CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLETraditional Drumming and Cultural Healing: An Interview with Elder Fred John Part 1David WuPages 1-3

ECE Curriculum Box: Language& LiteracyPage 3

Honouring the Mary Thomas Memorial Scholarship ECE Recipients 2009 and 2010: Blessing the futurePages 4-5

Online Cultural Resource: Four Directions Teachings WebsitePage 6

ACCS NEwS & ANNoUNCEmENTSPage 6

UPComINg CoNFERENCES AND EvENTSPage 7-8

Jan-Feb 2011 Vol. 13 No. 5

ACCS: How did you get into drumming and cultural healing?

FJ: I felt that I was missing something in my life, even though I did a lot of skilled labour in welding. When I attended a Pow Wow while living in Seattle, I realized I got to follow this up because I felt it in my spirit and my heart—the Pow Wow, the songs – even though I don’t know much about it. When I returned to Lillooet in Canada, I followed it up. We had people in the same way as I was. So we started learning about our culture, but there wasn’t very much to learn because we didn’t know much about it. And so we started bringing in people who had the awareness of the drumming and healing, so we continued on and started working. Then I felt the need to help people. In my spirit I was a helper, I wanted to help people. I found that by singing and using the sweat lodge, and learning more about our ways we were doing really good work for our people back home. And so I started doing the work. It came to me naturally, to learn how to sing—I must know about 100 songs in the Pow Wow way, which I try to bring in the Nations from all over, like the south, east, west and north, songs when I do sing and teaching the drumming.

The Elder that taught me said: “What I’m going to work with you is on reawakening your spirit that’s been asleep. And a lot of us have gone through that. That way, when you do wake you you’ll be able to follow up on it, learn your own culture and bring that back for your people.” That’s what he did, and I understood, and that’s the teachings I teach now with my drumming group I teach every Tuesday. I told them I will be touching on their culture side, even though they may think they don’t have it but it’s always there. They took to the drum really well.

Elder Fred John is a Cultural Elder and Adult Drug and Alcohol Counsellor from Xaxlip Band, Lillooet Nation. Elder Fred does cultural healing, teaches drumming, hand drums, Pow-Wow drums and talking circle at the Hey-Way’-Noqu’ Healing Circle for Addictions Society in East Vancouver. He also teaches drumming to preschool children at Awahsuk AHS, Eagles Nest AHS, and Singing Frog AHS Preschool. He can be reached at Hey-Way’-Noqu at (604) 874-1831.

Traditional Drumming and Cultural Healing: An Interview with Elder Fred John, Part 1 by David wu

2January-February 2011 Caring For Our Children

The drum actually is a healing drum—it has the energy to clear you up and get you back in balance. That’s why a lot of them come every Tuesday. Some of them are working full-time; they got no place to go to do this so they come here after they get off work. I start this from 5:30 to 7 o’clock, so it helps them get back into their culture. Then they go home and they re-learn their own way. That’s how I’ve been teaching here.

ACCS: What type of help do you offer?

FJ: Here we do alcohol and drug counselling. Our counsellors are skilled in several different areas. We work with the whole family actually because we do, so we have a child counsellor and we have youth counsellors. And I work with the elderly.

The majority of our people don’t have their idea of their own culture, so they want to learn, and they want to hear about the culture because they had a bad experience, so we help them reconnect. Once the culture is re-awakened, it’s almost like the balance of their life has come back. They’ve been walking off-balance, like maybe you know, that something is missing. I knew I wasn’t all there. I was good at what I was doing, but I didn’t feel complete till I got my culture side re-awakened and brought back to me.

ACCS: How did you meet your teacher, the Elder who opened it up for you?

FJ: He came from down south, South Dakota. Our Alcohol and Drug Counsellor down there called him up, told him our people needed some help. So he came up and he did a Yuwipi ceremony as a healing ceremony. It’s a ceremony where he brought in the spirit people to brush us off.

ACCS: Do you lead sweat lodges?

