ABERDEEN,WA (6/26/14)– The Quinault Indian Nation, Citizens for a Clean Harbor, Grays Harbor Audubon Society, Friends of Grays Harbor and other concerned citizens will join together in a rally to “Honor Lac-Mégantic, Honor the Treaties and Honor the Earth” Sunday, July 6 at Aberdeen’s Zelasko Park. The public is invited.
“It’s no secret that we have been opposing the proposals by Westway, Imperium and U.S. Development corporations to build new oil terminals in our region, and the consequent massive increases in oil train and tanker traffic. But this event is intended to honor the 47 men, women and children who lost their lives in Lac-Mégantic, Quebec, on the first anniversary of their death due to a tragic oil train explosion,” said Fawn Sharp, President of the Quinault Indian Nation.
“The Tribe has made its position clear. Treaty-protected fishing rights and oil just do not mix,” said President Sharp. “We have to support sustainability in Grays Harbor, and that means protecting our environment. The fishing industry, tourism and all of the supportive businesses are far too important to let them wither away at the whim of Big Oil.”
The various sponsors of the July 6 rally also concur wholeheartedly that the rally is intended to honor the Earth. “This is what connects all of us here in Grays Harbor County. It’s what connected us with our brothers and sisters in Lac-Mégantic, too, and that’s why we honor their memory,” said President Sharp. “Chief Seattle is credited with saying that all things are connected. It is as true today as it was in his day. We all live on the same Earth, and we have got to work together to protect it for our children, and for future generations.”
The July 6 event will take place at Zelasko Park from noon to 7 pm. At various times during the day, the names of all 47 victims of the Lac-Mégantic oil train explosion will be read, as well as posted. There will also be rally signs, exhibited for the benefit of 4th of July week end traffic, music, food and other festivities. The public is encouraged to come, participate and enjoy.
Members of the Army Corp of Engineers, Seattle division, meet with Tulalip Tribal members to tour the Qwuloolt Estuary. Photo/Andrew Gobin
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
The Army Corps of Engineers toured the Qwuloolt Estuary, located in Marysville, on Wednesday, June 25, as part of a transitional period. Colonel Bruce Estok is stepping down from his position with the corps, and is introducing his successor, Colonel John Buck, to some of the communities and projects the corps is involved with. The Qwuloolt Estuary project is an example of successful collaboration between the corps and local communities with specific interests.
Col. Buck said, “The corps’ primary focus is Puget Sound. This is a great example of the corps and the tribe coming together to tackle a hard problem, which is to restore the Puget Sound ecosystem. This project is 20 years in the making, and it’s exciting to see the work happening.”
The Qwuloolt Estuary was chosen as a project site tour for a few reasons, mainly the unique relationship the corps has with Tulalip, and the importance of the project in reaching the goal of restoring the waters of Puget Sound.
“The estuary has been deemed a crucial habitat for salmon for a long time. It is crucial to any watershed. It is the place where life happens, where the land meets the sea,” said Kurt Nelson, Environmental Division Manager for the Tulalip Natural Resources Department.
“This project, the way it was organized and designed, it didn’t quite fit the corps’ normal procedures. This is a unique project,” Nelson added. “What we need for the future is a way to make procedures more flexible for unique situations, like this one.”
Col. Estok explained that the corps projects are not really part of the president’s budget, mostly due to a lack of feasibility plan. Because of that, funding is often uncertain, so the projects remain uncertain right up until the first day work actually begins.
“Tulalip Tribes is our unofficial sponsor,” said Col. Estok.
He and Nelson explained that the funding for Qwuloolt largely comes from 21 grants the tribe secured to cover project costs. Grant funding often has time constraints, which means the funds might not be available by the time the Army Corps of Engineers process is complete. That is one major obstacle that had to be overcome for Qwuloolt.
Tulalip Tribes Vice Chairman Les Parks, who represented the council at the site tour, said, “We appreciate that you guys came out, especially Colonel Buck, taking the helm now. The health of Puget Sound is faltering, and projects like this will help to restore it.”
Col. Estok noted that this is not the first collaborative effort between the corps and the Tulalip Tribes.
“We have the first in-lieu fee mitigation plan with a tribe. That’s a good relationship, one that we want to keep building on,” he said.
For more information about the Qwuloolt Estuary, visit www.qwuloolt.org.
