Youth record Elders' stories

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Twenty youth are stepping up as keepers of sacred stories from their communities.

Youth from the Musqueam, Tsleil-Waututh and Squamish First Nations and urban areas have been training to use the latest videography equipment to permanently record stories told by their Elders.

Part of the city of Vancouver's Aboriginal Storyscapes program, Our City Our Voices, is the first project of its kind that brings Aboriginal youth together with Elders in an effort to preserve such precious cultural heritage as traditional stories.

The initiative also involves the National Film Board, which outfits the youth with technical skills required to carry out the oral history video project. Students attend a one-week "boot camp" at the Gulf Island Film & Video School, and continue to work several days a week with mentors.

Footage gathered from the project will be stored in the archives of the First Nations and/or shown to young people on the reserves, in accordance with the wishes of the Elders and the respective communities.

"We don't make up our own rules," said Tiffany Joseph from the Squamish Nation.

Joseph said that while she wants the footage to ultimately be distributed through the education system and be shown to all people, traditional guidelines must be respected.

Wade Grant, a 25-year-old recent political science graduate from the Musqueam Nation, said the project allows Aboriginal people to tell their own stories.

"It's important for non-Natives to understand how our people saw the city of Vancouver go up around and on our traditional territory," said Grant. "A lot of the people who have these stories are passing on and the stories may be lost forever.

"We need to record those for future generations, both for the Native and non-Native people. We need to learn where we come from, the adversities we've come through and how we're still here, still thriving and fighting for everything that's ours."

Grant added that the teachings of Elders and ancestors have played a strong role in his nation's efforts to remain culturally independent. For him, interviewing Elders and hearing their stories gives him the cultural foundation he needs to lead his people into a successful future.

"The project is about making Aboriginal people feel they have a place in the city and about not feeling invisible and irrelevant," said project director Kamala Todd, who is Metis and also an Aboriginal social planner with the city of Vancouver.

"There is a relative invisibility of Aboriginal stories, images and knowledge in Vancouver's urban landscape and in the history books," said Todd. "Having representations and expressions of your own culture really reinforces your sense of belonging.

"It's already happening with youth where they're beginning to realize the big responsibility they have, as the ones to bring these stories forward."

Joseph added that the project fills an urgent need to reinvigorate the culture within her nation.

"Out of over 3,000 people in our nation, less than 20 speak Squamish fluently," said Joseph. With one-third of the Squamish people living off-reserve, "it's difficult to keep our community as close as it has been."

By recording the stories, Joseph hopes that all Squamish people will have an opportunity to access their heritage.

For 27-year-old Leonard Bearshirt, participating in the project honours the memory of his late grandmother.

"I really cherish the moments I shared with my grandmother," said Bearshirt. "When she told stories, she used a lot of hand gestures, and I could just picture her, having been around to see the first car, first airplane, electricity, telephone.

"The world was happening around her. I wish I learned more history from her before she died. Now I hope to be able to do that through other Elders in my community."

George Henry, one of the founders of APTN and a mentor for the project, praises the students for the great potential they've shown.

"ne of the important goals of this project is to unite the Elders and the youth and to teach them about their own stories, where they come from, who they are and what it was like to live in Vancouver through the years," said Henry. "Whatever brings people together to talk about their own culture is a good step forward."

Meanwhile, the project has brought youth from different nations together in a tight-knit family. "We've bonded and become close friends," said Bearshirt. "This connection cannot be broken."