Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Connecting Indigenous and Pacific Peoples

Chinese Resort Development Stopped in Fiji

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On 06 March 2020, Al Jazeera’s TV network aired a 25-minute documentary in its ongoing program, 101 East, that investigates a Chinese developer, Freesoul Real Estate, accused of ruining land and intimidating locals as it builds Fiji’s biggest resort, a 350 bure resort on Malolo Island near a world-famous surf break. This tourism development was being promoted as part of the Chinese government’s Belt and Road policy. Malolo is a tiny volcanic island in the Mamanuca Island chain off the west coast of Viti Levu.

Landowners claim that without any permits or permission, the company has ripped up 5,000 square metres (53,820 square feet) of the ancient reef, ploughed through a mangrove forest used by locals to source food, and illegally encroached on their property. The story unfolds as a grim struggle of wills between the local landowners and the developer until Al Jazeera’s documentary team comes to the attention of the Prime Minister of Fiji, Josaia Voreqe (Frank) Bainimarama. He has recently gone on record as a champion of Fiji’s environment saying that any developer who destroys its nation’s environment is not welcome. Legislation is on the books for violators with large fines and even jail time up to 10 years in prison.

The good news is that the government has now cancelled all that developer’s building permits and decreed that it must return the land to its original condition which many express doubts will actually be able to happen. While this story is ongoing, it offers hopeful signs that developers should beware of thinking they can do as they please with even the smallest islands that the Fijians call their paradise. This documentary is well worth watching.

 Prepared by Alison Gardner, Editor, Pasifik Currents

45 moments over 45 years – Celebrating the 45th Anniversary of Pacific Peoples’ Partnership  

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Compiled by Andy Nystrom, PPP Volunteer Archivist and Researcher

Traditional Sepik Dugout canoe by A. Holbrook

Many years of our organization’s Tok Blong and Tok Blong Pasifik journals have captured numerous highlights between 1982 and 2015. To celebrate our 45th anniversary, here are 45 highlights from our years of work linking Canada and the South Pacific.

Please note: From 1975 to 2000, the organization was known as South Pacific Peoples’ Foundation (SPPF) and from then on as Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP).

We hope you enjoy these 45 highlights!  We have linked to the online Tok Blong editions for each fact – please see page numbers for specific articles.