AquaBounty fish are genetically modified to grow twice as quickly as regular salmon. The salmon in the foreground is a natural Atlantic salmon, in the background is the AquAdvantage Transgenic salmon. Photo: AquaBounty Technologies
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
Salmon is a crucial resource for many Salish tribes, including the Tulalip people who are historically referred to as the Salmon People for their relationship to the salmon. But what happens when there are no more salmon returning? What happens to the culture and identity of the Tulalip Tribes? Today, the ongoing discussion over the fish consumption rate and the proposed increase in water pollution allowed in watersheds around Washington State pose real threats to the survival of wild salmon, and in turn the Tulalip way of life. The salmon resource is already at a high risk for extinction, with wild Chinook (King Salmon) and Steelhead runs recently added to the endangered species list. Over the last four years a new threat has grown very rapidly, skirting around cultural and environmental policies through an ongoing debate under the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Genetically-engineered salmon, known as AquAdvantage Salmon, developed by AquaBounty Technologies, present risks to natural salmon production, the environment, and Tulalip culture and identity.
Mike Crewson of the Tulalip Tribes Natural Resource Department explained some of the immediate threats posed by AquAdvantage salmon.
“While genetically-modified agriculture has been permitted for years and engineered crops are widely used in processed foods, this would be the first genetically-modified animal allowed for human consumption in the United States. Like other farmed fish, they will compete with the U.S. salmon market and tribal economies dependent on fishing, especially if the technology spreads,” he said.
AquAdvantage salmon are genetically-engineered using genes from different species of fish, not genetically modified through selective breeding techniques. AquaBounty uses a growth hormone gene from Chinook Salmon and a promoter gene from an eelpout (an eel-like fish) that speeds up the growth cycle. That combination of genetic code is then inserted into the DNA of Atlantic Salmon. The eelpout gene keeps the Chinook growth-hormone gene producing year-round. The result is an Atlantic salmon that grows to market size in 16-18 months rather than the three to five years required for Pacific salmon to reach full size. If the FDA approves genetically-engineered salmon for human consumption and they enter the market, they will be cheaper and grow much faster, which could decimate Puget Sound tribal economies and others dependent upon fishing.
The threat to genetic purity is crucial to realize in the genetically engineered salmon debate as well. A lawsuit recently filed in the State of Washington prevented the release of nearly one million hatchery steelhead throughout the state, under the guise of protecting natural steelhead runs from such consequences.
“The spotlight is on hatcheries right now, with particular undue scrutiny regarding the possible genetic effects hatchery fish could have on natural salmon populations. And that’s even when they come from the same stock as the wild fish,” explained Crewson. “State and federal regulators are even opposed to the transfer of native Pacific salmon between watersheds. While fishermen and others remain unsure how this technology could compete with native Pacific salmon, especially if the technology spreads, it is highly doubtful that the fishery regulatory agencies would ever allow genetically-engineered salmon into a region with wild salmon populations.”
The FDA decided that AquAdvantage fish require no labeling, meaning that consumers would not know whether or not the salmon they purchase is genetically-engineered or modified. For the Tulalip Tribes, the salmon people, this poses a threat to the very essence of our cultural identity. Some would say, the general public has a right to know what they are eating, especially Tribal members who may buy salmon that they presume are native for cultural, subsistence, and religious purposes, such as the wild salmon celebrated at the annual First Salmon Ceremony.
“These cheaper, quickly-maturing, genetically-engineered salmon grown in hatcheries are just another gimmick that takes the focus off of the need to protect and restore salmon habitat and rebuild self-sustaining wild salmon populations. Essentially, this undermines the Tribes’ and other’s salmon recovery focus on rebuilding natural salmon runs by restoring habitat and protecting the environment needed to support healthy natural and hatchery production. There is not a need to develop genetically-engineered fish that live their whole life in hatcheries. There is, however, a need to restore habitats and the environment to sustain long-term wild salmon populations to meet treaty-reserved harvest obligations,” Crewson said.
At the 40th Anniversary of the Boldt Decision in February, the late Billy Frank Jr. reiterated that the importance of protecting the future of the salmon resource was just as important as the right to harvest the resource. Because, if there is no resource, what good is your right?