FJ: Yeah, I got into learning how to do that, teach how to prepare it, also teach people how to do the sweat lodges. There’s a lot of learning to do. Sweat lodge is really a cleansing of the spirit. Not only the body—you take a shower and clean your body off, but the spirit that is in you is still not cleansed, right? It’s still hurting. So what the sweat lodge does, it takes all of that, removes all of that within you.

ACCS: Can you tell us something about the Sundance?

FJ: Sundance is such a sacred model that they could connect with, maybe whenever you attend Pow Wows there would be majority of the Sundancers already there, they would come and do the Pow Wow dance too. Or you could connect with them through the ceremonies, learn more about the ceremonies.

ACCS: Our teachers who work with the little ones, many of them have either experienced or have loved ones who had painful experiences in residential schools. Many parents and teachers are finding that they need to do their own healing in order to be fully present to the next generation. Do you have any comments or stories on that?

FJ: We have come to the crossroads now, accepting or reawakening… like we want to put it to sleep – the dragon. We find that changing our culture was not right, the people who did that to us. So now the Prime Minister,1 the government of Canada, apologized to the people for having that put upon us2, and that really helped a lot of our people. It helped me so much that, when my language was taken from me, I could not learn it again because my subconscious told me no, I was told to not do it, right? I couldn’t break that, and he broke it for me. He dropped, put the guard down, and I thought to myself, but my sister passed away at that school, and so I was thinking about her when this happened. I thought, “I wish you were here, sister, ‘cause we’ve been waiting for this for a long time.”

ACCS: The Prime Minister’s apology broke the block for you.

FJ: Broke the subconscious, now I’m able to speak my language. What happened was it brought me back to the five year old little boy I was that was in the school speaking, totally my language. It brought me all the way back there. Now, I’m able to speak my language fluently but I don’t know what I’m saying—can you imagine that? I’m driving down the road and all of a sudden I could hear the people from the past talking the language and I’m repeating what they’re saying. I’m thinking, what am I saying? I know I heard this when I was a little boy, right? I’m able to speak now, but now I got to learn the language, of what it is that the words are saying. A lot of our Elders have passed on.

ACCS: Are there people who speak the language who can help you to remember?

FJ: Yes, there are some now, they brought it to the school. In my home town, they have teachers that bring the language in school, but I still have problems matching it. I got a book on Stl’atl’imc3, I can say the words, but my memory has to catch up to all of that and try to put that back in, the vocabulary. When I was a little boy before I went to that school, my parents, we travelled in the seasons. My parents

Elder Fred John (lower right), leading a First Nations Cultural and Drumming Awareness workshop at our Annual Conference 2010 (Photo: David Wu)

3Caring For Our Children January-February 2011

would use to go down to the berry patches down in the States, or hop-picking, you know, and us little children we’d mingle with their children, you know, they’d be children from other nations, right? And I learned how to speak their language. I learned how to speak three languages when I went to a residential school. I was able to speak to the kids in that school because we came from all over, and I could speak their language, but we would get beatings like mad. The beatings were terrible. A lot of the clients that I see will not go there yet. They’ve been through so much, they don’t want to bring it back. So, some of them are still dependent on their drinking to numb the pain. They don’t want to talk about it. It’s okay if their kids get healed. See, the kids don’t understand why they are hurting—it’s not their hurt, it’s their parents hurt – I explained that to the kids. They’re aware, and they’re willing to forgive their parents. The parents put the kids through what the residential schools put them through, the parents did the same to the kids and they don’t deserve that. And I explain that to the generations now.

ACCS: Do you think the kids carry the pain and those messages subconsciously in their bodies?

FJ: Yeah, they feel the pain that the parents have. They don’t know why they got it. I explained to them why they have it now. It’s got to stop with your generation, I tell them, “It’s got to stop, you can’t carry it on to your next generation.” So they realize that. They ask “Why didn’t my parents tell me?” I said “Because they didn’t want to make you hurt like they did.” But they’re using residential school methods on their kids – beatings, I hear the beatings, putting them in the closet, yelling, it’s just terrible – that’s how they were treated in the residential schools. And I told my children, I said: “I don’t know if I’m going to do right being a parent for you, but I’ll do my best.” I

was never taught being a parent because from when I was five years old to fifteen, all of that was taken from me.

