Tulalip News

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News

It’s been a cold winter in the Pacific Northwest. Although we’ve seen just a limited amount of snow so far, we recently braved an arctic front that dropped the temperature to single-digit degrees on several nights during a near two-week span this January. And while many of us experienced a number of troublesome annoyances that come with the cold weather, such as burst pipes, frozen windshields, and icy roadways, at the end of the day, we could count ourselves fortunate to have a warm home to reside at during the extreme cold. 

Unfortunately, there were over a thousand unhoused locals who had to tough out the freezing temperatures in the streets, out in wilderness, and anywhere they could find shelter. According to Snohomish County’s 2023 Point-in-Time Count of Homelessness, there was an 8.5 percent increase of unhoused citizens since 2022. The yearly count identified an additional 101 unhoused citizens, bringing the total count to 1,285, the highest it’s been in over a decade. 

What started out as an idea to give back to their community during the holiday season has blossomed into a monthly donation drive organized by a local group known as the Tulalip Caring Warriors. After hosting two successful ‘warmth drives’ around Thanksgiving and Christmastime, the group decided to extend the season of giving for the foreseeable future.

The Tulalip Caring Warrior’s donation drives are for the community, by the community. Upon seeing the impact of their first drive, in which they delivered homecooked meals to the homeless population of Tulalip, Marysville, and Everett, the Caring Warriors expanded their donation drive to include warm winter wear and blankets for their holiday drive in December. The ladies reached out to their community, asking for donations of gently used scarves, hats, coats, blankets, gloves, and snacks. 

They recevied heartwarming responses from the community as countless bags of clothes and several boxes of non-perishable foods, as well as numerous monetary donations, were collected for the group’s second donation drive. Over 100 unhoused individuals received blankets, warm clothing, winter care kits, and hot meal resulting from the community’s generous donations and the hard work put in by the Caring Warriors. 

The successful donation drives inspired other Tulalip locals to join in on the Warrior’s give-back efforts. Consisting of both Tulalip tribal members and citizens, the group originally began with Angelica Trinidad, Kayla Joseph, Odessa Flores, Melissa Young, Kylee Sohappy, and Janae Zackuse, and now additional members include Mahayla Flores and Chena Joseph as well. 

The distribution for their third donation drive took place on January 14. In the freezing cold, on a day that had a high of 33 degrees and a low of 12 degrees, the Tulalip Caring Warriors loaded up their vehicles with donations and freshly prepared meals and hit the streets of Tulalip and its surrounding municipalities to bring a little warmth to those most in need. 

Tulalip Caring Warrior, Odessa Flores, stated “We united once again for our give back event, extending support to the unhoused community during this harsh winter. We served 100 unhoused community members in Snohomish County. We provided warm bags, distributed donations, and served stew with rolls and waters. Our group is expanding and growing in numbers. Together, we organized the generous donations from our community, recreating a heartfelt family recipe from Melissa Young’s mother, Evangelina McGill (Angie). Angie shared her homemade stew recipe, and we worked collaboratively to prepare it.”

She continued, “Due to dropping temperatures, we extended our efforts to locate individuals seeking cold shelters. The gratitude from those we encountered was overwhelming – appreciating not just a warm meal but also blankets and coats for the chilly nights. They also eagerly provided leads on where more donations and meals could make a difference.”

Over the years, we’ve heard time and time again from Tulalip artists that you must have a good mind and heart when conducting cultural, spiritual, or community work, and that it’s all about the energy you put into your craft or project. These traditional values and that cultural mentality seeped into the Tulalip Caring Warriors’ donation drives. 

Now, of course one of the main highlights for the Caring Warriors is bringing smiles to those in need on distribution day. However, another major aspect of this work is the environment in which it’s conducted. Since the Tulalip Caring Warriors’ foundation was originally built on a close-knit friendship, the ever-growing group puts in a vast amount of good vibes and love into their work. And in the weeks of preparation leading up into distribution day, you can bet that Caring Warriors are having a blast, filling the room up with laughter each and every time they gather to discuss planning efforts, sort through donations, and cook meals on a large scale for their monthly events. 

Tulalip Caring Warrior Kayla Joseph shared a quote by Robin Wall Kimmerer (Potawatomi Nation) from the book ‘Braiding Sweetgrass’: “Wealth among traditional people is measured by having enough to give away”. 