To date, the Muckleshoot tribe is the only tribe in Washington State, if not the nation, to officially oppose the FDA consideration of genetically-engineered salmon for human consumption. The Affiliated Tribes of Northwest Indians and the National Congress of American Indians recently released official statements in support of Muckleshoot’s opposition.
Andrew Gobin: 360-716-4188; agobin@tulalipnews.com
Honorable Judge Gary Bass Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Judge Gary Bass discusses his career at Tulalip Tribal Court
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
TULALIP – Honorable Judge Gary Bass, a Colville tribal citizen, has been a staple at the Tulalip Tribal Court for over a decade. He has witnessed the growth in staff, programs, and the selection of the court as one of three chosen as a pilot project to exercise special criminal jurisdiction as authorized by the Violence Against Women Reauthorization Act of 2013 over non-Indians regarding domestic violence.
Recently Judge Bass received a lifetime achievement award from the Northwest Indian Bar Association in recognition for his long-term work in Indian country. The award recognizes his 49 years of law practice and work with Native communities. Tulalip News /See-Yaht-Sub was able to sit down with Judge Bass and discuss his work in Indian country and his retirement from Tulalip Tribal Court at the end of this year.
The decision to practice law
“I was a young officer in the Army, and when you are a young officer, people that are up for special courts marshals can request that they have an officer, even though they are not a lawyer, represent them. I did that a few times and I really enjoyed it. I had never thought about being a lawyer until that time. I had an old lieutenant colonel that was my regimental commander, I went to him and said, ‘you know, I am thinking about staying in the Army or I am going to law school.’ He said, go to law school. I never knew if that was a result of him thinking I was a lousy solider or he thought law school would be a better fit for me.”
The change from lawyer to judge
“I was in King County and I had a large practice. One of the court commissioners there asked if I would like to come and sit, as what they call a pro tem judge, in King County Superior Court on ex parte, and I said yes. I did that for 20 years, two to four days a month, and that was really the start of me being a judge. The reason I came here to Tulalip is because Mike Taylor called me, and said, ‘gee you know anybody that would like to come up here and sit as the criminal court judge three days a week?’ At that time I was thinking about going semi-retired, but I said, well sure. It was three days a week but immediately it became full time, and of course I have been here ever since. It has been a great ride. I have really enjoyed it. I had never thought about becoming a tribal court judge until Mike brought the issue up. It was a better fit than being in the Superior Court because I probably would have been appointed to the Superior Court as a minority candidate, but I didn’t really want to do that. So this was the best thing that could have happened to me.”
Life at Tulalip Tribal Court
“At Tulalip Tribal Court we hear all kinds of cases. Everything you can think of, from child custody to youth-in-need-of-care cases to criminal and so forth. Our days are really pretty busy. We have ex parte that we have two times a week, where we sign orders for people that need to get orders signed for default divorces, guardianships, probates, restraining orders for domestic violence cases, and minor settlement, and once a week I have the domestic violence staff-in meeting. It gets busy.”
Law in Indian Country, what makes it so different
“Tulalip Chief Judge Theresa Pouley and I are Native Americans, and we look upon the folks that come before us in the courts differently than we would in state courts. In state courts you probably are never going to see the individual in front of you again. Here, we get so that we know all the people that come before us. We know their family and we know all the things about them. Of course we look upon them as judges, but you kind of look at it more as of an elder guide. Their welfare and everyone that comes before us is extremely important to us. It is a different relationship and you get to be a part of the community here.”
“The law is frequently the same, but the things that are different of course are elders are treated with respect. We like to let folks have their say in court, which a lot of times in state courts the things that we allow people to talk about would never ever happen. Native Americans were treated so badly by the courts and justice systems that it is important to us to let them have their say. Some things that are said are not necessarily relevant to the case, but they should be entitled to have their say. As a result, we have a different attitude towards them. We regard everybody here as our brothers and sisters, and we are responsible for trying to solve their problems.”
Tulalip Tribal Court Honorable Judge Gary Bass (seated) explains Miranda rights to students during Heritage Law Day in 2013. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
What Tulalip gave in return
“It has made me more aware of all the problems through the years that Native Americans have had, from generational trauma from sending them to the boarding schools and all the problems that have occurred because of that. It has made me aware of that and given me much more understanding of it, and the way we do things.”
