British Columbia 2018

On returning to the festival in 2017, apart from a couple of hand drums (that had been gifted the previous year), the Abba drum, (large gathering drum) was absent. This saddened Rebekah and I and so this year we commissioned a good friend Jerry Chapman from the Stó-Lō Nation to build a drum for the people. This gift was especially poignant as my mother was Irish Catholic – the people and denomination who ran the residential school system.

It was an incredibly powerful time as we gave an apology and handed over the drum in an act of conciliation, many tears being shed as survivors of the schools came forward to play this drum for the first time.

The local fisheries have not allowed net fishing this year due to the extremely low numbers of Chinook Salmon returning to the Stikine river– the livelihood for this region! During the Friday evening’s gathering, a truck full of salmon traveling from Alaska crashes on a bend right outside the festival. The driver amazingly is not hurt but the truck is destroyed. Not only does this prompt passers-by to stop at the festival but the fish have to be redistributed so as not to be wasted and the village of Dease Lake and surrounding area now have enough fish for a year! Provision comes in interesting packages!

Next stop Yukon!