Said Kayla, “When asked why we do this, this [quote] sums it up completely. Having the ability to give back to those that are in need, in the best ways that we know how – food is a universal way of saying we care about you. Next month we are doing spaghetti, it’s my turn to bring the recipe. In between sorting the donations and cooking the meal, we got a few laps around the track to get in our daily steps. We work to build each other up in all ways of life.”

The Warriors also encourage youth participation and often recruit their own kids and young relatives to help out with the donation drives. Tulalip Caring Warrior Angelica Trinidad expressed, “I love this opportunity to teach my son about the importance of giving back, because we’re all struggling. In this day and age our economy sucks. We all have different battles and struggles. We don’t know what’s going on in people’s daily lives. I firmly believe that if you want to see change in the world, be the change you want to see. It’s awesome to be able to set that example for my son.”

The next distribution day will be held in mid-February. The Tulalip Caring Warriors are now accepting donations for their next drive until February 17. They are asking for your help to make this another successful drive for the unhoused citizens of our community. If you have any gently used warm winter gear you would like to donate, you can make your contribution at their new drop-off location at the Tulalip teen center. 

The Caring Warriors are also taking donations for their next homecooked meal and are accepting snacks, spaghetti noodles, spaghetti sauce, rolls, and bottled waters. If you would like to take it a step further and donate your time and efforts to the cause, they would like to extend an invite for you to join their team. Please reach out to Odessa Flores at (425) 319-4868, or Angelica Trinidad at (425) 404-1211 for further details. 

“Our treaties are everything. As Native American people, we need to protect our treaties as much as possible and thank our ancestors for fighting for what we have today. Without everything they suffered for, we wouldn’t have a lot of things that we have today, as far as our fishing and hunting rights. And also, just being Native American in general – to be able to sing our songs, carry our culture, and preserve that for our future generations.”

– Josh Fryberg, Tulalip tribal member

By Kalvin Valdillez, Tulalip News

On a chilly Friday evening, the descendants of the sduhubš were joined by several families from nearby tribes to commemorate the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. With temperatures in the low 30s, the people found warmth around large firepits on the inside of the cedar plank longhouse that overlooks Tulalip Bay. Through strong drumming and powerful singing, the tribes conducted cultural and spiritual work at the yearly potlatch, known locally as Treaty Days.

Each winter, the tribes take time to celebrate their culture, honor longstanding traditions, and also thank their ancestors who signed the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott. The treaty guaranteed the continuance of their traditional way of life, pertaining to fishing, hunting, and gathering rights, and it also identified a number of tribes, including Tulalip, as sovereign nations. 

Virginia Carpenter, Tulalip Elder, stated, “The treaty is important to me because it gives us a permanent place to live and because it gives us all of our rights. If we didn’t have the treaty, we really wouldn’t have anything, they would’ve kicked us off of our land. It’s an umbrella for us to live safely and the way we want to live.”

January 22 marked 169 years since the historical signing took place at present day Mukilteo. Close to 5,000 Coast Salish people gathered to witness their leadership negotiate terms of the treaty with Washington Territory Governor Isaac Stevens. The 2024 Treaty Days gathering was held at Tulalip on January 19, 110 years after the first treaty commemoration event was organized by William Shelton in 1914. 

“Treaty Days is a commemoration of the signing of the 1855 Point Elliot that affected the coastal tribes,” shared Tulalip Elder, Inez Bill. “At this time, we remember and acknowledge our ancestors who signed the treaty and reflect on the importance of that treaty – who we are as a people and how to continue our way of life.”

With future generations in mind, the tribal leaders ceded millions of acres of their ancestral land to the US government for white settlement, which currently makes up Washington’s King, Snohomish, Skagit, and Whatcom counties. In exchange for ceding such large portions of land, each tribe reserved the right to fish at their usual and accustomed grounds and stations, as well as the right to hunt and gather on open and unclaimed lands. In addition, the treaty established home bases for the tribes, which are now known as the Tulalip, Swinomish, Lummi, and Port Madison reservations. 

Tulalip Chairwoman, Teri Gobin, said, “Our people met together, and all agreed to sign the treaty. By ceding that land, from the water to the mountains, they guaranteed us our treaty rights for future generations. I’m so glad that our ancestors thought about that – because they were trying to protect our tribes.”

Because of those rights that the tribal ancestors fought to include in the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott, each Tribe has grown and persevered over the years, with the ability to govern their own affairs while also continuing their traditional way of life. 

