BC Studies no. 200 Winter 2019 – 50th Anniversary

Jeannette Armstrong, Syilx Okanagan, is an associate professor and Canada Research Chair in Okanagan Indigenous Knowledge and Philosophy. She leads the De-Colonization, Indigeneity and Adaptation cluster in ICER. Her CRC research collaborates with the Southern Interior Salish speaking nation groups to re-establish historical relationships based on food and resource sharing, trading and protection practices. She is a recipient of the Eco Trust USA Buffett Award in Indigenous Leadership and serves on Canada’s Aboriginal Traditional Knowledge Subcommittee of COSEWIC. 

Jean Barman, Professor Emeritus at the University of British Columbia, writes about the history of British Columbia and of Indigenous Peoples. Her forthcoming book, Iroquois in the West to be published by McGill-Queen’s University Press, offers a new way of thinking about Indigenous Peoples across time, as having been self-sufficient and self-determining if left to their own devices. 

 Tzeporah Berman is a Canadian environmental activist and writer, and has twenty-five years of experience designing environmental campaigns in Canada and internationally. She is known for her role as the blockade coordinator for the largest civil disobedience in Canada’s history in Clayoquot Sound in 1993. She currently is international program director at Stand. Earth. She also works as a strategic advisor to a number of First Nations, environmental organizations, and philanthropic foundations on climate and energy issues, including the oil sands and pipelines. In 2016, she was appointed by the Alberta Government to co-chair the Oil Sands Advisory Working Group tasked with making recommendations to implement climate change and cumulative impact policies. Also in 2016, she was listed as one of the thirty-five Most Influential Women in British Columbia by BC Business magazine and awarded the Brescia University College Activist Award. The previous year, she was appointed to the BC Government Climate Leadership Team tasked with making policy recommendations to meet BC legislated climate targets. She is an adjunct professor, Faculty of Environmental Studies, York University; the former co-director of Greenpeace International’s Climate Program; and co-founder of ForestEthics. Her book This Crazy Time: Living Our Environmental Challenge was published by Knopf Canada in 2011. She was awarded an honorary doctorate in 2013 by the University of British Columbia. 

Davina Bhandar is a professor of political science at the Centre for Social Sciences, Athabasca University, and acknowledges that she is a settler on the unceded and traditional territories of the Musqueam, Skwxwú7mesh, and Tsleil-Waututh. 

Susan Boyd is a distinguished professor in the Faculty of Human and Social Development, University of Victoria. She also works with national and community peer-run organizations that advocate for diverse harm reduction initiatives and an end to drug prohibition. She is the author of a number of articles and books on drug issues, including, Busted: An Illustrated History of Drug Prohibition in Canada (Fernwood, 2017). In 2016, she was a member of the federal Task Force on Cannabis Legalization and Regulation. 

Dara Culhane is a professor of anthropology at Simon Fraser University. She is author of two books, An Error In Judgment: the politics of medical care in an Indian/White community (1987); The Pleasure of the Crown: Anthropology, Law and First Nations (1998); co-editor of In Plain Sight: Reflections on Life in Downtown Eastside Vancouver (2005) and A Different Kind of Ethnography (2017); and, the author of articles in scholarly journals. She is a certified assistant teacher of Fitzmaurice Voicework, and works with oral/aural performance. Culhane is a founder and co-curator of the Centre for Imaginative Ethnography, and her current interests focus on practising and teaching experimental multisensory and multimodal ethnography, life story research, and performance studies. Ongoing works in progress include a manuscript entitled Encore! Travels With the Ghost of Margaret Sheehy based on archival and ethnographic research in Ireland, a one-woman play, Hear Me Looking At You, performed in Vancouver (2012, 2013), Los Angeles (2013), and Toronto (2014), and Dublin (2015) drawn from this research. New work (2018) in progress includes an ethnographic film project conducted in collaboration with Simone Rapisarda, working title: Playing With Worlds. 

Andrea Geiger is an associate professor of history at Simon Fraser University and the author of Subverting Exclusion: Transpacific Encounters with Race, Caste, and Borders, 1885–1928 (Yale, 2011), awarded both the 2011 Theodore Saloutos Book Award (Immigration and Ethnic History Society) and the 2013 Association of Asian American Studies History Book Award. Before turning to history, she served as a reservation attorney for the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation.

