1063 replies to this topic

[amor de cosmos]

New direction signs being installed in downtown Victoria will feature both Lekwungen and English geographic names.

The first of 11 large signs in Phase 1 of the plan was unveiled Wednesday next to Victoria’s Visitor Information Centre, accompanied by a blessing from Esquimalt Nation elder Mary Ann Thomas.

The first sign is titled Inner Harbour in English and xwsey’’k´m in Lekwungen.

“This is really significant,” said Victoria Mayor Lisa Helps. “We’re in an era of reconciliation and we recognize that the city is actually on the Lekwungen homelands.”

Lekwungen territory is home to both the Songhees and Esquimalt people.

Songhees Nation Chief Ron Sam said the use of Lekwungen names is meaningful.

“I think the name of a place is important because it pays respect to our ancestors that were here long before the city was the city.”

He said having Lekwungen names also acknowledges both Songhees and Esquimalt elders of today.

Esquimalt Nation Chief Andy Thomas said the signage is part of an “exciting time.”

“For our young people, they’re going to be able to see it and know where they’re from.”

“We welcome thousands of people to this harbour every year, residents and visitors to the city,” said Greater Victoria Harbour Authority CEO Ian Robertson. “The signage is a wonderful enhancement to the harbour.”

http://www.timescolo...ions-1.23209416

edit: added image

Edited by amor de cosmos, 22 March 2018 - 12:04 PM.

[spanky123]

It strikes me that the only people in the world who would understand what the signs mean already live here and don't need directions!

[Jackerbie]

It strikes me that the only people in the world who would understand what the signs mean already live here and don't need directions!

 

And what's so bad about that? Including Lekwungen is definitely part of the reconciliation narrative, but it is also a branding exercise. To me it's functionally no different than having Hawaiian on signs in Hawaii, or Gaelic on signs in Ireland. I say "functionally no different," as I realize both of those places have two official languages, unlike BC.

[tjv]

complete waste of hardworking taxpayers money

 

I am going to start a new religion/culture where its against our rights to pay taxes

[spanky123]

And what's so bad about that? Including Lekwungen is definitely part of the reconciliation narrative, but it is also a branding exercise. To me it's functionally no different than having Hawaiian on signs in Hawaii, or Gaelic on signs in Ireland. I say "functionally no different," as I realize both of those places have two official languages, unlike BC.

 

I have never seen two names on signs in Hawaii. The names are in Hawaiian as that has been adopted as the only name.

[Mike K.]

When you're standing at the sign you are in Old Town. You're also already on Government Street.

 

What a mess.

[Jackerbie]

When you're standing at the sign you are in Old Town. You're also already on Government Street.

 

What a mess.

 

I imagine that the reference to "Old Town" is more accurately Bastion Square, i.e. the original fort. But that's still only about 350 m away from the tourist info centre 

[Mike K.]

You can even see Government Street on the street sign behind the sign, lol.

[Cassidy]

It's pedantic, and I apologize in advance ... but that sign is actually on Wharf Street.

 

It's not 50 metres to Government Street though, more like 10 metres (if that).

 

(these signs have popped up around town, and I think they actually look great. Well done COV sign department)

Edited by Cassidy, 23 March 2018 - 06:09 AM.

[amor de cosmos]

It was with particular pride, therefore, that he sang at the Royal B.C. Museum Tuesday as the collected recordings of his great-grandfather and other Indigenous singers were recognized by the Canadian Commission for UNESCO.

The songs form part of the collection amassed by the late Ida Halpern, a musicologist who travelled Vancouver Island from 1947 to 1980, capturing the ceremonies and cultures of Indigenous communities.

Her body of work includes 342 sound recordings, seven VHS cassettes, one film and 735 photographs, as well as numerous other documents.

The commission announced that the collection will be added to the Canada Memory of the World Register, which was created to promote the importance of archival material as the “memory” of humanity.

The Royal B.C. Museum’s collection of the Vancouver Island Treaties was also added to the registry.

Jack Lohman, the museum’s chief executive officer, said the treaties and the Halpern recordings “capture a rare moment of human thought. Both truly are remarkable collections and rightly deserve to be seen alongside other human achievements in Canada.”

The registry includes the Canadian discovery of insulin, the Hudson’s Bay Company’s archival records and the animated film Neighbours, directed and produced by Norman McLaren.

Besides its historical signficance, Lohman said the Halpern collection represents an important resource for Indigenous communities seeking to revitalize their language and musical traditions.

http://www.timescolo...ster-1.23215221
 

Guy Louie, his mother Pamela Webster and uncle Hudson Webster sang the Paddle Song and Farewell Song, using their voices, dances and drum beats to mark the occasion that identifies the music as significant to Canadian history.

The pre-Confederation Douglas treaties, which are some of the only signed land-claims agreements in B.C., were also on display during the ceremony at the Royal B.C. Museum.

The songs are part of a museum collection of more than 500 recordings, transcriptions and handwritten notes made during the 1940s by musicologist Ida Halpern, who travelled to remote West Coast villages to record Indigenous music.

Jack Lohman, the museum’s chief executive officer, said the B.C. items are the first historical materials west of Winnipeg to make it into the national memory archive.

“Each embodies a great moment in history,” he said. “They capture a rare moment of human thought. Both truly are remarkable collections and rightly deserve to be seen alongside of other human achievements in Canada.”

https://www.nanaimob...emory-register/

[amor de cosmos]

Culinary arts, hospitality, and tourism management will soon be on the menu for a group of Indigenous learners from the Songhees Nation.

