Pacific Peoples' Partnership

Connecting Indigenous and Pacific Peoples

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership Featured Partner: British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC)

by

The British Columbia Council for International Cooperation (BCCIC) is a network that engages in sustainable development and social justice issues. This is a membership-based organization made up of interested individuals, international development organizations and practitioners, and civil society organizations in British Columbia, Canada.

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership was a founding member of BCCIC since its creation in 1989.  To this date we deeply value the work of this organization as it benefit so many! Recently we worked together to realize the Longhouse Dialogues from May 31 – June 5th in Vancouver, BC as part of the Women Deliver Mobilization Canada side events, and PPP is actively engaged in their regional Southern Vancouver Island Chapter (SOVI), which is a network of individuals and organizations focused on international development and connections to the local community here on Southern Vancouver Island.  

Through SOVI, people come together to learn, create relationships, and share their knowledge on global social issues and the 2030 United Nations Sustainable Development Goals. 

Consider joining or supporting BCCIC or SOVI today!

Hold the dates! May 1-6, 2018 in New Zealand

by

Red Tide Indigenous Climate Action Summit

Pacific Peoples’ Partnership (PPP) typically produces a major international Pacific Networking Conference (PNC) every two years or so in Canada. We have held 23 so far. The themes and content of the conferences are always timely and on point, because they were developed in collaboration with our South Pacific and Canadian Indigenous partners.

In 2018 we are excited to be co-hosting our first-ever Pacific Networking Conference in the South Pacific!

Toi Toi Manawa Trust and Pacific Peoples’ Partnership are thrilled to co-present Red Tide: International Indigenous Climate Action Summit in the Māori tribal lands of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui, an iwi located in the eastern Bay of Plenty and East Coast regions of New Zealand’s North Island.

The main convening dates are confirmed for May 1 – 6, 2018.

May 1 & 2, 2018 – Youth Conference

May 3 – 6, 2018 – Full Summit

A wonderful pre-conference protocol program is also in development with more details to come, as is an artist residency.  See additional information on our website www.redtidesummit.com

Join us in discussing and strategizing as we integrate Indigenous environmental science, activism, scientific observations and Indigenous youth involvement. The Summit will feature keynote speakers, interactive cultural sessions, open spaces and a festival of artists that will activate and rejuvenate this global movement.

Indigenous scholars, activists, allies, knowledge keepers and artists are invited to share, co-create, and connect ideas, impacts and stories related to climate change.

We are seeking donations towards the travel costs of delegates. Please donate now to help fund an Indigenous delegate to the gathering. 

We welcome your thoughts and inputs on this developing program at:  toitoimanawatrust@gmail.com or info@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org

10th Annual One Wave Gathering

by

By all measures, the 2017 One Wave Gathering was a resounding success. All participants, be they local, Nuu-chah-nulth, Kwakwaka’wakw or South Pacific Islanders, were extremely pleased with the participatory, inclusive and educational proceedings. A number of elders were moved to tears and speechlessness by the unprecedented and historical importance of this event.

– April Ingham, Executive Director of Pacific Peoples’ Partnership

As an annual event hosted by PPP, One Wave has celebrated international Pacific community, arts and culture in Victoria, British Columbia since 2008. In 2017, motivated by ongoing steps towards First Nations reconciliation and global Indigenous movements, PPP presented an enriched and expanded One Wave Gathering.

This year’s theme, “healing through celebration,” permeated every aspect of the event creating a supportive village atmosphere while celebrating and honouring all those in attendance.

To all that have made this vision a reality: hay’sxʷqa. Read our full acknowledgement here.

The Longhouse Project saw the raising of four longhouse structures designed by youth artists on the BC Legislature lawn.

This event was unprecedented: a gathering of many communities from across the North and South Pacific. Guided by their unique customs, protocols and histories, they came together on the British Columbia Legislature lawns as a village. Through this Gathering, thousands of members of the Victoria public, including political leaders from various levels of government, had the opportunity to build meaningful relationships with one another in authentic spaces.

Thanks to the BC Legislature invitation for the Gathering to use the lawns overlooking Victoria’s Inner Harbour, it was the first time in many generations that four longhouses stood on this former traditional Lekwungen village site.

One of four longhouse structures raised at the BC Legislature.

This year, One Wave Gathering was marked by a unique symbolic installation: the Longhouse Project. Under the direction of Nuu-chah-nulth artist Hjalmer Wenstob, and with the active support of the BC Legislature, 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 had full rein in creating welcoming and educational interactive spaces for the public throughout the day.

Longhouse designs were created by Sarah Jim (Coast Salish), A.J. Boersen (Nuu-chah-nulth), Juliana Speier (Kwak’waka’wakw), Jazzlyn Markowsky (Maori) and a phenomenal dance curtain, later gifted to Songhees and Esquimalt Nations, was created by James Goldsmith-Brown (Esquimalt Nation). The journey of youth, participating artists and community members who produced and programmed within the longhouses was captured in a documentary to be showcased at PPP’s upcoming AGM and Holiday Feast on December 10.