ACCS: How old were you when you had to go to residential school?

FJ: When I was five years old. I was there for ten long years.

ACCS: Were you allowed to visit home once in a while?

FJ: I was allowed to visit in my later years. When I went home my Elders were angry at me for not speaking my own language. I started crying because I didn’t know how to speak my own language.

ACCS: It’s not like you had a choice.…What have you learned in working with the young children – drumming circle, healing, etc.?

FJ: One thing I really learned in our culture is the children are also our teachers. I ask them for help sometimes. Their spirit is pure, ‘cause when they are born, their spirit is so pure just like the mountains and trees and the flowers, and they haven’t been hurt yet, there’s no pain yet, there’s no beatings yet – they’re little right? And we protect them. So they have the energy and power to help us too. So when I see a little child when I’m in pain, I ask a little child, you know, just a wave or a “hi”, you know, returning that to me – that clears it up for me. When a child enters a room, the whole energy changes.

To be continued in the next issue of Caring for Our Children.

1 Prime Minister Stephen Harper2 National Apology for the Indian Residential Schools on June 11, 2008.3 Stl’atl’imc is the language of Lillooet First Nation.

ECE Curriculum Box: Language& LiteracyLanguage and Literacy: Alphabet puzzles, Northern Learning to Read series, CDs, Wordless books, Bannock Bingo and Poster, Connect the Letter Tracing Activity Bag “Zoe and the Fawn”, DVDs, Magnetic letters and picture books.

To borrow Language and Literacy or other ECE Curriculum Boxes, please contact Resource Librarian Pepper Brewster at (604) 913-9128 ext. 229 or email library@acc-society.bc.ca

Language and Literacy Curriculum Box -- something for everyone! (Photo: David Wu)

4January-February 2011 Caring For Our Children

Joceyln Martin, 2009 Scholarship Award recipient for Basic ECE Certificate. Of Gitxsan heritage, Jocelyn now works as an Enhancement Worker at North Cariboo Aboriginal Family Program Society in Quesnel, BC.

Honouring the 2009 and 2010 Award Recipients of the mary Thomas memorial ECE Scholarship: Blessing the FutureWe are pleased to announce the 2009 and 2010 Award winners of the Mary Thomas Memorial ECE Scholarships. We raise our hands to congratulate Jocelyn Martin, Sandy Wells, Annette Vivier, Caroline Chandler, and Edna Davis. Well done!

2009 Scholarship RecipientsFor the $1000 Scholarship for Basic ECE Certificate or Diploma

Jocelyn Martin, Gitxsan, attended the College of New Caledonia in Quesnel and completed her Basic ECE Certificate with Honours on June 18, 2009.

Sandy Wells, Lil’wat Nation, attended the Native Education College in Vancouver and completed her Basic ECE Certificate on July 11, 2008 (which made her eligible for the 2009 scholarship cycle).

For the $1500 Scholarship for Post-Basic ECE Certificate or Diploma

Annette Vivier, Tsleil-Waututh Nation, attended North Island College in Campbell River and completed her Post-Basic ECE Infant/Toddler Diploma on December 19, 2008 (which made her eligible for the 2009 scholarship cycle).

NOTE: The BC Aboriginal Child Care Society (ACCS) normally awards only one Basic and one Post-Basic scholarship each year; however, in 2008 there were no eligible applicants for the Basic scholarship, so 2008 funds were carried forward and ACCS awarded two Basic Scholarships for the 2009 scholarship cycle only.