  1. Since 1982, Tok Blong Pasifik has featured a rich variety of “talk that belongs” to the Pacific: news, views, debates and insights. Begun in a pre-internet, fledgling-independence, nuclear cold-war era, where communications among Pacific islands was prohibitively expensive and where North-South information flows were virtually non-existent, Tok Blong Pasifik filled a void not only for Northerners concerned about peoples of the region, but also for Pacific islanders curious to hear about neighbouring South Pacific nations. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 23.
  2. In 1982, SPPF organized a tour of British Columbia and Alberta for Sinisia Taumoepeau, an artist from Tonga. The tour helped to give SPPF’s work further exposure in BC and Alberta and showcased Taumoepeau’s work. #3 Winter 1982, page 2.
  3. We spoke with Rabhie Namaliu, the Minister for Foreign Affairs and Trade for Papua New Guinea, when he was in Victoria at the end of November 1983 to receive an honourary Doctors of Law degree from the University of Victoria. While in Victoria he was interviewed by Phil Esmonde, our first Executive Director, for Tok Blong. In the interview Namaliu discussed the plebiscites in the Trust Territories, independence for New Caledonia and Polynesia, a nuclear-free Pacific, Japanese multinationals in PNG, and the effects of mining on PNG’s economy. #7 Jan 1984, pages 13-16.
  4. In 1987 SPPF produced fact sheets on the Pacific on the topics of Tourism, Health, Population, and Fisheries. These original versions were compiled by Jay Gould with funding assistance from the Challenge ’87 summer works program. #21 Nov 1987 pages 10, 14; pages 11-14 are the health sheet.
  5. In 1988 SPPF produced postcards criticizing French nuclear testing in French Polynesia, which got a response from Guy Azais, Charge d’Affaires in December of that year. The following January, Phil Esmonde responded, pointing out that all Pacific governments had asked France to stop testing in the Pacific, and suggesting that if France is correct that there are no health or environmental effects from the nuclear testing, they should welcome an independent investigation on the effects of nuclear testing on the health and environment of French Polynesia. #27 April 1989 pages 17-18.
  6. A partnership with Project Canada Pacifique in Montreal led to French versions of Tok Blong. #30 Jan 1990 page 2. Check out the January and May French editions from 1991!
  7. A crew of SPPF supporters formed a team in the 3rd annual Save the Strait Marathon (August 22). Traversing 29 kilometres of Georgia Strait from the mainland to Vancouver Island by kayak, the intrepid band of six raised $1,538 in support of SPPF projects and Save Georgia Strait Alliance environmental programs. #40 Aug 1992 page 2.
    Traditional Coast Salish dugout canoe with Teddy Balangu. by A. Holbrook
  8. SPPF’s revised mission statement in 1992 was to promote increased understanding of social justice, environment, development, health and other issues of importance to the people of the Pacific Islands; and to supporting equitable, environmentally sustainable development and social justice in the region. #40 Aug 1992 page 10.
  9. From 1991-1993, SPPF and the Sierra Club of Western Canada co-sponsored the Indonesia-Canada Rese postage and harch Project, which examined the Canadian presence in Indonesia, particularly West Papua/lrian Jaya, and the impact of this presence on the indigenous Papuan people and environment. #43 May 1993 page 2.
  10. 1994’s “Land is the Heart of the People” conference drew 100 people, including 10 Pacific Is-landers and 30 First Nations people. Several Pacific Islanders and First Nations people, including local Cowichan people, contributed to the program. The result was a conference more shaped by Indigenous perspectives than in the past. #47 May 1994 page 2.
  11. In 1996, SPPF hosted 3 Pacific youth on temporary volunteer placements. All three (Fredlyn Nako of Vanuatu, Faye Nuakona of Papua New Guinea, and Eroni Rakuita of Fiji) were students at Lester B. Pearson College of the Pacific and were interviewed for Tok Blong. Vol. 50 #2 Jun 1996 pages 1, 8-10, 12, 15.
  12. The growing concerns of Indigenous Peoples in the Pacific and Canada about the critical issues surrounding intellectual property rights and patent law, and the threats they bring to the traditional knowledge and culture of Indigenous Peoples, motivated SPPF to choose the theme “Our Knowledge, Our Rights: Traditional Knowledge and Pacific Peoples” for its 15th annual Pacific Networking Conference. Vol. 52 #4 Dec 1998-Feb 1999, page 5-6.
  13. On February 18, 2000 SPPF became PPP – Pacific Peoples’ Partnership. The new name was intended to better reflect the nature of our work and to distinguish PPP from other organisations working in the Pacific. Vol. 53 #4 December 1999 page 2.
  14. After a tidal wave hit Papua New Guinea in 1998, PPP members donated more than $6,000 to the Catholic Diocese of Aitape’s tidal wave relief effort. Vol. 54 #3, 2000, page 15.
  15. To celebrate PPP’s 25th anniversary, a cultural evening was held during the Pacific Networking Conference May, 2000. The evening celebrated the diversity of the participants and included performances by local First Nations, visiting South Pacific Islanders, and the Victoria and Vancouver expatriate Pacific community. It was held at the Lau Wel New Tribal School, Tsartlip Reserve in Saanich. Vol. 54 #3, 2000, page 16
    PPP Produced Hailans to Ailans Cultural Sharing 2009 by A Holbrook
  16. In 2000, prominent travel book writer David Stanley praised PPP, calling it “North America’s leading advocate for the inhabitants of a third of the earth’s surface. May the voices echo and the waves unite the goals and aspirations we all share.”
  17. In 2003, the Canadian Council for International Cooperation pulled together a reference group on public engagement for the first time. PPP was one of 10 members of this policy forum whose primary goals include exploring ways the community can work together to strengthen our educational work, articulate a common vision for engaging Canadians in development issues internationally, and determine how best to measure and build on the results of previous efforts. Vol. 1 #1 Spr 2003 page 5.
