic needs and to pay for children’s education, family health and the community contributions that sustain informal social protection systems. With a population of about 25,000, Wewak town has at least fifteen ‘markets’ and many more informal, street trading hubs of various sizes, operating under different regimes. Only one is managed by local government.

Vendors Collective Voice – Local vendor, Lilian Wanaki, offers handicrafts and jewellery for sale.  Photo: Elizabeth Cox

Every day, an estimated three to five thousand women are trading under challenging conditions. While some women vendors can build viable, small enterprises, most live precariously from day to day, on small incomes derived from informal trade and many have done so for decades. Many women vendors have grown up alongside their grandmothers and mothers who were informal traders and now they follow in their footsteps. Returning home at the end of the day ‘empty handed’ increases the probability of children being deprived of adequate food or education and of family stress, conflict and domestic violence.

It is almost 45 years since PNG achieved independence. The PNG constitution aimed to guide equitable, inclusive and sustainable development, but a succession of male politicians has built an economy based on large scale extractive industries – mining, petroleum, gas, logging and fisheries.  Extractive industry projects have undermined the livelihood of a rural majority and failed to generate national revenues that translate into effective service delivery to meet the basic needs of the citizens. Promises of free education and health care are failing, the isolation and neglect of the rural majority persists, and poverty deepens. Markets are the workplace of so many women, and an important source of food security and good nutrition for the general population. Women trading in PNG’s massive informal economy are the lifeline for their families, but without visibility, voice and influence, street traders and women market traders are powerless and oppressed.

 

Vendors Collective Voice – A young mother cradles her month-old baby while she trades.  Photo: Elizabeth Cox

In the main Wewak market, with the largest congregation of vendors, the urban Local Level Government (LLG) collects daily taxes (gate fees) from women vendors. Local government has very few other regular sources of revenue as too many of the town’s wealthier residents and local businesses default on council rate payments. It’s far easier to collect taxes from poor women market and street vendors, who are punished heavily if they default. Wewak’s main market has 1000-1500 women vendors’ daily – 96% are female. The fees and taxes paid by market vendors provide substantial daily revenue for LLG operation – a fact that is invisible and ignored by both local government and the general public. No one is able to trace where these market revenues go and how they are spent. But very little of the revenues collected is reinvested into market management, maintenance, cleaning or improvement of the working conditions, facilities or services to tax-paying vendors.

Currently, Wewak town market, like so many other municipal markets throughout Melanesia, is a profitable operation but is oppressive, exploitative, and extractive of women vendors’ hard-earned, small incomes. The vendors endure daily ‘working conditions’ that are unsafe, unhygienic, and discriminatory on the basis of gender, class and rural commuters or urban residents.

Rural vendors fill the unsheltered spaces at the town market.  Photo: Elizabeth Cox

Wewak’s many other smaller and scattered street markets and trading hubs operate in ad hoc and gender discriminatory ways, usually personally benefitting an opportunistic local landowner, local politician or businessman who insist vendors pay ‘informal taxes’, often using extreme bullying tactics. Without information and organisation, vendors are unable to protest or voice their priorities, needs and concerns. They will remain vulnerable, invisible, marginalised and poor.

While the situation of markets and informal traders in Wewak is the similar across PNG and Melanesia, the country is unique in having legislation intended to promote and protect the Informal Economy (The Informal Economy Development and Control Act 2009). This IE Act provides an opportunity to return to the core principles of PNG’s Constitution, protecting the rights of the urban poor and the rural population alike. However, the PNG government has a poor track record in prioritizing, planning budgeting and delivering on social development, so implementation of the IE Act has been extremely slow. Most vendors know nothing about it.

Founded in 1999, HELP Resources (HELP-R) is currently led by a younger generation of development workers working in an extremely challenging development context. HELP’s mission is to work with local government and civil society to deliver more effectively on laws, policies and strategies for social protection and development. Focus areas are promotion and protection of women and children’s rights, community-based access to information and education, documentation and promotion of endangered material knowledge, and development and protection of the informal economy.

Jill Bosro, Manager of HELP Resources, checks in with a vendor at the town market.  Photo: HELP Resources.