Jocelyn MartinGreetings to Everyone! My name is Jocelyn Martin, and I am from Quesnel BC. My grandfather was part of the Gitxsan Nation, and my family and I are just beginning to trace our Aboriginal heritage. I am very interested in finding out more about where I came from. I was very excited to learn that I had been awarded the Mary Thomas ECE Scholarship for excellence in completing my basic ECE certificate from the College of New Caledonia here in Quesnel. I am currently working for the North Cariboo Aboriginal Family Program Society, and hold the Enhancement Worker position. I am responsible for the Aboriginal Infant Development (AIDP)/Aboriginal Supported Child Development (ASCD) Programs. I absolutely love my job, and look forward to what the future will bring. I am currently working towards my ECE Diploma through Northern Lights College, and will have completed it by June 2011.I am a mother of a 4 year old little girl, and a step mother to a 14 month old little boy. Children are the light of my life both personally and professionally, and I love watching as they grow and learn in new and exciting ways.

Sandy Wells, 2009 Scholarship Award recipient for Basic ECE Certificate. A member of the Lil’wat nation, Sandy works at the infant program at Pqusnalhcw Child Care Centre, Mount Currie.

Sandy WellsHello everyone, my name is Sandy Bernice Wells. I am 24 years old. I just completed my diploma in Aboriginal Early Childhood Education with specialization in infant and toddler 3 years and under at the Nicola Valley Institute of Technology (NVIT). I am planning on going back to school to finish my diploma in Aboriginal early childhood education specializing in special needs. After that, my dream is to either become a school teacher or an occupational therapist. I enjoy going to school and learning about new things. I believe that children deserve to be treated equally and fairly because they are our future. I work in the infant program at Pqusnalhcw Child Care Centre, Mount Currie. I love my job because every day is new and exciting. I have my family and friends to thank for helping me get where I am today. Thank you for giving me this opportunity to share with you who I am.

5Caring For Our Children January-February 2011

Annette Vivier I am from the Tsleil-Waututh Nation in North Vancouver and currently live and work in beautiful Campbell River on Vancouver Island. I am the mother of two beautiful and witty children who make me laugh every day. I volunteer with both Hockey BC and our local lacrosse organization. I work at an urban aboriginal family life society as the program manager for the Aboriginal Supported Child Development Program. I am blessed to work with children with support needs and their families. I absolutely love working with children and am always amazed by their resiliency and ability to see the good in everything. I finished my certificate in Early Childhood Education back

2010 Scholarship RecipientsFor the $1000 Scholarship for Basic ECE Certificate or Diploma

Caroline Chandler, Squamish Nation, attended the Native Education College in Vancouver and completed her Basic ECE Certificate on July 16, 2010.

For the $1500 Scholarship for Post-Basic ECE Certificate or Diploma

Edna Dennis, Okanagan/Kaska, attended Northern Lights College in Fort St. John and completed her Post-Basic ECE combined Infant/Toddler and Special Needs Diploma on June 25, 2010.

Caroline Chandler, 2010 Scholarship Award recipient for Basic ECE Certificate. A member of Squamish Nation, Caroline is currently a substitute ECE teacher in Squamish Nation.

Caroline Chandler BioMy name is Caroline Chandler and I am from the Squamish Nation. I enrolled in the Basic ECE program in January 2010 because I was working on contract at Tin-Mun-Mun Daycare in Squamish. I graduated from the basic program in July 2010! I am a substitute ECE teacher in Squamish, and I am currently enrolled in the Post-Basic ECE program. I will be going on my Infant/Toddler practicum, and then my Special Needs Practicum starting on January 26th, 2011. I really enjoy working with children and feel that they are all gifts from the creator! I love waking up every day to help children develop in the best possible way that they can, and to ensure that they have fun doing it! After I graduate from the Post-Basic program, I want to start working and go to school part-time to work towards getting my BA in ECCE. One of my favourite quotes pretty much sums it up: “No one yet has fully realized the wealth of sympathy, kindness and generousity hidden in the soul of a child. The effort of every true education should be to unlock that treasure’’ - Emma Goldman.

Edna Dennis, 2010 Scholarship Award recipient for Post-Basic ECE Certificate. Of Okanagan and Kaska Dene heritage, Edna is the Early Childhood Educator K-4 Supervisor at the Witsuwiten Child & Family Centre in Moricetown, BC.