  18. The Indigenous Peoples’ Abroad Program (IPAP) provided opportunities for young professionals from Canada’s First Nations, Inuit and Métis communities to engage directly in sustainable development initiatives, sharing skills, knowledge and cultural perspectives with Indigenous counterparts in the Small Island Developing States of the Pacific. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 pages 7, 22. The following items (18 – 32) are from the same issue.
  19. After Cyclone Isaac hit Tonga, SPPF fundraised throughout 1982-1983 to assist in rebuilding Tonga. SPPF fundraising, supplemented by a three-to-one CIDA matching grant, resulted in more than $40,000 in reconstruction support to Tongan communities in 11 islands of the isolated Ha’apai Group. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 20.
  20. As part of the Marasim Meri Program (1987-1992), SPPF was a primary fundraiser, with CIDA matching funds three to one. Maprik Hospital partnered with the Maprik Women’s Association to select respected women from remote villages, train them in basic health, and provide them a dependable supply of basic medicines. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 20.
  21. In 1994, SPPF supported fundraising by the PNG Integral Human Development Trust, which created a new cadre of literacy trainers and co-coordinators. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 20.
  22. In 1997, SPPF’s network set out to ensure that Pacific Islanders were not marginalized during the Asia-Pacific Economic Cooperation (APEC) Summit and APEC Parallel Conference, a gathering of civil-society hosted in Canada. The Pacific Networking Conference of that year was strategically timed so that Pacific Islanders attending the conference could also participate in the APEC Parallel Conference. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 21.
  23. From 1997-2001, the Ecowoman project grew from the determination of Pacific women to promote sound eco-friendly science at the grassroots level. Project leadership came from the South Pacific Action Committee for Human Ecology & Environment (SPACHEE), a collective of women in science and technology, representing traditional methods and modern approaches. By working together, they were determined to have urban-rural collaboration that improved their lives and protected their environment. CIDA contributed $100,000 and the SPACHEE-PPP partnership provided $60,000 in cash and in-kind contributions. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 21.
  24. The Canada-South Pacific Ocean Development Programme (CSPOD) (1997-2004) was the largest Canadian development initiative in the Pacific Islands. PPP partnered on this 14-year $28-million CIDA project which started in 1988. CSPOD increased the capacity of regional institutions to manage and South Pacific marine resources. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 21.
  25. From 1998-2003, the WAINIMATE support project combined preservation and enhancement of traditional science-based knowledge with forest and environmental protection. It forged links with Canadian First Nation traditional medicine practitioners through exchanges that included workshops on governance, intellectual property rights and biodiversity conservation. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 21.
  26. The Indigenous Peoples, Indigenous Science and Sustainable Development Project (IPSP) (1999-2000) focused on cultivating exchanges and linkages between Canadian and Pacific Island Indigenous peoples for mutual problem-solving. A series of reciprocal visits, tours and discussion forums were held jointly by Canadian First Nations and Pacific Islander groups. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 22.
  27. Indigenous youth-to-youth activities (2001): This CIDA-funded project provided four venues for youth: a tour in Canada’s Northwest and the South Pacific, workshops on Vancouver Island and in Kelowna, cultural evenings, and publication of a youth issue of Tok Blong Pasifik. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 22.
  28. Speaking Out: Indigenous Media Talks Development – In 2003, PPP organized a program to send three prominent Indigenous journalists to Fiji and Vanuatu for a three-week tour. This was intended so that Indigenous people from Canada could examine the commonalities of experience among Indigenous peoples in Canada and the South Pacific and gain a deeper understanding of how communities are addressing challenges creatively. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 22.
  29. From 1996-1998, SPPF and CUSO co-sponsored a Canadian occupational therapist to work for two years with the Vanuatu Society for Disabled Persons (VSDP). Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 20
  30. Fair Trade: Bad Business or Global Prosperity? (2004-2005) – This public engagement initiative, which included the educational resource kit “Trade My Way”, saw PPP conduct a series of consultations about trade and values with a diverse cross-section of people in 15 different communities across British Columbia. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 22.
  31. Shifting Tides: Indigenous responses to global climate change (2007) was conceived to raise awareness of the impacts of climate change on Indigenous communities in Canada and in the South Pacific. In November 2007, an international delegation of Canadian Aboriginal and Cook Islands Maori Elders, Youth, and Scientists took part in a month-long tour that involved visits to Rarotonga in the Cook Islands and various cities in Canada, including Victoria, The Cowichan Valley, and Vancouver, BC; Winnipeg, MB; Ottawa, ON; and Iqaluit, NU. It was delivered in collaboration with the Kouto Nui council of traditional leaders in the Cook Islands with sponsorship from CIDA and additional financial support from IDRC, the Mountain Equipment Co-op, BC Hydro, Canadian North, The British Columbia Council for International Cooperation, the United Church of Canada and the Anglican Church of Canada. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 22
  32. Pacific Promises: A Story from the Leaders of Tomorrow (2008) was originally published as a special edition of Tok Blong Pasifik in 2008. The children’s book, funded by CIDA and Mountain Equipment Co-op was written by Stephanie Peter and Deyna Marsh with illustrations by Natalie Christensen.  The writers were participants in past PPP youth projects and were inspired to write this book about the impact of climate change on the social, cultural and economic well-being of Pacific island Indigenous peoples in the South and North Pacific. Vol 8 #2 Nov 2010 page 22.