Alice Gorton is a PhD candidate in modern British history at Columbia University. Before beginning doctoral research in New York, she completed her BA at the University of British Columbia, where she studied settler colonialism and the British empire in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Her research focuses especially on the relationship between gender, migration, and imperialism in Canada and the UK. 

Larry Grant, a Musqueam Elder, was born and raised in Musqueam traditional territory by a traditional hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ speaking Musqueam family. He is of Musqueam Chinese descent. After four decades as a tradesman, he enrolled in the First Nations Languages Program at the University of British Columbia, now within the Institute of Critical Indigenous Studies (CIS) as the Musqueam Language Program, which awoke his memory of the imbedded value that the hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm language has to self-identity, kinship, culture, territory, and history prior to European colonization. He is presently assisting in revitalising hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm̓ in the Musqueam Language Department and co-teaching the Introductory hən̓ q̓ əmin̓ əm ̓ course, introduction to a Salish Language FNEL 101 and FNEL 102. Larry is Elder-in-Residence at the First Nations Longhouse at UBC, adjunct professor in First Nations and Endangered Languages (FNEL), faculty fellow at St. John’s College, and the inaugural honorary fellow at Green College. In 2010 he received the Alumni Award of Distinction from Vancouver Community College, and in 2014, was awarded honorary graduate from the Native Indian Teacher Education Program. 

Kate Hennessy is an associate professor specializing in media at Simon Fraser University’s School of Interactive Arts and Technology. 

Hock E Aye Vi Edgar Heap of Birds is an artist and an advocate for Indigenous communities worldwide. His work includes multidisciplinary forms of public art messages, large-scale drawings, Neuf Series acrylic paintings, prints, works in glass, and monumental porcelain enamel on steel outdoor sculpture. His work has been exhibited at some of the most renowned institutions in the world, including the Museum of Modern Art; Orchard Gallery, Northern Ireland; the Cheyenne and Arapaho Nations Reservation in Oklahoma; SITE Santa Fe Museum, New Mexico; Grand Palais in Paris, France; and Documenta, Kassal, Germany. His work holds a place in the collections of many museums, such as the Whitney Museum of American Art in New York City; Walker Art Center in Minneapolis; and the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. Most recently, his work appears in the collections of the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City; the British Museum in London; Anchorage Museum in Alaska; and the Library of Congress in Washington, D.C. Now retired from teaching at the University of Oklahoma, after thirty years of service, he continues to serve there as professor emeritus. 

Jaskwaan Amanda Bedard is a Haida language activist and singer from Masset, Haida Gwaii. She has committed to community language revitalization of Xaad Kil, the Masset dialect of the Haida language, for the past fifteen years. Jaskwaan has her MA in Indigenous Governance and her B.A in History and Indigenous Studies from the University of Victoria, and has completed a three-year Language Mentor Apprentice Program, learning Xaad Kil from Elder Primrose Adams. Jaskwaan is committed to teaching her three children the language of her ancestors, and to supporting a healthy and thriving Xaad Kil community on Haida Gwaii. 

Catherine Kyle received her PhD from the University of British Columbia Okanagan in 2017. She currently is a post-doctoral research fellow in the Complex Environmental System Lab within the Okanagan Institute for Biodiversity, Resilience, and Ecosystem Services, where she collaborates on various research projects that examine the interactivity between humans, landscapes, and species at risk. 

Dana Lepofsky is an archaeologist and ethnoecologist who works primarily in coastal British Columbia, in the traditional territories of and in collaboration with several First Nations. She blends diverse technical and methodological approaches in her research to understand how people interact with their surrounding environments. She believes strongly in collaborative research that brings together knowledge holders from diverse communities. 

Ken Lertzman is a forest ecologist interested in a broad range of topics related to ecosystem dynamics, conservation, and management. His work focuses on interactions between people and the landscapes they depend on, mostly focusing on forests and forestry in the temperate rainforests of western North America. Understanding the role of natural and human disturbances in shaping forests over space and time has been a consistent theme through his career, often in partnership with coastal First Nations communities. Increasingly, he focuses on trying to understand the complex dynamics and resilience of coupled social-ecological systems. 

