Songhees

Words of resilience and healing. 
The tone is hopeful, acknowledging the past, but often framed in terms of what has been preserved and is actively being passed on in terms of knowledge, traditions, art, values. I think it could stand as inspiration and education for members of the community it was written by and for as much as it can as an instrument for promoting understanding to those outside the community. Nevertheless, the spectre of colonialism, unceded land and cultural genocide, everything lost, taken away, everything it changed, looms large. It's a powerful reminder of why today's National Day for Truth and Reconciliation exists. 

Eloquent statement found in citation of images: pictures and artifacts, ‘courtesy of this collection or this museum', chilling to recognize how much Lekwungen history is in the possession of hands outside the Lekwungen, how many depictions were captured by outsiders - one wonders how often the consent of those painted or photgraphed was actually sought.