Tribal member Brian Green expressed, “The treaty is literally my livelihood. We fight for our rights every day – fight to keep our treaty rights. I want my kid’s kids to come out here and be able to exercise their treaty rights. Not everyone has to be a fisherman, but it should be there if they want to exercise it.”

Ever since the treaties were signed in the late 1800’s, tribal nations across America have worked hard to protect and defend their treaty rights whenever the US government attempted to ignore or defy them, in instances such as the Fishing Wars in the ‘70s. Thanks to the fearless activism of tribal leaders such as Billy Frank Jr., the Fishing Wars conflict ultimately led to the Boldt decision in 1974, where the U.S. District Court for the Western District of Washington and the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Ninth Circuit reaffirmed that the fishing rights of the northwest treaty tribes were the supreme law of the land. 

“Treaty rights are an inherent right,” explained Ryan Miller, Tulalip Tribes Director of Treaty Rights and Governmental Affairs. “Treaty rights were not given to tribes. It’s a common misconception that the government gives Native peoples special rights. That’s the exact opposite of how it works. Tribes are sovereign nations; they give up rights and they retain rights. Treaty rights are rights that are not given up by tribes, and they’re upheld by the federal government as part of their trust relationship with the treaty tribes.”

In 1905, 50 years after the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott was signed, an Indian boarding school was established on the Tulalip reservation. Through brutal and cruel practices, the US government began assimilation efforts to ‘kill the Indian, save the man’. During this dark era in American colonial history, Native children were forcibly removed from their families and had to attend the catholic boarding schools. If the kids were caught speaking their ancestral language or practicing their culture, they were often physically punished. Many children did not make it out of the boarding schools alive, and those who did would unintentionally pass that horrific trauma down their bloodlines. 

At this same time, tribal adults and elders were also banned from cultural and spiritual practices. Longhouses across the region were burned down and those found guilty of carrying on their traditions were jailed and viewed as demonic. 

Against all odds, and in the face of adversity, Tulalip tribal member William Shelton took the initiative to ensure that the cultural lifeways of his people would not be lost and would live on well into the future. Through persistent correspondence with the Tulalip Superintendent and the US Secretary of Interior, Shelton convinced the government to allow Tulalip to build a longhouse along their shore in 1912. 

The longhouse, Shelton detailed in his letters with the government, would serve as a place where all of the tribes could celebrate the treaty together on an annual basis. Following its construction, the longhouse became a safe space where the tribes could engage in their culture once year from 1914 until 1967, when the current smokehouse was built to replace Shelton’s historical longhouse. 

“Treaty Days is really important to me because all of us, as sduhubš people, come from that longhouse way of life,” expressed Tribal member, Roselle Fryberg. “That’s the way our ancestors prayed, that was their healing, that’s how they protected their families. And it was also a way for our people to celebrate our treaty at a time when practicing our culture was outlawed, and we were thrown in jail for singing and dancing.”

Students at the boarding schools were able to attend the Treaty Days celebration and under this guise, the tribes were able to preserve their traditions and pass on their teachings to the next generation year after year. And though the Tulalip Boarding School was closed in 1932, the descendants of the signatories of the 1855 Treaty of Point Elliott continued to gather at the smokehouse every January to honor the treaty and take part in cultural practices that were once prohibited throughout the country. 

“It’s spiritual healing,” voiced Tulalip tribal member, Celum Hatch. “When I go, it’s because of the strength of everybody’s songs. The strength within those four walls gets me through the next couple of months. When I go in there, I go with a good head. Because I know what I’m going in with, I’m not walking out with. I go for healing. And I go to help everyone else and support them.”

To this day, Treaty Days continues to be a major event that tribal members across the region look forward to every year. And as William Shelton envisioned, the longhouse remains a sacred place where innumerable teachings of the culture and traditions are passed along and kept alive. Many of those songs, dances, spiritual practices, and stories made it through the passage of time and are still practiced more than 100 years after they were originally banned.

Said Tulalip Elder, Ray Fryberg, “We gave up a lot in the treaty to keep our sovereignty – to be able to determine our own future and our own direction in our tribal path. And also, living on the reservation – protecting those rights that were reserved for us, as well as the spiritual and cultural way of life. We have the responsibility to revisit the treaty all the time, so we know we are keeping our younger people abreast and informed as much as possible.”