  33. From 2009-2012 Papua: Land of Peace: Civil Society Leadership in Conflict Transformation (PLP), funded by CIDA harnessed rights-based approaches toward integrating capacity strengthening and education around sustainable livelihoods, Indigenous rights, HIV/AIDS prevention, and violence against women. Dec 2015 page 4.
  34. The Phil Esmonde Legacy Fund, in remembrance of SPPF’s first Executive Director, was started in 2011 as a way for donors to support PPP’s continuing mission of supporting the aspirations of South Pacific Islanders and Indigenous peoples. Dec 2015 page 4.
  35. In 2012, a Special Edition of Tok Blong Pasifik called Raven and Paradise explored the alternate biospheres of West Papua, Indonesia and the Coast Salish territories of Canada. It included illustrations by children from both Coast Salish and West Papuan communities as well as the skilled work of T’Sou-ke Nation artist Mark Gauti and the literary talent of Jen Jorgensen. This storybook was also produced in Indonesian. Dec 2015 page 5.                                 
    The late Dan Lepsoe and Elaine Monds evaluating a Sepik River carving.
  36. After volunteer Dan Lepsoe passed away in 2013, PPP created the Dan Lepsoe Chisel Fund to assist carvers in the Sepik region in the purchase of new chisels. Dec 2015 page 18. 
  37. With the Indigenous-Led HIV Prevention Strategy for Tanah Papua (2013-2015), PPP, the University of Calgary, and our partners in West Papua initiated collaborative research to examine effective HIV prevention and treatment among Indigenous mothers. Dec 2015 page 5.
  38. At the 22nd Pacific Networking Conference: ‘Rising Tides: Our Lands, Our Waters, Our Peoples’ in September 2015, participants examined issues such as reclaiming of traditional knowledge, land stewardship, Indigenous governance, environmental sustainability, and Indigenous solidarity. Three days of the conference were spent with our Coast Salish Tsartlip, T’So-uke and Songhees partners. Dec 2015 page 12.
  39. The Pacific Voices X-Change (PVX) Indigenous Youth Artist Residency was held from August 10 to 21, 2015, providing ten Indigenous Youth from ages 15-30 with the opportunity to grow their creative voice, skills, and art practices in a two-week intensive training day-program. Youth were guided with the knowledge and insight of main mentor Janet Marie Rogers, as well as a diverse lineup of artist mentors and Coast Salish territorial guides. Through the exploration of creative writing, photography, song writing, audio recording, poetry and more, the youth created works that express very diverse insights and perspectives. Dec. 2015 page 22-23.
  40. In February of 2016, the strongest and costliest cyclone in the history of the South Pacific of the time, Cyclone Winston swept across Queensland, Tonga, Vanuatu, Niue, and Fiji. Tropical Cyclone Winston illustrated the widespread damage an extreme climate event can inflict upon island nations. Together with a variety of donors, including the local Pacific Islander community of the Victoria area, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership raised $15,000 for rebuilding Loreto Catholic School. The funding was channelled through the Pacific Resilience Fund, a flexible funding mechanism designed to promote medium term resiliency programming in communities as a supplement to the short-term disaster relief system. News, August 30, 2017 http://
  41. RedTide: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit, May 2018, was hosted in the Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, a Māori iwi located in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions of New Zealand’s North Island. At this gathering, Indigenous scholars, activists, knowledge keepers and artists from around the world connected and shared stories and knowledge about climate change and resilience.
  42. FrancOcéan Pacifique connected British Columbia and New Caledonia youth via a collaborative, interactive ocean study program, which included educational booklets, exchanging of Indigenous knowledge, and preparatory worksheets and videos. In support of these educational activities, a website was created to promote and to prepare the youth for the central events: the live dives.
    Canadian Cabinet Minister Maryam Monsef, Squamish Council Members and PPP Executive Director April Ingham at a PPP/BCCIC Side Event The Longhouse Dialogues as part of a Women Deliver, June 2019.
  43. In 2017, PPP’s 10th annual Pacific & Indigenous arts and culture event One Wave Gathering was marked by a unique symbolic installation: the Longhouse Project. Under the direction of Nuu-chah-nulth artist Hjalmer Wenstob, four First Nations and Maori youth were selected to design art for the façades of the temporary longhouses. The houses were created in the styles of the Coast Salish, Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth, and South Pacific Islands respectively. Inside each longhouse, community members from each area created welcoming and educational interactive spaces for the public. Situated with permission at the BC Legislature, it was the first time in many generations that four longhouses stood on this former traditional Lekwungen village site.   The Longhouses were raised again at the Women Deliver Conference in Vancouver in June 2019 as centres for dialogues.
  44. In October 2019, as Indonesian state violence mounted against protesters in West Papua, concerned Canadians including PPP called for pressure on the Indonesian government to halt repression and take steps against racism in the Pacific Island region.
  45. The measles outbreak in Samoa in late 2019 hit close to home for PPP’s President Muavae Va’a, who grew up in Samoa. Through the Pacific Resilience Fund, PPP raised collected donations to support affected families and health care workers. In January 2020, Muavae traveled to hear stories from affected families, identify ways we could help, and provide support. One of the ways he and partners identified to help was purchasing a new washing machine, dryer and boiler for Lalomanu village hospital, which took pressure off hard-working nurses who were washing all hospital linens by hand.