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership and HELP Resources Team Up

In 2017 Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) and HELP-R planned a pilot project to demonstrate effective, district-level implementation of the IE Act, and associated government policy and strategy. The pilot project aims to facilitate education, information and training that will motivate and support emerging vendors organisations and their leaders to find their collective voice and influence planning, budgeting for effective Development.

Staff and associates of both PPP and HELP-R have previously worked together to facilitate PPP links with Sepik artists. HELP-R is based in Wewak, the provincial capital of the East Sepik Province, the gateway to the Sepik River, where PPP has well-established links with women and men carvers, weavers and painters. HELP-R has facilitated the communication and cooperation links between PPP and remote communities on the river and most recently has enabled one village to set up safe water supplies. However, the ‘Vendors Voice’ partnership is a new and exciting joint venture to realize a transformative process conceptualized and drafted by HELP-R.

The project is about making vendors aware of the PNG Constitution, the IE Act, and PNG’s commitments to global human rights and gender equality norms and standards and sustainable and inclusive development. It is about engaging vendors in participatory research to become more aware of the injustice of their ‘working conditions’ and the current governance of markets and street trade. The project aims to strengthen women vendors’ organisation, leadership, confidence and capacity to advocate for change and shape informal economy development as it was envisaged in the constitution and in the new IE law. On the supply side, the project will also contribute to the gender and rights awareness and sensitization of local government leaders and administrators, so that constructive engagement of vendors with local government is possible and effective.

The Commonwealth Foundation (CF) is the Commonwealth’s agency for civil society, supporting participation in democracy and development. It supports ‘civic voices’ to act together and influence the institutions that shape people’s lives. The Foundation works to promote peaceful and inclusive societies for sustainable development with effective, accountable and inclusive institutions at all levels of participatory governance, which implies creative and constructive engagement between civil society and other governance stakeholders. CF awards funding for sustainable development projects that contribute to effective, responsive and accountable governance with civil society participation.

In early 2017, HELP-R prepared a project proposal to submit to the Commonwealth Foundation and PPP agreed to act as the fiscal agent, assisting with the monitoring of project implementation, preparation of annual narrative and financial reports. HELP Resources is the lead NGO in frontline project implementation and is engaging and working alongside several other local NGOs.

In 2017 CF awarded a grant for the Vendors’ Voice 3-year project which aims to support women market vendors and street traders to negotiate for decent work conditions and fairer and transparent informal economy development and governance. The project supports women vendors and informal street traders to achieve this through effective organisation, mobilization and empowerment to raise their ‘Collective Voice’ and shape the application of the Informal Economy Act to market and street trade planning, budgeting, governance and development. Constructive Dialogue between vendors and local government and the development of participatory governance structures, mechanisms and processes for market and informal economy development, are at the heart of the project. Recognition of informal trading as legitimate ‘work’ that is the backbone of the local economy, ensuring a decent and safe workplace for women vendors – free from violence and exploitation – bring important anticipated results.

Sago and coconut sticks are favourite snacks in Sepik region.  Photo: Jill Bosro

Year 2 Builds on New Evidence and Opportunities

Year One of the project was completed in September 2018 laying the foundation for targeted training of women market and street vendors and local government leaders and administrators. From August to November 2018, HELP-R established a daily presence at the market, working through selected vendors to conduct daily tallies while also logging common daily problems. Hundreds of vendors were consulted and provided information at a booth operated daily at the market. Operated by HELP-R and other local civil society partners, the booth provided preliminary information about the project and its focus on good governance, rights and responsibilities in the working context of market and street trading. Information was offered, mainly through public talks at the main market, as well as through several local radio programs.

In October 2018 HELP-R with a team of vendors and local community development leaders, completed a baseline survey across Wewak’s only government-managed market and twelve more informal markets.

In a new development at the start of Year 2, PNG’s national government decided to include the East Sepik Province in a National Audit of the Informal Economy and UN Women announced that it will launch a market-based project in another rural district of East Sepik Province. In addition to the government statistical audits and the UN’s large-scale project scoping, HELP-R’s more in-depth qualitative baseline survey brings a strong gender analysis and rights framework that will inform and complement these new efforts to roll out government informal economy policy. In Year 2, HELP-R will focus more on women vendors ‘education and organisation for constructive engagement with local government, based on its comparative advantage in working with women vendors, informing and educating them through a range of popular education strategies and tools.