“I was never a pow wow guy. My family lived on the [Colville] reservation and we did all the things that we normally do on the reservation, but we weren’t intimately involved in the cultural aspects of the tribe. So being here has made me more aware and respectful of all the traditions and culture of Native Americans. I have learned a lot that I never knew before. It has really been instructive to me as a Native American. As a judge, it has made me more understanding, and more willing to try to help people. One of the things I have always said is, when we get done, nobody is going to have statues of us like people in Washington D.C. and we are not going to have books written about us; our main legacy is that we have made lives better for our Native American brothers and sisters. That is our legacy and that is what drives me to want to do this.”
The awards
“I received a lifetime achievement award from the Northwest Indian Bar Association. It is recognition for someone’s long-term work they’ve done in Indian Country. At this point I have been working in Indian country, either urban or with tribes, for 48 years, so it is in recognition of that. When I was in Seattle I was very active in the urban Indian community.”
“I also have a plaque from the Martin Dale Hubbell organization, which is a world wide organization that sends out surveys to judges and attorneys to anonymously rate people. This award says I am AV, which means I have the highest ranking in legal and ethical ability that they can give. For me that was a great honor because it is from your peers. “
Accomplishing the task
“I am very satisfied with my career. I don’t think if I had to go back and do it again I would do anything any different. I have been very fortunate in a lot of ways, like coming here, I think that was the best thing that could have happened to me. I never had aspirations for being a Supreme Court judge, I always wanted to be a very good trial lawyer and I think I was. The crowning pinnacle of my career has been here at the Tribal Court, because hopefully I have helped make things better for Tulalip tribal members. The whole Court has contributed to the justice system here and the Tulalip Tribal Court is recognized through the nation as either one of the best or the best tribal courts in the nation. That is a result of the teamwork from the Board of Directors to all the departments, court staff and reservation attorneys. This Tribe should be proud of its court because it truly is one of the best.”
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
Tulalip Boom City provides shoppers with one-stop firework shopping with over 120 stands to choose from. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Tulalip Boom City opens its 35th consecutive firework season
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
TULALIP – “It is a demand. There are people that want to buy fireworks and they know where to go to buy them. It’s why we are here, because of those return customers,” says Pink Cadillac stand owner and Tulalip tribal member, Dan Pablo Sr., about the annual firework-selling event in Tulalip known as Boom City.
Boom City, a malaise of 8×16 foot, cleverly decorated wooden stands displaying thousands of pyrotechnic merchandise, is in its 35th year of operation. The 126 stands owners will have a little over two weeks to sell thousands of fireworks and make a profit that can range from $2,000 to $30,000.
To organize this massive event and keep stand owners and the hundreds of thousands who come to purchase fireworks each year safe, is a group of people called the Boom City Committee. The committee, consisting of five people, is responsible for site security, sanitation, and making sure Boom City policies are followed.
To ensure safety at Boom City, security personal are on-site throughout the selling season and enforce rules for stand owners and customers, such as no smoking near the stands, only lighting off fireworks in the designated discharging area, and safety in general. Tulalip Police Department also maintains an active presence at Boom City with a K9 unit, in addition to foot patrol units, who patrol to discourage illegal activity.
Committee chairman, Dan Pablo Sr., says planning for the event takes months, and that includes collecting of permit and insurance fees from stand owners before holding a drawing for stand lot numbers. After merchandise stocking and set up is finalized, Pablo says stand owners wait for the “rush,” what he calls the four days before the 4th of July.
Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
For 35 years, millions of customers have visited and purchased fireworks for their 4th of July celebrations, at what has been described as the single largest place to buy fireworks in the Pacific Northwest and a place unlike any other. But what makes Boom City so successful?
Pablo contributes its success to the fact that customers can purchase fireworks that are illegal in Washington state, such as firecrackers, bottle rockets, missiles and sky rockets. Stand owners, who must be Tulalip tribal members 18 and over or spouses of Tulalip members to operate a stand, are legally able to sell these types of federal fireworks specifically due to the location of Boom City. Tulalip Reservation and it’s tribal citizens while they are on the Reservation, are subject to Tulalip and Federal firework laws, not State law, making the sale of fireworks exempt from state law, and it possible to possess and discharge them on tribal lands.
“I have seen prices in town that are lower than here, but our fireworks have more to them than what you can get in town, which is why they come here,” said Pablo, who also says the annual firework season presents a tremendous business opportunity to tribal members.
