Skilled carvers used these tools to create canoes, homes, and carvings. Toolmakers used a sandstone abrader to grind channels into a nephrite boulder, creating a blank. It took about 40 hours of sawing, grinding and polishing to complete an axe, adze or chisel blade. No wonder that when a blade was damaged it was resharpened, not thrown away.
This is a Coca-Cola can. Coca-Cola’s main ingredients are carbonated water, sugar/glucose-fructose, caramel color, phosphoric acid, natural flavour, caffeine. Coca-Cola Company represents over 400 different brands in 200 countries and employs approximately 6,300 associates in Canada.
Our ancestors were part of a sophisticated economy including long-distance trade. Dentalia shell from western Vancouver Island, obsidian from Mount Garibaldi and Oregon, and nephrite from the Fraser Canyon were only a few of the resources traded. Located at the mouth of the river, c̓əsnaʔəm controlled access to markets.
"ʔəwk̓ʷeməɬ - run out of food
Today, maintaining the same diet as our ancestors is nearly impossible. Many species of fish are locally endangered. Forests once home to wild game are gone or void of wildlife. Local fruits, vegetables and edible plants are unavailable or too polluted to consume. Salmon and waterfowl are two of the few options left for us to sustainably harvest within our territory.
These stories share a little about who we are, in the past and in the present.
Explore each belonging to unlock its story.