By Micheal Rios, Tulalip News
At 71, Lummi Nation elder and longtime storyteller Darrell Hillaire carries a lifetime of wisdom earned through leadership and community work. He served on Lummi’s board of directors for 15 years, including time as Chairman, before opting to turn his vision strictly towards storytelling and empowering the next generation.
On Tuesday, November 4, he journeyed to Tulalip after accepting the lead speaker role for the most recent Season of Healing event. Nearly ten hours before his evening gig at the Gathering Hall, Darrell made a special guest appearance at Heritage High School’s morning circle.
Inside the high school’s common area, students and staff gathered to hear from the highly respected elder. Darrell’s presence filled the room with calm authority and a storyteller’s warmth as he spoke about identity, healing, and our shared responsibility of carrying the culture forward.
Through Children of the Setting Sun Productions, the Bellingham-based nonprofit he founded, Darrell has made it his mission to amplify Native voices and platform Coast Salish culture through film, performance, and digital storytelling. His work blends traditional Coast Salish teachings with modern media tools, ensuring that Native stories continue to educate and inspire future generations.
“It strengthens us to know that we carry these gifts passed down from countless generations. Now, it’s our responsibility to use these gifts to better our people,” Darrell told the students. “Children of the Setting Sun creates and shares stories of our people. We feel by sharing these stories that we can fulfill our responsibilities to our ancestors.
“As you learn who you are and where you come from, you begin to understand the power of your story, the power that’s inside you,” he continued. “That’s what we do. We share stories that strengthen, stories that heal.”
For half an hour, Heritage students listened attentively as the Lummi elder spoke from the heart, weaving together personal experience and cultural insight. He emphasized that every young person has the ability and responsibility to shape the future of their people through action, compassion, and connection.
“We are all in this healing journey together. No one is exempt,” he said. “As you grow older and experience more of the world, eventually you will learn that the work you do for your people will be the most rewarding and fulfilling currency you’ll ever earn.”
His words carried the gravity of a lifetime dedicated to service and the generosity of an elder still eager to teach. Darrell encouraged the youth to lead with humility and generosity, to share what they have, and to remember that true strength lies in giving back. “Learn how to share, how to give,” he said. “That’s the foundation of who we are.”
As the guest speaker’s visit concluded, Heritage students reflected on the rarity of hearing from a respected elder who has walked the path of leadership and cultural preservation. Darrell’s message that healing begins with identity and community struck a chord with several students in particular, three underclassmen who were willing to share what the elder’s words meant to them. “The part that spoke to me most was how he took a big risk to quit is day job in order to follow his lifelong dream. And even though it seemed difficult to achieve, he’s received support from other people and organizations who believe in his dream, too,” shared Jael Adame, 15-year-old Heritage sophomore “I’m native to Mexico. Coming to the United States was a big dream for me. Now that I’m here and have the opportunity to get an education, I want to go to Harvard and become an immigration lawyer. That way I can use my education and my own experience to help other families not just in Mexico but other countries, too, who also dream of being in United States.”
Fellow Heritage sophomore, 16-years-old Iris Nunez shared, “Referencing how important it is to know who you are and where you come from, that was the part I’ll remember most. I’m still learning where exactly I come from. It’s difficult to do that because of the limited knowledge my family knows and the even more limited knowledge that was recorded. But I’m determined to find out as much as I can.”
Clearly, Jael and Iris absorbed their elder’s teachings about identity, giving, and collective healing, not as distant lessons but as living guidance meant for them. Yet, it may be that the youngest in the room, 14-year-old freshman Janessa Sabbas, who came away being the most empowered of them all.
“My dad teaches me songs and dances because he tells me it’s my responsibility to pass them down to future generations,” explained Janessa. “So when Darrell spoke about keeping our traditions and our ways alive because if we don’t, then they’ll disappear forever. I felt like he was talking to me, like my dad.
“I dream of visiting all my Indigenous homelands and traditional territories when I’m older,” she added. “Darrell empowered me to follow that dream, no matter how hard it may be, because finding that knowledge is key to healing my identity…the identity my ancestors had stripped away generations ago. So, yeah, that’s my dream.”
And what a bold, beautiful dream it is.