Lmst

Apologies for the LinkedIn link, but this one is worrh it to see a historical picture of the Alberni Indian Residential School behind two strong survivors, one of whom, Judith Sayers, has gone on to be a leader of her First Nation, a respected lawyer, drafter of UNDRIP, chancellor of my University among many many other accomplishments. #hupacasath #un
#reconciliation #canada #canpoli
https://www.linkedin.com/posts/judith-sayers-9a662994_my-mother-bea-watts-sayers-went-to-residential-activity-7378830742077956096-rBfZ?utm_source=share&utm_medium=member_ios&rcm=ACoAAASGgFMBvZfpiHoAfmpwrlNYqbvX13kHl48

“Watts said there is still racism in the Alberni Valley, but seeing how many people gathered today help him know that the people with bad intentions are the vast minority.

"Port Alberni's a place with a heart and this is an event that really showed that today.””

🧡🧡

#TruthandReconciliationDay #PortAlberni #BC #Tseshaht #Hupacasath

https://www.albernivalleynews.com/local-news/hundreds-walk-and-reflect-on-orange-shirt-day-in-port-alberni-8283211

If you don't have Hashilthsa in your regular list of news sites to paruse, you should. It's the oldest indigenous-led news source in Canada.

Here's another great article, this one about yesterday’s march to mark #truthandreconciliationday. Tseshaht and Hupacasath and other Nuuchanulth nations have been doing these walks in #PortAlberni since 2017.

So many people have been deeply affected by the former Alberni Indian Residential School which closed in 1973.

Port Alberni was at the forefront of bringing people involved in residential schools to justice as well:

"In his 1995 sentencing of a former Alberni dormitory supervisor, Justice Douglas Hogarth called the residential school system “nothing less than a form of institutionalized pedophilia.””
#CanPoli #CdnPoli #Indigenous #Tseshaht #Hupacasath #healing #TRCDay

https://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2025-09-30/reconciliation-march-walks-away-former-residential-school-site

A large group of people are seen, almost all wearing orange shirts, in a large parking lot. A circle of young and old men drum and sing. Visible in the picture are the Wawmeesh Ken Watts elected chief of Tseshaht, (second from left with cedar headband), Brandy Lauder elected chief of Hupacasath (bottom right closest to camera, black jacket), Gord Johns MP for Courtenay Alberni (balding grey hair beside Lauder), and Mayor Sharie Minions of Port Alberni (dark straight hair beside Gord Johns).

check that. I think there may have actually been over 1000 people walking. They are still coming into the hall and they stretch all the way down road still

Final post a song #portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

"WE ALL"
"MATTER!!"
#portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

stretching all the way down the hill! #portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

a line stretching down a long wide street

a few hundred strong 💪 #portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

we are stopped momentarily a time to gather

here they come!
here we are! 🧡
#portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

A line of people in orange shirts crosses a bridge

The marchers are almost here.
Lots of birds around. A seagull making more awake than he should lol. A bald eagle. And a Raven watching us from across the river

#portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

I see is swimming in the middle of the river channel. The flow of the water is against him so he's creating quite awake even though he's not actually moving lol

a bald eagle 🦅 flies I in the sky against the gray clouds

A black raven sits at the top of a fir tree looking toward us

enjoying the rivers edge while we wait for the march. It started up river about 2km from here at the former site of the Alberni Indian Residential School.

The area across the Somass/Tsu'amaas River is a large estuary. Huge salmon habitat (chinook, coho, sockeye). It was also the location of the first settlers to get here (both Spanish and British)

#portalberni #ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

Walked from my house to about the halfway point of the full march waiting for them to arrive. This is Victoria Quay, the Welcoming Figures and the Whaling Sculpture.

These are at the foot of Johnston Road / Highway 4 in #portalberni at the Tsu'amaas (Somass) River.

It smells of the ocean, and the end of the salmon run which might sound unpleasant, but it's not. :)

more details in the image Alt descriptions.

#ReconciliationDay #EveryChildMatters #tseshaht #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

Looking out along Victoria Quay in Port Alberni over the Somass River. There are often bears on the other side, especially this time of year, looking for salmon. There is a res paved stone walkway with grass at the edge and some park benches. A small statue of a bear stands atop a plinth with 100 Port Alberni. For the centennary in 2015.