Forty-five Years and Counting: A Reflection on the Many Accomplishments of the Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

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Victoria Peace Walk-Nuclear Free Pacific by ©Belau-Jurgen Pokrandt

By Art Holbrook with grateful input by Jim Boutilier, PPP’s President Emeritus and Founder of SPPF

Seventy-five years ago in August 1945, the United States Air Force dropped atomic bombs on the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Those bombs unleashed a race to build ever more destructive weapons. Several nations turned to the vast Pacific Ocean for these tests. However, vast as it is, the Pacific is far from uninhabited.

The United States began post-war tests starting in 1946 at Bikini Atoll in the Marshall Islands of Micronesia with the residents of the atoll moved to Rongerik Atoll ahead of the first tests. They were left alone there for over a year before an anthropologist from the University of Hawaii found them starving on the barren landscape, and they were moved again. Even today, Marshall Islanders from islands near Bikini have elevated levels of many cancers; the female population has a cervical cancer mortality rate that has been reported to be 60 times higher than comparable mainland U.S. populations.[i] The people of the Marshall Islands have filed many lawsuits in an effort to compensate them for the desecration of their homelands and the damage to their health.

The United States was not alone in nuclear testing in the Pacific. The British, beginning in 1952, tested nuclear weapons in the Gilbert and Ellice Island archipelago which in 1976 became the independent nations of Kiribati and Tuvalu. Amid mounting protests from Pacific Island nations and anti-nuclear activists from many countries at the increasing evidence of nuclear fallout around the world, atmospheric and underwater testing was forbidden under the Partial Test Ban Treaty of 1963. Despite this ban, nuclear testing continued. The French conducted aerial nuclear tests on Mururoa and Fangataufa in the Tuamotu archipelago of French Polynesia starting in 1966 and underground tests up to 1996.

The remote and seemingly peaceful islands of Micronesia, Polynesia and Melanesia, the three regions that contain so many small island nations of the Pacific Ocean, have remained to this day part of the on-going great power struggle for dominance of the region. With the Japanese pushed out of the islands during World War II, the island nations soon became part of the Cold War as Russia attempted to build influence in Micronesia and later competition between the Republic of China (Taiwan) and the People’s Republic of China as they sought friends and allies in Oceania as each of those nations sought votes in the United Nations. Today, China is active in the region, principally in Polynesia and Melanesia, as they fund major building projects and seek to influence island state governments. Their activity, and their aggressive approach in the region, have generated increasing concern in western capitals.

What does this brief history have to do with the 45th anniversary of Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP)? The Pacific Peoples’ Partnership, or the South Pacific Peoples’ Foundation (SPPF) as it was known from 1975 to 2000, was founded in Canada as an adjunct of a U.S.-based organization, the Foundation for the Peoples of the South Pacific whose main goal was to protest the nuclear tests. The U.S. link brought suspicion on SPPF because of the American nuclear testing. Recognizing this challenge to SPPF’s identity and desiring more autonomy, the organization soon broke away from its U.S. parent and became an independent organization.

Even as social justice and environmental issues grew in importance in SPPF’s early years, the foundation remained responsive to military issues. It lobbied against Canadian military participation in naval exercises targeting a Hawaiian island sacred to the indigenous people there. It also became a partner with Pacific Islanders in the Pacific Campaign Against Sea-Launched Cruise Missiles. SPPF’s role in that campaign was to alert global peace committees that, while land-based cruise missiles were being curtailed in Europe, those missiles were making their way to Pacific testing sites.

But the early members of SPPF had a more ambitious agenda on their minds than just military testing. From the beginning SPPF’s vision was clear: to increase awareness among Canadians of development issues in the Pacific Islands, and to attempt to connect knowledge of input-and-response networks with the Pacific Islands. As well, the organization developed efforts to connect knowledge and cultural sharing among Indigenous peoples both in Canada and the Pacific with a goal of building solidarity. And, of course, we needed to develop a membership and funding base to support our activities both in Canada and in the Pacific.