 Inside the craft hall of Wewak town market.  Photo: Jill Bosro

Once tested and refined in Wewak, it is likely that the knowledge, tools and trainers resulting from the project can be replicated to serve women vendors in other districts of the East Sepik Province and other provinces of PNG. This will be a significant contribution to translating PNG’s Informal Economy law, policy and strategy into reality, and to making the daily trading by women visible and valued.

You may also visit, ‘Like’ and ‘Follow’ the HELP Resources Facebook page, Sepik Market Vendors and Informal Traders.  Results of the baseline survey and project progress achievements will be uploaded on this site throughout 2019.

 

Elizabeth (Sabet) Cox  (email: sabetcox.png@gmail.com) has lived and worked in the East Sepik Province of PNG for 4 decades, in various sectors of social development. She founded HELP Resources with a group of Sepik activists in 1999, and later went on to work with the PNG Government and the United Nations. As Pacific Regional Director of UN Women, she designed projects to improve the status and conditions of women vendors and the governance of municipal markets across Melanesia. Elizabeth continues to provide technical support to HELP-R and several women’s rights and rural development organisations in the Highlands of PNG.

Supreme Court rules to destroy largest collection of residential school documents

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Canada’s largest collection of residential school records will be destroyed in 15 years

This spring, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership staff provided communications support to the Coalition for the Preservation of Truth. Many Pacific Peoples’ Partnership supporters helped spread the word and generously donated to the #StandForTruth campaign to fund their Supreme Court challenge.

On May 29th, 2017, the Coalition appeared as interveners in the Supreme Court of Canada to challenge the impending destruction of over 38,000 residential school records. The Coalition was a broad alliance of residential school survivors and intergenerational survivors that recognizes the ongoing impact of residential school trauma, and that formed to advocate for the preservation of these documents, while respecting individuals rights to privacy. 

On October 6th, 2017, the Supreme Court ruled that the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement (IRSSA) had intended for the IAP process to be a confidential and private process and as such, all IAP documents will be destroyed after 15 years. This outcome has the potential to impact efforts to reconcile survivors and intergenerational survivors with Canada for years to come.

The Independent Assessment Process (‘IAP’) was created by the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement in 2007. Through the IAP, victims of serious physical and sexual abuse in the residential school system accessed a second level of compensation from the Government of Canada. Thousands of documents were generated in this process and as a result, the IAP files represent the single largest collection of residential school records.

The Coalition had argued that the Indian Residential School Settlement Agreement was akin to a treaty with Indigenous peoples. This was not accepted by the Supreme Court, who narrowly interpreted the Settlement Agreement as a contract.

The Coalition is disturbed by this ruling. Although there will be a mechanism for living survivors to consent to have their records destroyed, what about the many more survivors who have already passed away? The ruling does not distinguish between different types of records. What about procedural documents? How will the IAP ever be examined and held to account if there is no record of the process?

The court ruled that disclosure of IAP records would be a greater injustice than the destruction of records, arguing that most participants in the IAP never expected the information to be shared. Privacy and archival legislation, which have many mechanisms to protect the individual privacy rights of survivors, were not given any weight.

The trauma of residential school has and will continue to ripple through communities across Canada. We share a responsibility to ensure current and future intergenerational survivors can access specific knowledge about what led to their broken communities, fragmented families and loss of language and culture. In the same way that future generations have the right to clean air and water, the Coalition continues to believe that future generations have the right to know their historical record through the content of these documents.

Neither the Supreme Court decision nor the IAP process itself was consistent with Indigenous laws, which are rich, textured, and full of space to hold differences of opinion. Indigenous teachings hold that we can just as truly dishonor our ancestors and future generations as we can our living family. The Coalition believes that this decision is a demonstration of why sensitive cultural differences of opinion cannot be resolved in a colonial arena.

To continue following this important issue, please visit Stand For Truth on Facebook.

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership has been a strong advocate for truth and reconciliation movements across the Pacific, including in East Timor and the Solomon Islands. We continue to support peace efforts amidst 30 years of ongoing genocide in West Papua.

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