“It is a lot of work to do this. I look forward to it, and the extra money is a big draw. It is an opportunity to make extra money that you normally wouldn’t be able to, but you have to have some salesmanship skills. You have to know what you have is the big thing,” said Pablo about being a successful stand owner.
It is not only stand owners who stand to make a profit at Boom City this year, but also Tulalip youth, 16 and over. Youth are hired during the firework season to help stock stands, run errands, and help draw in customers. Food vendors also hire youth to take and deliver food orders.
While stand owners are open two weeks before the 4th, it’s the few days before that they make most their profits.
“Selling is non-stop towards the end. There is no slow time. It is constant. It is a lot of work, and sometimes you don’t get lunch until 4:30 in the afternoon. It is that busy. But it is a lot of fun,” said Pablo.
Boom City will close on July 4, and is open daily from 6 a.m. to midnight. For more information regarding Boom City, please contact 360-716-4204. Or you can check out Boom City on Facebook.
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
Genna Martin / The Herald Shaylene Jefferson, 16, of Suquamish, waits in the boat for her uncle, in Mukilteo, after a day of crabbing in Puget Sound on June 11.
The Coast Salish people gave it a name that sounds much like Mukilteo.
It means “good camping ground,” said Michelle Myles of the Tulalip Tribes Lushootseed language department.
Mukilteo was the gathering place where in 1855 territorial Gov. Isaac Stevens signed the Point Elliott treaty with representatives of 22 tribes and bands of native people from the greater Puget Sound region, now called the Salish Sea.
History is big in Mukilteo, which was the first non-Indian settlement in Snohomish County. It was established about 1860 with a trading post. A fish cannery and sawmill followed later.
Mukilteo is still all about summer.
A walk-on ferry ride to Whidbey Island, beachcombing and picnic, a tour of the lighthouse, a beer at Diamond Knot, fish and chips at Ivar’s and produce from the Wednesday afternoon farmers market in Lighthouse Park off Front Street.
It’s all there in old Mukilteo. You can easily spend a full day enjoying it, so plan accordingly.
Any tour of Mukilteo has to start with its lighthouse, which opened in 1906 to guide ships in and out of Puget Sound and continues to be the city’s most enduring icon.
The Mukilteo Light Station, surrounded by native Nootka roses, is on the National Register of Historic Places. From noon to 5 p.m. on weekends you can climb the 38-foot tall lighthouse tower to see the now-automated carved-glass Fresnel lens and take a look around.
The 17-acre park along the beach has improved greatly since the city took it over from the state in 2003. Be sure to check out the park’s Coast Salish artwork created by Joe Gobin and James Madison of the Tulalip Tribes.
Kids have plenty to do, on the beach or on the playground. Educational signs help people understand what’s in the water and how to help keep it clean.
Even on a rainy day at the park, you can picnic under a shelter and enjoy the calming water-island-mountain view that seems incongruous with the fact that just a few miles away is a huge regional metropolitan area.
Mukilteo was incorporated in 1947 with a population of 775. Land annexations and development off the Mukilteo Speedway have increased that number to about 21,000 residents.
After the lighthouse, the beach park and a round-trip ride on the ferry, take in lunch at the Diamond Knot Brewery on the west side of the ferry or at Ivar’s Mukilteo Landing restaurant on the other side. You also can walk a block or so up the hill to Arnie’s seafood restaurant.
Another option is the Red Cup, located in a delightful little shopping block at Fourth Street and Lincoln Avenue across the street from the Rosehill Community Center.
The coffee shop offers breakfast and lunch, served up with a beautiful view. And from 6 to 8 p.m. on Wednesdays throughout the summer, Red Cup Cafe hosts an open microphone that attracts an eclectic mix of performers.
It’s no wonder that Mukilteo’s Rosehill Community Center is the site of dozens of weddings throughout the summer. The views are outstanding and the grounds include wild roses and other native and drought-resistant plants.
Inside, check out the display of work by local artists, the historical photos of the former Rosehill schools and Crown Lumber’s mill.
The beautiful little cemetery includes a great view and the weathered gravestones of town founders Morris Frost and J.D. Fowler, along with headstones of Japanese mill workers.
The memorial is a bronze sculpture of a Japanese origami bird that sits on a white pedestal, symbolizing peace and commemorating Mukilteo’s long history with its Japanese community.