Tina Loo teaches Canadian and environmental history at the University of British Columbia. Her most recent book is Moved by the State: Forced Relocation and Making a Good Life in Postwar Canada (2019). 

Donald MacPherson is the director of the Canadian Drug Policy Coalition a national coalition of organizations and individuals working to improve Canada’s approach to psychoactive substance use. He is an adjunct professor in the Faculty of Health Sciences at Simon Fraser University. The Canadian Drug Policy Coalition advocates drug policies based on principles of public health and human rights, social inclusion, and evidence. He has co-authored the books Raise Shit: Social Action, Saving Lives (2010), and Drug Policy in Canada: More Harm Than Good (2016), both Fernwood Books. 

Robert McDonald is a former editor of BC Studies and the author of Making Vancouver: Class, Status and Social Boundaries, 1863–1913 (1996). He is completing a political history of British Columbia entitled ‘A Long Way to Paradise’: British Columbia Provincial Politics, 1870s–1970s. 

Louise Mandell was one of the founding partners of Mandell Pinder, a law firm specializing in Aboriginal and treaty rights law. In 2011, She moved out of the day-to-day practice of law but remains connected in the esteemed capacity of partner emeritus to the firm. On behalf of her many First Nations clients, She has devoted her professional life to the advancement of their aboriginal title and rights and treaty rights. She was brought into the area of Aboriginal law when it was in its infancy, working under the direction of the late Grand Chief George Manuel, president of the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs and the World Council of Indigenous Peoples. Acting for UBCIC, she was legal counsel in their fight against the patriation of the Constitution. She was appointed Queen’s Counsel in 1997 and, in 2001, was awarded the Georges Goyer Q.C. Memorial Award for exceptional contribution to the development of Aboriginal and treaty rights jurisprudence across the country. In 2013, the Union of B.C. Indian Chiefs recognized and honoured her by creating the Louise Mandell Legal Research Collection. In June 2012, she received an honourary doctor of laws from Simon Fraser University. And in October, 2014, she was appointed as the second chancellor of Vancouver Island University.

Johnnie Manson is from the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation and is a PhD candidate at the University of British Columbia. His current research focuses on urban Indigenous conceptualizations of the land, consciousness, and citizenship in British Columbia. His past work experience includes work with Indigenous researchers on Indigenous and alternative economies; working as a research assistant with the Working Group on Indigenous Food Sovereignty; and working as bio-technician with Uu-uth-luk (Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council) and the Ktunaxa Lands and Resources Agency. He is also a published poet, with publications in The Malahat Review, Yellow Medicine Review, and Red Ink: International Journal of Indigenous Literature, Arts, & Humanities. 

Lee Maracle is the author of a number of award-winning and critically acclaimed literary works, including: Sojourner’s and Sundogs (collected work of novel and short stories), Ravensong (novel), Bobbi Lee (autobiographical novel), Daughters Are Forever (novel), Will’s Garden (young adult novel), Bent Box (poetry), First Wives Club (short stories), I Am Woman (non-fiction), Memory Serves (essays), Celia’s Song (novel), Talking to the Diaspora (poetry), and My Conversations with Canadians (non-fiction). She is the co-editor of a number of anthologies, including the award-winning publication, My Home As I Remember (anthology). She is also co-editor of Telling It: Women and Language across Cultur( [conference proceedings). Maracle, born in North Vancouver, is a member of the Stó:lō nation. Maracle is a senior fellow at Massey College, University of Toronto. She has served as distinguished visiting scholar at the University of Toronto, University of Waterloo, and University of Western Washington. Works in progress includes Hope Matters and Mink Returns to Toronto. She is the recipient of the 2014 Ontario Premier’s Award for Excellence in the Arts and the 2016 recipient of the Anne Green Award and Queen’s Diamond Jubilee Medal, and she was awarded the Officer of the Order of Canada, Blue Metropolis First Peoples Literary Prize, and the Harbourfront Festival Prize during the Toronto International Festival of Authors in 2018. Her book, My conversations with Canadians was short-listed for the 2018 Toronto Book Award. 