The sculptures are welcoming people into #Hupacasath
territory from land and sea. One is a man looking toward us and land and one a woman toward the sea just behind.

The Whaling sculpture is of :TseshahtFN: hunters. Their territory extends down the Alberni Inlet while Hupacasath is in the Valley. there is a figure holding a large harpoon at the head of the canoe while other figures paddle behind. The whole thing is carved from a large douglas fir log

The flag for hupacasath flies atop a pole near the welcoming statues in a small park

off to join the #ReconciliationDay march
wearing my #EveryChildMatters orange shirt and my cedar headband. And carrying the kids headbands in their absence. it's a perfect morning for a walk. Partly cloudy just a little cool in the air
:TseshahtFN: #tseshaht :hupacasath: #Hupacasath #nuuchanulth

The Federal NDP are on Vancouver Island strategizing for the upcoming Parliament.

Interim leader Davies:

""There's an ebb and flow to politics and I view it as an opportunity for our party to regenerate, to reimagine what a bold, progressive NDP looks like on the federal scene.””

I loved Jack Layton too, but I think it is time to leave Jack to the past. They really need to find someone who is here, in this moment, and can present a real vision for Canadians to strive for and achieve that is the opposite of what the Conservatives and Red-Tory Liberals are trying to do.

#CanPoli #CdnPoli #Tseshaht #Hupacasath #PortAlberni #Courtenay #Tofino

https://www.albernivalleynews.com/local-news/federal-new-democrats-meet-with-nuu-chah-nulth-leaders-in-port-alberni-8243469

Today in #Tseshaht :TseshahtFN: #Hupacasath :hupacasath:

Saw čims (Black Bear) today! He was pretty scared of the busy road. Smart bear! Didn't get a good photo, and only mediocre video, but here you go :) 🐻

(this was near the Visitors Centre near the #BCHwy4 junction in #PortAlberni)

I'm really proud that our community, the entire community, is taking action and proposing solutions to the toxic drug crisis. I feel very grateful that we have Tseshaht First Nation leading us in many ways in this effort.
#ToxicDrugCrisis #PortAlberni #Tseshaht #Hupacasath #Nuuchanulth #Drugs #LegalizeAllDrugs #HelpPeople
https://www.hashilthsa.com/news/2024-02-02/tseshaht-and-alberni-valley-advocate-fully-funded-detox-centre-new-strategy

Every once in awhile I go back to this map of local First Nation names for places and landmarks just to remind myself that they were here long before settlers came and renamed everything. These are from the map created by Hupacasath First Nation. One of two Nations that inhabit this part of Vancouver Island.

https://www.hupacasath.ca/about-us/interactive-places-language-map/

#FirstNations #Canada #WestCoast #Hupacasath #PortAlberni #Tseshaht

A screenshot from a very densely written map of the Alberni Inlet and surrounding areas.

This year marks 50 years since the Alberni Indian Residential School was closed. It was closed because of action by First Nations people here themselves, with the leadership of George Watts. Many other schools remained open for many more years. And the main buildings weren't demolished until 2009.

"It was in July 1973 that the West Coast District Council of Indian Chiefs (which later became Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council) sent a letter to the Department of Indian Affairs, propositioning the closure of the residential school. This letter, signed by the West Coast Council’s chairman George Watts, led to a meeting between Canada and Nuu-chah-nulth leaders. On Aug. 31, 1973, AIRS closed its doors forever.”
#Tseshaht #Hupacasath #FirstNations #ResidentialSchools #PortAlberni #AIRS #CanPoli #CdnPoli #NDTR
https://www.albernivalleynews.com/local-news/tseshaht-first-nation-gets-ready-to-mark-50-years-since-closure-of-residential-school-4516203

The fun thing about the substitutions/translations on the website into Nuuchanulth is that after a few words I started to get the hang of the Unicode entities and could put them in without consulting the reference list… just writing another language… to write another language :).
https://www.alberniweather.ca
Code for the forecast grabber is on GitHub: https://github.com/chrisale/ECForecastGrabber
#Indigenous #Tseshaht #Hupacasath #language #learning #coding #html #css #perl

#Hupacasath

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