Finish your visit with a walk on the trail at nearby Japanese Gulch, a 144-acre forested park where the families of Japanese immigrants lived.
Tulalip Bay Frie Chief Teri Dodge uses an infrared sensor to measure the temperature of the burning room. Photo: Andrew Gobin/ Tulalip News
By Andrew Gobin, Tulalip News
TULALIP – A ceiling of dense smoke hung inches above our heads as Tulalip Bay Firefighters and I crouched in the burning house. Removing my glove to snap a photo from the inside, I instantly felt the intense heat that filled the room around us. Crawling towards the burning room, my hand began to burn from the heat, forcing me to put my glove back on. Sensors measured the heat in the room where the flames were to be above 600o Fahrenheit, so Tulalip Bay Fire Chief Teri Dodge splashed the flames with the fire hose. Even through protective bunker gear I could feel the heat from the blast of steam that shot out from the doorway of the room. My air tank was out so I had to get outside.
The Tulalip Bay Fire Department burned a house slated for demolition on June 14 on Mission Beach Road, across from the cemetery. They let me join them for the drill for an exclusive look at what they do, fitting me in bunker gear (firefighter boots, pants, coat, helmet, etc.) complete with an air-pack so I could safely be in the house to observe them in action.
What good is any drill without pizza? We enjoyed a lunch of four different kinds of pizza after the first round of drills were finished. Then on to the second drill, flashovers.
Fireman Eric Berwick punches out portions of the wall for ventilation. Photo: Andrew Gobin/Tulalip News
I didn’t understand the term, but it sounded exciting. Once more I geared up to go in, though I could only stay in for one round due to safety concerns. There we were, crouched down. A second room was set on fire during lunch and had grown to a good size blaze. I couldn’t get any pictures, having to keep all of my protective gear on. Site commander Tom Cohee was my guide for this round, taking the time to explain what firefighters look for in a fire. Going in we had to crawl. The temperature in the smoke above us was upwards of 200o, much hotter than the 110o on the ground where we were. A firefighter would spray water at the ceiling, and depending on how much came down, they could gauge the temperature of the air above. As things heated up, another ceiling spray, and a cloud of steam surged downward, making visibility so low I couldn’t see my hand in front of my face.
They didn’t spray again for a few minutes, letting the gasses and flames build for the flashover. Cohee explained that flashover is when the air above, which is filled with gasses from things burning, gets so hot that they catch fire and flash, allowing flames to extend out of the burning room, the length of the house ceiling. No sooner had he explained than a flame whipped across the ceiling, rolling down the back wall I was leaning on. A few ceiling sprays cooled the air enough to contain the flashover. I exited with the team. I was heating up in all the gear, but I didn’t realize how hot it actually was in the house. Once outside, I removed my gloves and grabbed my helmet. That was a mistake. I couldn’t touch it any more than I could touch a skillet.
I have a new appreciation for the work firefighters do.
“We train this way because we have to,” said Chief Dodge. “In a real fire, we can’t choose or control the situation we walk into. So here, we have to practice multiple scenarios. Even though it’s practice, these drills are as dangerous as a real house fire.”
Tulalip Bay Fire Department is committed to the Tulalip community. In addition to responding to emergency calls, they can be found handing out fire safety information and tips at different events, like the health fair at the Tulalip Karen I. Fryberg Health Clinic. If you see them out in the community, be sure to say hi.
Andrew Gobin: 360- 716-4188; agobin@tulalipnews.com
The Marysville Strawberry festival offers much more than a parade and carnival. Every year, junior and senior high school students are selected to participate in Strawberry Court, receiving academic sholarships from the April Friesner Scholarship fund. The royalty luncheon and fashion show is an entertaining way for the community to come together to raise funds.
Royalty past and present are welcome at the event, and many people form the community seek donated clothing from local businesses to show off at the event. This year, Tulalip Chairman Herman Williams Sr. and Vice Chairman Les Parks volunteered in the show. Tulalip elder Jeannie McCoy was present, along with the Tulalip Strawberry King and Queen, Hank and Geraldine Williams. Pauline Nolan, a Tulalip elder who is involved with the strawberry festival every year, also modeled, along with our own Nicole Sieminski.
LITTLE BOSTON — Pullers in the 2014 Canoe Journey are in for a long one, a 500-miler to the territory of the Heiltsuk First Nation — Bella Bella, British Columbia. They’ll be richly rewarded for the experience.