What we wanted to do was bring people into our homes, truly and honestly do it. Bring people into our homes and share. Share a meal, conversation and story, and learn a little bit about each other and the history and how we can move forward together.

– Hjalmer Wenstob (Lead Artist, Nuu-chah-nulth)

Esquimalt Nation Chief Andy Thomas addressing the One Wave crowd

Hosted on Lekwungen territory, the Gathering’s organizers worked respectfully with Songhees and Esquimalt Nations to ensure the event was meaningful to both Nations. This led to a second unprecedented aspect of One Wave Gathering: all materials and signage on site were produced in both English and Lekwungen.

Chief Ron Sam of Songhees Nation, Chief Andy Thomas of Esquimalt Nation and Joan Morris of Songhees Nation opened the event by speaking to the Indigenous history of the Inner Harbour area, including customary place-names and sites of significance. They also spoke about the impact of colonization on the area.

South Pacific community delegation before conducting protocol with local First Nations

Two Lekwungen dance groups (Lekwungen Dancers & Esquimalt Singers and Dancers), two Polynesian dance groups (Pearls of the South Pacific and Tusitala Polynesian Dancers), one Kwak’waka’wakw dance group (Kwakiutl Dancers) and one Nuu-chah-nulth dance group (Ahousaht Dance Group) presented on the main stage. The dance presentations ended with a participatory dance for all the public led by the Kwakiutl Dance Group.

A big part for me was that everyone came together and that we all celebrated as one race, the human race; I hope that eventually more and more people come each year and that soon racism and stereotypes end for everyone. 

– A.J. Boersen (Nuu-chah-nulth), Longhouse Project Youth

During the day, the City of Victoria’s Indigenous artist-in-residence Lindsay Delaronde facilitated a corn-husk doll-making activity with public participation, and partnered with Tlingit artist Nahaan to produce a theatre piece called Remembering. Nuu-chah-nulth elder Moy Sutherland Sr. guided the public in games of slahal, a traditional bone game that in years past was an important fixture of the local economy.

At the end of the day, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership was pleased to partner with the Moose Hide Campaign for a public feast featuring both local and international foods.

All on-site signage was translated into Lekwungen.

One Wave 2017 was an outstanding program with a wide range of community impacts, and we are still actively consulting the community around how to move the program forward. Were you at One Wave Gathering, and do you have an idea to share? We would love to hear from you.

Feel free to email deputy@archive.pacificpeoplespartnership.org with your comments and feedback, or get involved next year!

View more photos in our Facebook album.

Please donate today so that we can continue to produce One Wave Gathering.

Supreme Court rules to destroy largest collection of residential school documents

by

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.

Featured Partner: Moose Hide Campaign

by

On September 16 2017, Pacific Peoples’ Partnership joined forces with the Moose Hide Campaign to deliver a feast at the Songhees Wellness Centre just outside Victoria. The evening was an opportunity to reflect as a community on a day of impactful programming, including our own One Wave Gathering and Moose Hide Campaign’s Regional Gathering. We are grateful for Moose Hide Campaign’s hospitality, and for the opportunity to deliberate on the Moose Hide message together.

The Moose Hide Campaign is a growing movement of Indigenous and non-Indigenous people committed to ending violence against women and girls. Supporters of the campaign demonstrate their commitment to a better future by wearing a small Moose Hide badge. In addition, Moose Hide Campaign delivers ongoing community engagement projects aimed at creating culturally informed supports and accountability mechanisms for men. To date, over 300,000 Moose Hide badges have been distributed across Canada.

According to Statistics Canada, one woman is killed every five days in a domestic homicide. 6,000 women are living in emergency shelters on any given day. Indigenous women are three times more likely to experience violence than non-Indigenous women in Canada.

The Moose Hide Campaign was inspired by a hunting trip taken by founders Paul and Raven Lacerte just off of British Columbia’s Highway 16. The highway is popularly known as the ‘Highway of Tears’ for the high number of women and girls, mainly of Indigenous descent, who have been murdered or disappeared between Prince Rupert and Prince George.

What can you do?

We are all responsible for promoting gender equity, healthy relationships and positive ideas of masculinity. Learn about the impact of violence around you, and question how your own attitudes and behaviours may perpetuate this violence. Seek and offer support.

On February 15 2018, the Moose Hide Campaign will meet for the 8th consecutive year in Victoria, British Columbia. Thousands of men from across the province will take part in a fast to reaffirm their commitment to ending violence against women, and access a range of supports. To get involved, visit moosehidecampaign.ca.

Connect With Us

Pacific Peoples' Partnership
#407 620 View St., Victoria BC
Canada V8W 1J6

We want to hear from you!

Contact Information

Join Us On Social Media

About Us

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.

Read More

 

Pasifik Currents: Latest Posts