SPPF/PPP’s First Executives, (l to r) Phil Esmonde, Randall Garrison, Stuart Wulff and Margaret Argue.

In the early days, SPPF was fortunate to have substantial funding from the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA) and took full advantage of those funds to carry out ambitious projects in the South Pacific. However, government funding is a double-edge sword. It gave us the wherewithal to carry out programs but we always had to be sure we were within the guidelines set out by the government of the day. Early boards and directors recognized this challenge and began diversifying PPP’s revenue sources, a fortunate piece of advance planning as CIDA funding dried up in the 1990’s. As Stuart Wulff, former PPP executive director from 1991-2000, said, “In a way, the lost CIDA funding liberated us to follow our vision. PPP is now more engaged directly on the ground.”

What has PPP accomplished in our forty-five years?

Andy Nystrom, PPP’s invaluable archivist and research assistant, has compiled a fascinating selection of 45 projects and events highlighted in back issues of Tok Blong Pasifik, the foundation’s news magazine. These initiatives, ranging from artist exchanges to cyclone relief to HIV/AIDS prevention to youth and programs to combat violence against women, demonstrate PPP’s wide-ranging activities and relevance in the South Pacific. Long-time PPP members may celebrate anew our organization’s rich history while new members can learn what a dynamic and richly-rewarding experience being part of PPP can be. We hope you enjoy these glimpses into our archives; it is our goal to make those archives even more accessible in the future. Here are a couple of samples of what you will find there:

 Vanuatu, We Are With You! (2015)

On March 13, 2015, category 5 Cyclone Pam devastated the southern region of Vanuatu. By virtue of ties that run deep between Victoria, Canada and Vanuatu, the shock of this event quickly became very personal for Victoria, British Columbia residents that have family, friends or colleagues in the region. Reports from the country lent compelling urgency to mobilizing support focusing on this unprecedented natural disaster during which access to safe drinking water, food and housing became an immediate priority.

Vanuatu Member of Parliament, Ralph Regenvanu reported at the time, “The total population of Vanuatu is affected, as the cyclone travelled north to south, with the eye going over Shepherds, Efate, Erromango and Tanna. Cyclone Pam has damaged or destroyed 90 per cent of the infrastructure in Port Vila, Vanuatu’s capital and largest town, and damage to the more remote islands and communities is equally devastating.”

In very short order, Pacific People’s Partnership (PPP) flew into action connecting with Canadian government officials, key organizations and individuals in Canada and in the South Pacific. A hallmark fund-raising event, “Vanuatu, We Are With You!”, did much to raise the disaster’s profile, bringing together PPP’s staunch supporters and many new friends of the organization to raise over $11,000. Half the funds were put towards a shipping container filled with much needed supplies for disaster relief and the remainder for rebuilding of schools and hospitals.

Enterprising West Papuan Women Initiative (2013-2015)

WATINI Indigenous Women’s Collective, Wefiani Village, West Papua.

Enterprising West Papuan Women was funded through Development & Peace, LUSH Canada, and other donors between 2013 and 2015. It was facilitated in partnership with the Manokwari-based Institute for Research, Analysis, and Development of Legal Aid (LP3BH) to support livelihood opportunities for women in West Papua and promote gender equality. Under this program, PPP constructed several women’s cooperative centres within Arowi and Mansinam, both in the Bird’s Head Peninsula of West Papua. The centres function as small-scale, co-operative stalls for livelihood development and related skill-building activities such as financial management, strategic planning, proposal writing, and community organizing.

It has been no small feat for PPP just to stay alive for forty-five years … indeed, many NGOs don’t last that long. However, PPP has met many challenges to accomplish that feat. Even more, it has been an achievement to have produced so many significant programs and events for the people of the South Pacific and the Indigenous peoples of Canada in those forty-five years. We look back proudly at our past and with eager anticipation we look forward to what comes next.

I believe it can be said with confidence that PPP has demonstrated its resilience and enduring relevance over the years. We remain Canada’s only non-governmental organizational devoted to the people of the South Pacific and, as such, have a voice of authority that is acknowledged by out federal and provincial governments and by the people of many countries throughout the South Pacific region. In recent years PPP has sent First Nations youth to the islands as part of an expanded mandate that recognizes the historical parallels between Canada’s Indigenous peoples and the peoples of the South Pacific as they work to overcome the challenges of their colonial pasts. While the Covid-19 pandemic has delayed some new developments, we are on the cusp of new and exciting programs that will add more chapters to PPP’s legacy as we look to our 50th anniversary.