Edna Dennis My name is Edna Dennis. I work at the Witsuwiten Child & Family Center in Moricetown, B.C. with the Aboriginal Headstart K-4 program. I have worked at the Center since September 2001, starting out as a Supported Child Care Worker, ECE Assistant, Outreach Worker, Snack/Cook and alternate bus driver. I have six children and five grandchildren. I am from the Okanagan Nation from the Interior of British Columbia but I was adopted into the Laksilyu Clan which is the Small Frog Clan from the Witsuwiten in Moricetown, B.C. My father is from the Kaska Dene Nation from Northern B.C.; he belonged to the Wolf Clan. I have been married for twenty nine years, living in Smithers then in Moricetown. In April 2003 I started taking courses towards my ECE Certificate which I received in 2007. In May 2010 I finished my Early Childhood Infant Toddler Practicum, then finishing all courses for my Early Childhood Diploma, with high academics. I love working with children, they are our future and each one is so unique. “The sky is the limit in what a child can learn and what you can teach a child. I was always told that you learn something new every day, no matter how big or small. Life is a life-long learning experience you are never too old to learn.”

Annette Vivier, 2009 Scholarship Award recipient for Post-Basic ECE Certificate. A member of the Tsleil-Waututh Nation, Annette is an Aboriginal Supported Child Development Consultant at the Laichwiltach Family Life Society in Campbell River.

6January-February 2011 Caring For Our Children

online Cultural Resource

Four Directions Teachings websitewww.fourdirectionsteachings.com

This is the welcome page of the Four Directions Teachings website (Courtesy: Invert Media) If your Nation or community would like to do a similar website for your cultural teachings, you can call Invert Media at (416) 530-2752 or email info@invertmedia.com. We look forward to similar websites featuring West Coast First Nations, Inuit and Métis teachings for our young ones. The Diagram for Cree Teachings from FourDirectionsTeachings.com. All

teachings are presented in online flash animation format, and transcripts are available in HTML format or downloadable PDF format.

When you visit FourDirectionsteachings.com you are in for a visual treat: beautiful graphics, breathtaking animation and professionally narrated cultural teachings and traditional stories. The thoughtful layout of the website is designed to encourage the viewer to find out more about our rich Indigenous cultural heritage. The website features the traditional cultural teachings of five First Nations: M’ikmaq, Mohawk, Ojibwe, Cree, and Blackfoot. Downloadable transcripts (in HTML or PDF format), audio recordings and a Teachers Resource Guide are available for educators to incorporate the site into their curriculum. FourDirectionsteachings.com was created by Invert Media, an Aboriginal multimedia company in Ontario in 2006. Doug Anderson, Invert Media’s Strategic and Creative Director, said: “The website is intended not as a replacement but an introduction to First Nations cultural teachings. We want to encourage young people to seek out and learn their own heritage in a deeper way.” FourDirectionsteachings.com was funded by the Department of Canadian Heritage.

ACCS NEwS & ANNoUCEmENTS

Two ACCS Publications Now Available online as Downloadable PDFsWe are pleased to announce that two of our publications, Developing Culturally Focused Aboriginal Early Childhood Education Programs: A Handbook (2000) and Valuing the Community Voice: The Coordination and Integration of Aboriginal Early Childhood Education Programs (2005) are now available online as downloadable PDF documents. Hard copies are also available by request. Please contact our Resource Librarian, Pepper Brewster at library@acc-society.bc.ca or call (604) 913-9128 ext. 229.

Developing Culturally Focused Aboriginal ECD Programs (2000), written by Darrel McLeod, is a guide for integration First Nations culture into early childhood education programs.

Valuing the Community Voice (2005), prepared by Kathleen Jamieson for BC ACCS, This is a report on the 2005 four regional two-day workshops, focus group and interviews in Vancouver of Aboriginal early childhood development (ACED) workers on the definition and vision of AECD, and steps needed to better coordination and integration of ACED programs in the province.

