Haerenga ki Kanata
Iwi members Jasmine Arthur, Maikara Thorpe and Awhina Tamarapa have just returned from visiting First Nation communities on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada.
Their hosts were the Kumugwe Cultural Society, whose members are the K'ómox, Pentlatch and E’ikʷsən people residing on their unceded mid- to north-east Vancouver Island territories. They also visited Alert Bay, and met members of the Namgis and Kwakwaka’wakw Nations.
The visit was part of an Indigenous research project called Namala (oneness on your face, meaning to work together): Future of Indigenous Rights and Responsibilities, Ancestral Governance, environmental stewardship, language revival, and cultural vibrancy.
The project is key with revivalist leaders of the Kumugwe Society on behalf of their communities and Professor Bryony Onciul, a museology and heritage scholar from the University of Exeter, UK. The project addresses pressing issues for Indigenous communities that focus on ancestral governance, kaitiakitanga, the revitalization of language and culture.
As part of the project, the Kumugwe families, including carvers, weavers, language revivalists, storyholders and tradition keepers will be visiting Aotearoa in Feb 2025 and will stay at Hongoeka Marae.
Ānei ētāhi wheako a Jaz…
‘It was a real privilege to be able to go and visit other Indigenous people to share our struggles as well as our hopes and aspirations for our people. Their whenua is rich in resource with kaimoana, berries and rongoa everywhere!’
Their whenua is so vast and the mountains are just layered on top of each other.
One of the highlights for me was visiting the U’mista cultural centre in Alert Bay. This whare taonga is dedicated to ensuring the survival of te reo me ōnā tikanga of the Kwakwaka’wakw uri. Their staff are all First Nations people and the majority whakapapa to the Kwakwaka’wakw people.
They have a permanent exhibition based on the regalia worn in their potlatch ceremonies which is very powerful and informative all in one.
Most of the taonga that are on display have been repatriated from around the world and some have been given over by whānau who wish their taonga to be looked after by U’mista. At times they have also had to purchase taonga back that were once taken from whānau by the government as a means to assimilate and eradicate the first Nations people.
They were visited in 1990 by the Tahere Tikitiki canoe club which was made up of Kerr and Rickard whānau members.
Among the visiting ope was Eva Rickard who left a resounding impression on them all. Eva Rickard visited the various villages and gave words of encouragement to whānau. At their potlatch ceremony she was stood up in their big house and was gifted a button blanket and a traditional name. The speech she delivered to the hereditary chiefs, wahine of high rank and community members was so powerful that even today, they refer to her as a true warrior goddess.
When Eva Rickard passed away, an ope came out from Alert Bay for her tangihanga and brought taonga and danced many traditional songs. Other whānau that inspired them were Bea Kerr, Aunty Huna, James Rickard and Hoturoa Kerr. One kuia said to me ‘Eva Rickard and the family gave me just the strength I needed to stick up for myself as a Kwakwaka’wakw women and say no more! You are not going to silence me. I have mana too.’
I have come away from that trip with a deep appreciation for our tupuna. Also, our kuia and koroua who have in many ways paved the way for this generation to really go forth and be unapologetically Māori.
At times we get so stuck in the mahi that we forget to look up at what we have and how far we have come. This haerenga to Canada made me see that.
A big mihi to the project that allowed me to be apart of this awesome experience.
Ki a koe Awhina, ko koe tērā e whai whakaaro ana hoki ki a mātou o Ngāti Toa. E kore ngā mihi e mutu e hoa.
Hei kupu whakakapi, kia kaua tātou e wareware ki a kui mā ki a koro mā me a rātou whawhai mō ngā tamariki mokopuna te take.
It is up to us to be the vision that our kaumatua so desperately fought for. Pērā i te whakatauki e kī ana… “Nā rātou te kakaku i whatu, mā mātou e taniko.”