Canadian Cabinet Minister Maryam Monsef, Squamish Council Members and PPP Executive Director April Ingham at a PPP/BCCIC Side Event The Longhouse Dialogues as part of a Women Deliver Conference, June 2019.

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

PPP Featured Partner – RIKA

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PPP wishes to acknowledge our long-time supporter and partner, RIKA For over a decade, RIKA has donated his art and graphic design skills to support Pacific Peoples’ Partnership and our programs such as One Wave Gathering.

RIKA at Work!

RIKA is an Oceanscape artist in British Columbia, Canada working in brushed inks, watercolor and metallic leafing. His subject matter is the ocean surrounding the land he loves, the Pacific Northwest. As a socially-conscious artist , he also produces art and supports organizations that address environment and social justice issues especially as they pertain to Indigenous and South Pacific peoples, and our shared environment.

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

Pacific Peoples Partnership and the Pacific Resilience Fund Help with Samoa Measles Outbreak

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A gift to help the family was made to a mother in her early twenties upon the loss of her baby to measles.

By David Williams, PPP Board member, with Muavae Va’a, PPP President

Photos courtesy of Muavae Va’a.

When Pacific Peoples’ Partnership initiated a special fund to deal with emergent situations, little did we realize how valuable and timely this idea would be.  A tragedy, one brought about by human folly, makes our recent use of this fund particularly poignant.

The Pacific Resilience Fund (PRF) arose out of the observation that to fulfill our mandated role properly as the one Canadian NGO linking the peoples of Canada and the island nations of Oceania, we would require the means to respond quickly and appropriately to needs brought about by climate change and other problems. Our goal was for communities to be able to apply directly to the fund to finance small to medium scale initiatives that increase social, cultural and physical resilience.

A grandmother received a financial gift on behalf of her family.

The Samoa measles outbreak was not the first use of the PRF. It had already been used in both Fiji and Vanuatu, but this came very close to home for PPP president Muavae (Mua) Va’a because Samoa is his home country and he has many relations there. Indeed, Mua had already experienced tragedy when he lost seventeen family members in the 2009 tsunami. At that time he also assisted with relief efforts, returning to Samoa from his home on Vancouver Island with volunteers to help rebuild the village of Aleipata.

Measles should be a thing of the past, but instead a tide of propaganda from anti-vaccination zealots combined with some improperly prepared vaccine that killed two small Samoan children to create a tsunami of a different sort. Two nurses had mistakenly tainted the vaccine by mixing it with a muscle relaxant instead of water, according to a story in the newspaper, Samoa Observer.  All this created a climate of fear among Samoan parents that led to many children not being vaccinated. And so the virus took hold.

By October 2019, only 31% of the population had been vaccinated with a single dose. That’s half of what is required to prevent the spread of the disease once it is present in a community. To achieve what is known as “herd immunity”, an immunization of 95% is required for such a highly contagious disease. Samoa had less than one-third the vaccine coverage rate it needed to prevent a disaster. To make matters worse, at the time of the children’s deaths the government halted the measles vaccine campaign for ten months while it investigated. This was against the advice of the World Health Organization.

On November 17th. the government declared a state of emergency. By mid-December 2019, Samoa had 4,819 measles cases and seventy deaths, most of them children under five.

Sadly, what happened in Samoa is part of a global trend. Vaccinations have dropped precipitously while measles has grown exponentially, up to 300% in the last year. War and highly organized anti-vaccination propaganda campaigns are the main causes.

Mua first heard of the outbreak through social media and local newspapers. Hearing of one young couple’s cry for help from Nofoali’i Village following the loss of one child and a plea to protect the rest, Mua knew he had to go. By the time he was ready to leave, his own grand nephew was dead as well.

In the village of Mutiatele, Muavae Va’a brings condolences and a gift to his nephew and his wife upon the loss of their son to measles.

In the village of Mutiatele, Muavae Va’a brings condolences and a gift to his nephew and his wife upon the loss of their son to measles.

PPP immediately began a campaign to build up the PRF with money that we could use to bring aid to stressed Samoan medical practitioners and suffering families. We got a quick and gratifying response.

When Mua arrived in Samoa in January, at least 5,700 people had been infected and the death toll had risen to 83. He quickly sought out allies through our partner organization, the Samoa Social Welfare Fesoasoani Trust (SSWFT) and the churches of this heavily Christian country.  Mua himself is a life-long missionary, impelled to service by his strong faith.