They’ll travel through territory so beautiful it will be impossible to forget: Rugged, forested coastlines; island-dotted straits and narrow, glacier-carved passages; through Johnstone Strait, home of the largest resident pod of orcas in the world; along the shores of the Great Bear Rainforest, one of the largest remaining tracts of unspoiled temperate rainforest left in the world.
They’ll also travel waters that are increasingly polluted and under threat.
Pullers will travel the marine highways of their ancestors, past Victoria, which dumps filtered, untreated sewage into the Salish Sea. They’ll travel the routes U.S. energy company Kinder Morgan plans to use to ship 400 tanker loads of tar sands oil each year. Canoes traveling from the north will pass the inlets leading to Kitimat, where crude oil from Enbridge’s Northern Gateway pipeline would be loaded onto tankers bound for Asia; Canada approved the pipeline project on June 17. Canoes from the Lummi Nation near Bellingham will pass Cherry Point, a sacred and environmentally sensitive area where Gateway Pacific proposes a coal train terminal; early site preparation was done without permits and desecrated ancestral burials.
Young activist Ta’kaiya Blaney of the Sliammon First Nation sang of her fears of potential environmental damage to come in her song, “Shallow Waters”:
“Come with me to the emerald sea / Where black gold spills into my ocean dreams.
“Nothing to be found, no life is around / It’s just the sound of mourning in the air.”
Native leaders hope the Canoe Journey calls public attention to the fragility of this environment.
“We need to wake up to what’s happening to Mother Earth,” said Cecile Hansen, chairwoman of the Duwamish Tribe and a great-great-grandniece of Chief Seattle.
“We’re the indigenous people of the land. If anybody should be raising that flag, it should be Native Americans.”
Suquamish Chairman Leonard Forsman is pulling in the Suquamish canoe to Bella Bella.
“The Journey is a cultural, spiritual, ceremonial and social event,” he said. “The Journey can provide a platform for expressing our Tribal values that include habitat protection and improving or protecting water quality. Decisions on if and how to participate in political expressions are decisions made by each Tribal canoe family individually.”
Micah McCarty is a former chairman of the Makah Nation and a member of the board of First Stewards, which seeks to unite indigenous voices to collaboratively advance adaptive climate-change strategies.
He sees the Canoe Journey as an exercise in Tribal sovereignty, particularly in the realm of environmental education.
U.S. v. Washington, also known as the Boldt decision, reaffirmed that Treaty Tribes had reserved for themselves 50 percent of the annual finfish harvest; a later court decision extended that to include shellfish. In addition, Boldt established the state and Treaty Tribes as fisheries co-managers.
“The state-Tribal co-management relationship relative to … US v Washington is more effectively built on Tribal governments assuming more and more of the federal trust responsibility in the spirit of self-governance and by directly investing in Tribally determined education,” he said.
“Native sovereignty is as good as it is practiced and implemented. No one else can do this for us, and the best investment in sovereignty is education by Indian sovereign design — including curriculum pertaining to treaty resource damages [caused by] climate change and carbon pollution, particularly in the form of carbonic acid.”
The Canoe Journey is itself a tool to monitor the health of the sea. In each Canoe Journey since 2008, in partnership with the U.S. Geological Survey, several canoes carry probes that collect water data and feed the data into a recorder aboard the canoe. The data measures water temperature, salinity, dissolved oxygen, pH and turbidity.
The USGS is using the data to track water quality and its effects on ecosystem dynamics. You can read the results from 2008-2013 at http://wfrc.usgs.gov/tribal/cswqp/.
It’s the Canoe Journey’s first return to Bella Bella since 1993, when canoes made the long journey north to fulfill a vision of Canoe Journey founders Emmett Oliver and Frank Brown in 1989 after the Paddle to Seattle that was held as part of Washington’s centennial celebration. That 1993 journey sparked a revival in indigenous travel on the marine highways of the ancestors.
En route to the final destination, canoes visit indigenous nations along the way, each stop filled with sharing: traditional foods, languages, songs, dances and teachings. Pulling great distances can test physical and mental discipline. Traveling the way of the ancestors can be a spiritual experience, and songs often come to pullers on the water.