Camosun College is partnering with the Songhees Nation to bring an education program to its community. Specifically, to twenty-four Indigenous learners.

“The partnership between Songhees Nation and Camosun College breaks down barriers to education for many learners by actually delivering skills training in the community,” said Melanie Mark, Minister of Advanced Education, Skills and Training.

“Investing in education programs for Indigenous learners helps make sure we all take our place in British Columbia’s thriving economy and growing workforce.”

With $655,000 in funding over two years, the project is part of the Aboriginal Community-Based Training Partnerships Program.

http://victoriabuzz....ate-indigenous/

[VicHockeyFan]

The four tiny homes are located near the town centre, and a fifth one acts as a shared laundry and utility room.

 

“Through the front window you can see toward the river and from the bedroom you can look up to the mountains,” Moody said.

 

“It gives the tenants a sense of their own house: it may be small, but it's theirs.”

 

Each tiny home costs the band about $50,000 to build and the tenants will pay affordable rents for the space, Moody said.

 

Candidates for the homes will be selected through the band's wellness department.

 

“I just think that everybody deserves housing. It's pretty much a basic human right,” Moody said.

 

“I grew up here, this is my home, these are my people... We're a tight-knit community and I just wanted to make sure that our housing is inclusive of all of our membership.”

 

 

https://vancouverisl...e-men-1.3865954

 

Wrong.  Able-bodied/minded people of all races and social structures must find a way to support themselves.  There are thousands of occupations to choose from.  "Lay-about" is not one that pays the bills.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 30 March 2018 - 03:06 PM.

[amor de cosmos]

the name of the island is Č'axwataqt

As the Pope faces criticism for declining a formal apology for residential school abuses, a Catholic bishop in B.C. is on a local mission of reconciliation.

Bishop Gary Gordon of the Diocese of Victoria piloted his small boat to the remote community of Kyuquot.on Vancouver Island's west coast for the Easter weekend, to finalize the return of a small island to the Ka:'yu:'k'h'/Che:k'tles7et'h' First Nation.

"It's kind of Independence Day for the people here," Gordon told On the Island host Gregor Craigie, referring to the anniversary of the Maa-Nulth treaty. "I thought it would be a good opportunity."

The bishop discovered the church's ownership of 11.2-hectare Mission Island about four months ago while looking through old correspondence. He immediately contacted their solicitors to begin the ownership transfer.

"It's all signed and done," he said.

http://www.cbc.ca/ne...ology-1.4599595

[VicHockeyFan]

Does anyone suspect that chief Andy Thomas either died from a drug or alcohol overdose, a strange accident, or suicide?  The silence on the cause of death is very odd.

 

His death, at his home, is being described as "unexpected", and "sudden" by media, but that's it.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 14 April 2018 - 12:12 PM.

[Coreyburger]

Does anyone suspect that chief Andy Thomas either died from a drug or alcohol overdose, a strange accident, or suicide?  The silence on the cause of death is very odd.

 

His death, at his home, is being described as "unexpected", and "sudden" by media, but that's it.

 

Holy crap this is disrespectful. I have no words beyond that

[VicHockeyFan]

I don’t mean it to be disrespectful. I just find it odd that a very prominent community leader dies and there is absolutely no indication of the cause of death.

That’s very rare.

Edited by VicHockeyFan, 14 April 2018 - 12:49 PM.

[DustMagnet]

I don’t mean it to be disrespectful. I just find it odd that a very prominent community leader dies and there is absolutely no indication of the cause of death.

That’s very rare.

And to be fair, no matter how distasteful speculation may be, a drug overdose is something that happens across all walks of life these days.

[VicHockeyFan]

Look, when was the last time a “sitting politician” died and the cause of death was not made known?

Vic Derman died from a massive heart attack in his sleep, at 72. Family said he had been battling illness for a few weeks. And family said an autopsy confirmed the cause of death.

Chief Thomas was 70, and at home. And we’ve heard nothing more.

[David Bratzer]

Look, when was the last time a “sitting politician” died and the cause of death was not made known?

Vic Derman died from a massive heart attack in his sleep, at 72. Family said he had been battling illness for a few weeks. And family said an autopsy confirmed the cause of death.

Chief Thomas was 70, and at home. And we’ve heard nothing more.

 

There are  so many questions and confusing things happening in the media when it comes to Chief Thomas. Like this CHEK News video claiming mourners lined the streets... and the video shows almost no one in the streets at all.

 

I'm still doing research about this. I think there are positive things to be said about Chief Thomas and the fact that he led the Esquimalt First Nation for 47 years. But it's also likely that his true legacy is a mixed one. I have a lot of questions about the finances of the band, the band leadership, etc.

[spanky123]

There are  so many questions and confusing things happening in the media when it comes to Chief Thomas. Like this CHEK News video claiming mourners lined the streets... and the video shows almost no one in the streets at all.

 

I'm still doing research about this. I think there are positive things to be said about Chief Thomas and the fact that he led the Esquimalt First Nation for 47 years. But it's also likely that his true legacy is a mixed one. I have a lot of questions about the finances of the band, the band leadership, etc.

 

What about the election that was supposed to have occurred last year? Can't find a single mention anywhere of the candidates or voting results.

 

Not referring to EFN specifically, but there are lots of bands with different chiefs (elected and hereditary), multiple private companies and shells which control commercial activities and land leases and financial disclosures that seem to be a mess. 

 

That must be a lot of stress for a lot of people.