It is with great sadness that we announce the sudden and unexpected passing of Victoria-based Peter Gardner in December 2020. He was among South Pacific Peoples Foundation/Pacific Peoples’ Partnership’s longest-serving members, and, being a teacher of economics in a number of developing countries throughout his career, he took a particular interest in how small South Pacific nation-states might be able to survive and thrive in the face of significant challenges. 

Peter was recruited to the organization in 1992 by Dr. James Boutilier, one of the founders of SPPF and still President Emeritus of PPP. At the time, they worked together as fellow academic colleagues at Victoria-based Royal Roads Military College. “I felt that our small South Pacific organization demanded uniquely dedicated and engaged Board members and patience in very large measure,” recalls Dr. Boutilier. “I saw Peter as an ideal candidate for the SPPF Board, and someone who would be dedicated to staying in the organization for the long haul.”

“Peter had the detailed knowledge of what we then called the Third World. He knew about small economies and the realities of international development. He was pragmatic, cheerful in the face of daunting organizational challenges, and was a superb team player — something that simply cannot be underestimated! He served faithfully on the Board several times, and in various committee roles until he passed away.” 

Executive Director, April Ingham, adds her own recollections: ”From the start of my tenure with PPP, Peter was always eager to help wherever needed. He stepped up over and over again, plus he attended and supported all of our events and activities whenever possible. He even provided a note of regret if he couldn’t participate. Peter and his wife, Alison, started to actively donate to PPP in the 90s and they also became founding members of our Phil Esmonde Legacy Endowment Fund, which was set up to ensure PPP’s sustainability.” 

“We will never forget the support and strategic visioning that Peter facilitated with our PPP team in 2014-2019. He worked passionately to help us achieve our mission and long-term sustainability. He believed fervently in our work and in the connections we foster for knowledge and cultural exchange between diverse peoples across the Pacific.” 

April concludes, “Once when Peter and Alison were volunteering with PPP at our 2014 Rising Tides conference, Songhees Elder Joan Morris voiced her concern that “they are elders and should be respected not put to work!” But Peter wouldn’t have it any other way – whether it was putting up tables and chairs, serving food, delivering a workshop or deliberating as a Board member about future PPP projects, it was his nature to jump in wholeheartedly!”

Until he died from a stroke at age 74, Peter continued teaching students from many parts of the world and working for social and environmental charities. He was a remarkable, caring person and an outstanding educator who will be sorely missed by his family, by the thousands of Canadian and international students that he taught and counseled over a four-decade career, his colleagues, friends, and the Greater Victoria community. Our deepest condolences to Alison, his partner in life, and a PPP lifetime contributor herself, and to their lovely family on this tremendous loss. 

PPP is also happy to welcome our new Pacific Associate Volunteer Teuila Dellimore and newest Board Member Valerie Wideski.

Peter Boldt – Program Coordinator

peterboldt@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org

Growing up in Lək̓ʷəŋən territory, Peter feels blessed to call this beautiful Pacific coast his home. He is inspired by his travels and the people and friends he has met from other countries. As a field school student in 2013, he had the opportunity to participate in local development initiatives through service learning in Uganda. This trip marked the beginning of his passion for advocacy, human rights and sustainable development.

Before completing his Master’s degree in International Development Studies, Peter was an elementary school teacher abroad for two years. In his work with PPP, he looks forward to continued learning about Indigenous knowledge exchange, community resilience and South Pacific development issues.

Agnieszka Zuchora – Partnerships and Development Coordinator

agnieszka@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org

Agnieszka (Aggie) is a Greek born, Polish immigrant who grew up on Kwikwetlem territory. Her passion lies in traditional healing practices, environmental protection and working directly with the community. This led her to pursue a Master of Environment in Melbourne, Australia.

Through her degree, she focused on adaptation to climate change as well as the political ecology of development and examining western normative assumptions about gender and gender empowerment. Later, she volunteered in Israel learning about sustainable agricultural practices, then in Greece working with youth and women asylum seekers. She looks forward to furthering her understanding of Indigenous experiences and what it means to be an active ally across the Pacific.

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership recognizes MediaNet FLUX Gallery as our featured partner. 

MediaNet is a non-profit organization in Victoria that offers local community members access to the tools and training to create and present their own digital art and media. We acknowledge their long-time partnership with PPP including support of our annual One Wave Gathering, and other programs designed to respectfully encourage the creative vision and voices of Indigenous and South Pacific artists.

MediaNet has collaborated with PPP in many ways, offering access to film and video equipment to record educational events; providing training in media technology to our staff, volunteers and program participants; plus they have extended us the generous use of their creative studio and FLUX Gallery. Be sure to check out our latest collaboration at the FLUX Gallery, the digital media and art show Together / As One from September 3-18.