This journey will be as challenging as the 1993 journey. From Little Boston, canoes travel west to Port Angeles, then cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca to Vancouver Island. They’ll travel north along the east side of the island to Port Hardy, then cross big water from Vancouver Island to the B.C. mainland. As they head north, they’ll pull through passages and channels and will have to time each transit right so they’re not pulling against tides.
More than 100 canoes participated in last year’s journey to the Quinault Nation. The distance and isolated destination in this year’s journey requires a month off for peninsula and South Sound pullers and support crews. Heiltsuk is expecting 54 canoes.
Three Suquamish canoes and one Nisqually canoe departed from Suquamish on June 17, moored overnight in Kingston, then arrived at Point Julia on June 19. Those canoes and one from Port Gamble S’Klallam will depart for Jamestown S’Klallam on June 20, then meet up with canoes from Pacific Coast Tribes at Elwha Klallam. Canoes will cross the Strait of Juan de Fuca on June 22 for Vancouver Island and points north. All are scheduled to arrive in Bella Bella on July 13.
Among those traveling part of the journey: Marylin Bard of Kingston, Emmett Oliver’s daughter. She will travel in a five-person river canoe that was gifted to her father by the Quinault Nation last year.
“We will be traveling the ‘Old Way,’ carrying our own supplies on the canoe,” she wrote in an email. “No support boat, no hosting, just camp along the way. [We] plan to fish and crab for food.”
Get more information about the 2014 Canoe Journey/Paddle to Bella Bella: www.tribaljourneys.ca.
Heritage High School students filming a scene for ‘Lady of the Woods,” a project for their multi-media class. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
By Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
TULALIP – Quiet on set. Camera frame. Speed. Mark it. Action!
Brian Berry, Tulalip TV’s Director of Video checks over scenes to shoot with Tulalip Hertiage High School students during filming “Lady of the Woods,” a Heritage multi-media class project. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
Tulalip Heritage High School students recently held their filmmaking debut on Friday, June 13, with a little help from Tulalip TV, subsidiary of Tulalip Tribes Communications. Through a unique collaboration between Heritage High School and Tulalip TV, multi-media students received a crash course on film production to produce a short film titled, “Lady of the Woods.”
The project, created by Heritage principal Shelly Lacy and Heritage teacher Cerissa Gobin, required students to not only learn pre and post- film production and editing, but also to create a script and act it out.
“A lot of times, as viewers, we don’t think about how a movie comes together,” said Niki Cleary, Tulalip Tribes Communications Director. “This gave our youth a chance to see that it doesn’t happen all at once from start to finish. They had the fun experience of shooting scenes out of sequence. The scenes, which happen one right after another in the movie, were shot on different days. Unfortunately, the students forgot to wear the same clothing, which made for some continuity issues, but really helped them learn some of the basic principles
Heritage High School student Adiya Jones worked as ‘Lady of the Woods” cinematographer during filming. Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
of movie production.”
The short film, which started off initially as a game show in brain storming sessions, provided students the entire film production process on a limited schedule. This included learning filmmaking terminology, which to untrained ears, sounds a lot like random dialogue being yelled out by the director from behind the camera. Roll camera. Tilt. Speed frame. Fade in.
“I am very happy with what we were able to accomplish in such a short period of time,” said Brian Berry, director of video for Tulalip TV, who worked with students throughout the filming. “We all knew that we were working against the clock, and that was one of the skills that the students learned, time management with regard to productions. We saw a lot of interest from many of the students and we hope this spark will ignite a growing base of students who want to continue with this type of study and possibly career path.”
That’s a wrap. As part of the filmmaking process, students debuted “Lady in the Woods” to underclassmen during the last days of school completing their filmmaking process.
“The student participation has been amazing. Although listening to the lecture portion of class was tough, they really engaged once they got hands on with the equipment,” said Cleary. “Ultimately, we hope to train the Heritage students to the point that they are able to cover Heritage Sports with a student staffed video crew. The skills they learn can also be used to
Heritage High School students, Aryik Miranda, Shawn Sanchey, Jaylin Rivera and Desirea Williams rehearse their lines before filming their next scene for ‘Lady of the Woods.’ Photo/ Brandi N. Montreuil, Tulalip News
produce a Heritage news program, public service announcements or any number of exciting video projects. We hope that the students who learn video skills at Heritage will be the next generation of Communications Department employees.”
Brandi N. Montreuil: 360-913-5402; bmontreuil@tulalipnews.com