Working through SUNGO, the umbrella organization for NGOs in Samoa, linked to by SSWFT, Mua soon decided his first mission was to the village of Mutiatele where his grand nephew was so recently buried. It was there he heard of other places of great need, so early in the morning of January 8th, along with staff from SSWFT, he began a journey. Exhausting in the overwhelming heat yet satisfying, Mua and his crew met with 12 families in more than ten villages. He recounts how profoundly emotional this was, and so very difficult to listen to the many stories of loss from grieving parents.

In Lalomanu he found good use for the PPP’s Pacific Resilience Fund. The nurses at the small district hospital had for four years been forced to wash all bed linens by hand, a time-consuming and inefficient use of highly trained personnel. Word came back to us in Victoria that a new washing machine and boiler would transform the operation in the hard-hit hospital there. Funds from PPP were soon on their way and Lalomanu village hospital now has a new washing machine, dryer and boiler.

Muavae Va’a (left) and the CEO of SSWFT, Theresa Asiata (right), present the Lalomanu district hospital with a washing machine. Head nurse, Lani, received the gift on behalf of the hospital’s director.

This may seem like a small thing. It is not. Nurses are now relieved of this tedious duty and able to use their skills more appropriately in healing the sick. PPP has left a small but vital legacy that will be long remembered.

Working with many selected partners in South Pacific nations, we understand that it is important to listen carefully at the grass roots level to learn what the needs are. Often, larger NGOs go into small nations and communities with preconceived ideas of what aid should be. At its best this can be merely self-serving. At worst, it can actually do harm, resulting in a series of unanticipated consequences. Our more localized approach, where we don’t assume we know best, brought us this response from one of our Samoan partner organizations:

“ … here in Samoa, so we do have a list of families that their children died from the measles. We are grateful to Pacific Peoples’ Partnership and especially to your President for his kind contribution to our beautiful Samoa. I know for a fact your President understand and know exactly what our people needs so whatever your organization provide will appreciate.”

We all confront death. The certain knowledge of our own mortality is perhaps the tragedy of our species. But different cultures treat it differently. In the West we tend to hide it and allow it little space in our lives. Not so in Samoa. The dead, even small children, are on open display before interment. Many pictures of dead children, perhaps shocking to western eyes, appeared in local media throughout the epidemic. The dead find permanent resting places in plots and tombs in the yards of their families. They are kept close.

The Samoan measles outbreak is now over. Most children and adults have been vaccinated and are safe from this potentially deadly disease. Life lessons have been learned by a new generation that thought they were growing up in a world where this scourge had been eliminated. And Mua is back home on Vancouver Island more determined than ever to work with the staff and board of PPP to build the Pacific Resilience Fund so that we can deliver aid wherever it is needed in the island nations of the Pacific.

Acknowledging the death of her son during the outbreak, a PRF gift was presented to the daughter-in-law of the SSWFT CEO.

According to Mua, young families that have lost beloved children are being torn apart by grief and loss. Sometimes they turn inward and direct their anger at themselves or one another. Hearts are breaking and so are families. Such trauma does not end quickly, if ever, but it is a great encouragement for these families to know that people beyond their borders care about them. Mua says even he knows that his experiences working for these families has caused elements of post traumatic stress disorder in himself.

Canada, to its credit, provided significant aid to Samoa during the emergency, managed through the High Commissioner’s office in New Zealand, where Mario Bot recently departed as High Commissioner.

Late in 2020, the two authors of this report will be travelling to Samoa together. While in Samoa they aim to make solid connections with organizations like SSWFT and SUNGO that were so helpful to Mua and PPP during the emergency, for which they are here thanked. The two men will explore possible appropriate projects for the PRF in villages throughout the islands.

This will also be a journey through time for David. His ancestor, the missionary John Williams, travelled and lived throughout the Pacific two hundred years ago and was settled in Samoa with his family when he died in 1839 on Erromango, Vanuatu. John Williams’ influence throughout Oceania is still much in evidence and Mua feels that this aspect of the next visit to Samoa will be a celebration of sorts. They look forward to reporting back to PPP members upon their return.

Would you like to contribute to the Pacific Resilience Fund? If so, please click on this button to find out more and make a donation.

This article was co-written by Muavae (Mua) Va’a, PPP President and David Williams, PPP Board Member and Chair of Development. PPP would like to acknowledge the extraordinary leadership and compassion that our President Mua demonstrated in response to this terrible tragedy.  He and his family went over and above, donating personally and absorbing many costs towards this campaign.  Inspired by his devotion, a fundraiser will soon be held by members of his Tsawout and Tsartlip Family and Friends on March 30th.  

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For 45 years, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership has supported the aspirations of South Pacific Islanders and Indigenous peoples for peace, environmental sustainability, social justice and community development.

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