Talofa Lava dear friends,

Earlier this month Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) released a Black Lives Matter solidarity message that we firmly stand behind and we invite you to join us:

We support the fight for equality, liberation, and justice. Our struggles for Black rights, Indigenous rights, and human rights are interconnected and come from the lived experiences within our PPP Board and our wider PPP community. Equality, liberation, and justice are integral to the work we do in partnership with Indigenous peoples, nations, and communities in Canada and throughout the South Pacific, and we are dedicated to upholding those values and practices.

All of us here at PPP hope that you and yours are well, as we weather COVID-19 realities as a global community.  It is in the face of adversity and challenges like this that our traditional teachings hold most important, and the fact that this knowledge continues to live on is a testament to the resilience of Pacific Islanders and Indigenous peoples.  Amidst the coronavirus, climate change and economic uncertainties, we acknowledge the unique challenges facing us at all levels and the interconnected nature of the crises and compounding impacts.  As research professor Cynthia Enloe has said of this pandemic: “We aren’t all in this together. We’re all on the same rough seas together, but we’re in very different boats.”

In French Polynesia, some residents have expressed disgust that their borders have now reopened to tourists, many who may come from the worst infected parts of the world.  Understandably, balancing economies and health are tough choices for nations who have worked so hard to develop their tourism sector. We have also been inspired by Pacific Islander youth who have been forced to return to home villages following COVID-19 shutdowns, such as Tuvalu’s youth who have ignited a renewed interest in their Indigenous knowledge.

This is a time when the global community must increase official development assistance to ensure no one is left behind.  Indeed, donor countries should go a step further and forgive development loans that encumber and trap small island developing states.  PPP recently signed on to a letter to encourage our country to do just that!  You can do your part by asking your Government to do more, and you can also give directly to our community-based partners through our Pacific Resilience Fund.

Included in this edition of Pasifik Currents we are proud to share our solidarity with the Black Lives Matter movement, program updates and much more.  We are also thrilled to welcome our newest Team members Zachary, Tana and Peter, who will be working with us through the next few months on our COVID-19 protocol compliant One Wave Gathering amongst other projects.

Yours in solidarity,

Muavae (Mua) Va’a and April Ingham

Talofa Lava Friends,

We are in an historic moment in time, one that has the potential to change our lives forever. While we are impacted differently in each part of the globe, we share the opportunity to address systemic changes and challenges that can positively transform our world, if we act together.

Early this month Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) marked our 45^th Anniversary by launching a campaign for our Pacific Resilience Fund. Donations through this fund are distributed equitably throughout the South Pacific, and most importantly, they support Islander-led processes at the community level. Our local partners continue to work together and build resilience even in the face of recent crises, including COVID-19 and Cyclone Harold, both of which you will see covered with stories in this issue. PPP stands in solidarity with our friends and neighbors in the South Pacific – will you join us and be a part of building this legacy?

Makere – a recent donor to the Pacific Resilience Fund – wrote in the Maori language: “Tena koutou ki a koutou katoa, he koha iti, engari he koha aroha tenei…”  “We are with you all. A little gift, but this is a love gift…”

This sentiment is shared by PPP’s Samoan-Canadian President Muavae Va’a, who passionately shared his own stories of resilience and urged your solidarity. “As a Pacific Islander, it is important to me to support our peoples back home… Let’s begin today…even small amounts will

be helpful.”  We invite you to watch his 8-minute video message.

While the immediate challenges of the recent cyclone and COVID-19 crises may take up our days, we are all adjusting to this new reality. PPP and our partners continue to work in physical isolation, but please know that we are working hard to make an impact – even virtually!

Within this edition of Pasifik Currents, you will find feature stories on our 45^th Anniversary, updates from the HELP Resources Papua New Guinea project Vendors Collective Voices, inspiring stories from up and coming young female leaders, plus more people, program and news updates.

Save the date: “Giving Tuesday” will take place on May 5th as an emergency response to COVID-19. This is a global day of giving and unity that demonstrates the power of our collective generosity. Look to hear from us and the communities we are supporting in the South Pacific.

Thank you for continuing this Pacific Peoples’ Partnership journey. We look forward to you standing in solidarity with us well into the future!

April Ingham, Executive Director

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) has inspired me to cultivate my abilities to serve something greater. My name is Cedar Luke, I began to work with PPP in the first weeks of 2020 as an intern by means of a continuing studies program in Intercultural Education at the University of Victoria. PPP seemed to align well with my previous engagement in Indigenous Studies, Social Justice and Latin American Studies which I pursued throughout my undergraduate degree.