Pablo Mendez is associate professor in the Department of Geography and Environmental Studies at Carleton University. He holds a PhD from the University of British Columbia. His research interests include housing markets and the uses of housing, the evolution of suburban ways of living, urban informality, and the settlement process of transnational migrants in metropolitan Canada. 

Meghann O’Brien (Jaad Kuujus) is a Northwest Coast weaver working in the traditions of basketry, Yeil Koowu (Raven’s Tail), and Naaxiin (Chilkat) textiles. 

Bud Osborn was a poet, community organizer, social justice activist, and founding member of VANDU (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users) in the Downtown Eastside of Vancouver. He advocated for an end to drug prohibition and the establishment of harm reduction services, including Canada’s first safer injection site, Insite. He passed away on May 6, 2014. His personal poetry collection is available on site at Carnegie Branch Library. 

Jenni Schine is a sound artist, broadcaster, and community-engaged researcher. She is also the Pacific Programs community liaison at Tides Canada. Throughout her career, she has focused on community-led initiatives and interdisciplinary projects. She produces radio for CBC and is a member of The Kingcome Collective, a place-based arts initiative that creates art for both remote and urban communities, and for Indigenous and non-Indigenous peoples. As a sound scholar and artist, Jenni teaches courses and workshops, including Acoustic Ethnography and Science Storytelling at the Bamfield Marine Science Centre and A Story from Hear: Place-based Podcasts at the Hollyhock Learning Centre. Jennifer serves as the Arts, Culture, and Ethnography Advisor for the Sfaira Foundation and was previously a Director of the Salmon Coast Field Station. She holds an MA in Communication from Simon Fraser University and a BA in Anthropology from the University of Victoria. Jenni is grateful to learn from the many knowledge holders in the traditional territories where she works and plays. 

Conrad Sly is an artist and digital modelling specialist based in Vancouver. 

Hannah Turner is a critical information and museum studies scholar. She is a lecturer in museum studies at the University of Leicester. Prior to this, she worked as a postdoctoral fellow with the Making Culture Lab in the School for Interactive Arts and Technology at Simon Fraser University. 

Union of BC Indian Chiefs was founded in 1969. The goal of the UBCIC is to support the work of Aborignal people, whether at the community, nation or international level, in our common fight for the recognition of Aboriginal rights and respect for our cultures and societies. 

VANDU (Vancouver Area Network of Drug Users) is a group of users and former users who work to improve the lives of people who use drugs through user-based peer support and education. VANDU is committed to increasing the capacity of people who use drugs to live healthy, productive lives. VANDU is also committed to ensuring that drug users have a real voice in their community and in the creation of programs and policies designed to serve them. 

Lorna Williams, professor emerita, Department of Indigenous Education and Linguistics, University of Victoria. She is Lil’watul from Mount Currie. She held the Canada Research Chair in Indigenous Knowledge and Learning and co-designed and developed three degree programs in collaboration with Indigenous communities: the bachelor’s and master’s degrees in Indigenous language revitalization, and the Counselling in Indigenous Communities master’s degree program. She co-authored Braiding Indigenous Science with Western Science, Book 1 and 2, with Gloria Snively, to support the Indigenization of science curriculum. Throughout her career, Williams has held a number of senior positions, including director of Aboriginal Education at the University of Victoria and director of the Aboriginal Enhancements Branch in the British Columbia Ministry of Education. She was a member at large on the University of Victoria’s senate and chaired the First Peoples Heritage, Language, and Culture Council. Williams was a Canadian Council on Learning Minerva lecturer in 2007 and was inducted into the Order of British Columbia in 1993. In 2018 ,Williams was honoured with an Indspire Award for her contributions to Indigenous education. 

Graeme Wynn, FRSC, edited BC Studies between 2008 and 2016. After more than forty years at the University of British Columbia, where he served as associate dean and department head for some sixteen years, he is now professor emeritus of geography. He continues as general editor of the Nature|History|Society series, published by UBC Press and, is the co-editor, with Colin Coates, of The Nature of Canada, due from UBC Press in May 2019.