My work with PPP has allowed me to synthesize years of research and academic pursuits by bridging the university with a larger community vision. April Ingham, the executive director of PPP, has been an incredible guide, focusing my efforts to the benefit of the organization as well as the greater movement towards equity, inclusion, and social justice.

Through my internship, I had the honour to review a program developed by a previous Indigenous Governance intern, Russ Johnston, titled the “Community Toolkit.” This program is designed as a workshop to explore the importance of our own history and perspective in working cross-culturally as an ally for social justice. This program recognizes the unjust history of colonization and searches to define and practice decolonization as a tool to envision positive pathways to healthy and reciprocal relationships between people, place, and culture.

This program defines six specific steps to accomplish this: an introduction aligned with local Indigenous protocols, the exploration of self-location and accountability, developing definitions of decolonization and allyship, and the creative aspect of envisioning positive, cross-cultural relationships and a future which we can work towards together.

Through my conversations with community, I realized just how important it is to know where one is coming from and what influences our perspective. In the step on self-location, we ask participants to identify their birthplace, their ancestry and their relationship to different natural environments in order to welcome their stories into the space. As Russ says, the work of this workshop needs to matter to each participant and is only meaningful if we know who we are in relation to it. In the next step, we explore different levels of accountability experienced in each aspect of our self-location and explore why we have chosen to participate in this workshop and the service of solidarity.

Harsha Walia, a Vancouver based activist and writer, defines decolonization as “a dramatic re-imagining of relationships with land, people and the state. Much of this requires study. It requires conversation. It is a practice; it is an unlearning.” We intentionally avoid giving a static definition for decolonization because it is a concept and practice which is constantly evolving. Decolonization is critical of imperialism and colonialism and thus works to advance the interests of Indigenous peoples by re-centering Indigenous ways of knowing, being and doing. The values derived from colonization continue to be upheld in many societal norms and institutions, intimately interwoven into social structures that perpetuate inequality and discrimination. For this reason, decolonization has deep implications for both Indigenous and non-Indigenous citizens who wish for a more equitable and just society.

Exploring colonization and decolonization can bring up many deep feelings of sadness, confusion anger, guilt, denial, etc. Many individuals who are privileged by the structures of inequality can choose not to engage and for this reason it is important we call people into the conversation rather than calling people out. To become an ally through grounded relationships is a great honor and gift. In working cross-culturally we learn about ourselves, we learn how to respectfully and curiously learn from others, and have the opportunity to be part of beautiful collaborations. This willingness to connect with what is unknown expands our sense of community, our sense of purpose and sense of belonging.

This program will be primarily used as an introductory workshop within the orientation process for new PPP interns and volunteers. This is to assure the heart of our operations are aligned with critical inquiry and the most effective positive change for the individual as well as the collective. As this program continues to develop, we are open to cultivating a several session seminar which would be open to the public for community engagement. I am currently refining a final draft of recommendations which I have generated over the past four months. I look forward to seeing how this program will grow into the future.

Although my work with the Community Toolkit is coming to a close, I am continuing to work with PPP as a research associate. In the coming months, I will focus on the development of a handbook to enshrine wise practices and policies for working with youth. I hope this handbook will assure PPP’s work is forever a safe and inspiring space for youth to learn and grow.

As we move forward together, may we remember that we are all historically Indigenous to somewhere. We all need the same vital nutrients of this Earth to nourish life, and through the act of giving we truly do receive.

Cedar Luke has lived, studied and worked in Latin America for five years and is graduating in Latin American Studies and Intercultural Education from the University of Victoria. Over the years, he has built relationships with Indigenous traditions of the Amazon as well as with the Annishnaabe community where he was raised in Duluth, Minnesota in the United States.

Please welcome Jaimie Sumner as PPP’s Operations Coordinator. Jaimie started with us mid-March 2020, and after only two days on the job, we had to begin COVID-19 remote work placements. Despite this challenge, Jaimie has quickly become indispensable to our Team, and has risen to the task of helping with our annual September One Wave Gathering, plus fundraising for our Pacific Resilience Fund and supporting our communications. Jaimie worked previously for Habitat for Humanity as a manager of a Restore and has a background in utilizing the arts to build intercultural understanding and solidarity. See Jaimie’s full profile under Team on the PPP website.

There has been another unexplained death of a fishing observer in the South Pacific. PPP is deeply saddened by the death of Eritara Aati Kaierua. He left the island of Pohnpei, Micronesia to work as a fishing observer on a Taiwanese tuna purse seiner heading south, and died mysteriously about five weeks later while on board the ship. The father-of-four is the tenth Pacific fisheries observer to die on the lawless high seas in the last decade.  To learn more about how to protect these essential workers, check out these actions. 

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 45^th 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.

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)

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 50^th 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 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.

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.