7Caring For Our Children January-February 2011

UPComINg CoNFERENCES AND EvENTS

Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada National Research Centre Conference Sharing Truth - Creating a National Research Centre on Residential SchoolsWhen: March 1-3, 2011 Where: Sheraton Vancouver Wall Centre, 1088 Burrard

Street, Vancouver BC Contact: For questions regarding registration please email trc2011@pr1me.ca or call (604) 601-8377 or tool-free 1-866-904-8377 and ask for Ruby Smith. For more information, please visit www.trc.ca

Description: Canada’s Residential School system lasted 150 years. Aboriginal families continue to feel its negative impacts today. As part of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission’s mandate to educate Canadians about Residential schools and their legacy, a National Research Centre will be established. Join TRC Commissioners Chair Justice Murray Sinclair, Chief Wilton Littlechild and Marie Wilson as they hear from experts from truth commissions from around the globe. These experts have been invited to share their ideas and strategies for the development of the National Research Centre on Residential Schools. Stakeholders attending this forum will include representatives from international, federal and provincial governments, academia, archivists and institutes. Residential School survivors, Aboriginal organizations and parties to the Residential School Settlement Agreement will also be invited.

The 4th International Conference on Fetal Alcohol Spectrum Disorder The Power of Knowledge: Integrating Research, Policy, and Promising Practice Around the WorldWhen: March 2-5, 2011 Where: The Westin Bayshore, 1601 Bayshore Drive, Vancouver, BC Contact: Katia Selezeneva Phone: (604) 822-7524, Fax: (604) 822-4835, Email: ipad@interchange.ubc.ca Website: www.interprofessional.ubc.ca

Description: Our understanding of FASD is entering a period of rapid expansion and change, dramatically increasing our comprehension of the breadth and depth of the global impact of this lifelong disability. This 4th International conference will provide an advanced forum for emerging and cutting edge research, policy and practice that will assist governments, service systems, service providers, parents and caregivers, as we strive to address the complex issues of FASD. This new knowledge will be an impetus for critical action in supporting women, individuals, families, and communities around the world.

4th International Meeting on Indigenous Child HealthWhen: March 4-6, 2011 Where: Vancouver, BC Contact: CPS Education Department 1-613-526-9397,

ext 263 or email education@cps.ca

Description: The theme of the 4th International Meeting on Indigenous Child Health is Securing Our Future: Advancing Circles of Caring. It will be hosted by the Canadian Paediatric Society and the American Academy of Pediatrics, in cooperation with the Indian Health Service and the First Nations Inuit Health Branch, Health Canada. Child health providers and researchers dedicated to working with American Indian, Alaska Native, First Nations, Inuit, and Métis children and families are encouraged to attend. Participants will have the opportunity to share model programs and research, and develop practical skills that can be utilized in community settings. Visit www.cps.ca or www.aap.org/nach for more information.

Disseminating Evidence-based Practices in Children’s Mental Health Conference When: Mar 20 – 23, 2011 Where: Banff, Alberta

Description: This 43rd Banff International Conference on Behavioural Science will present addresses and workshops on the latest research findings and clinical applications on the dissemination of evidence-based practices for various child and adolescent disorders. Leading scientist-practitioners from across North America will examine issues and controversies concerning effective dissemination of evidence-based practices for child and adolescent mental health. The target audience for this conference includes clinicians, researchers and policy makers working in the field of children’s mental health. Register online at: www.banffcentre.ca/conference_registration/2011/BVS1103

FNSA 15th Annual Conference and Annual General Meeting: Leading in Language & LearningWhen: April 15 – 16, 2011 Where: Costal Plaza Hotel and Suites, 1763 Comox

Street, Vancouver, BC

Registration: Online registration at https://www.yourconferencesolution.com/registration/fnsa/ Or call (604) 925-6087 or email fnsa@fnesc.ca

Description: This exciting learning and networking event is dedicated to promoting excellence in First Nations schools. Robert Matthew, the principal of Chief Atahm

BC Aboriginal Child Care SocietyKaren Isaac, Executive DirectorEugene Harry (XiQuelem), ElderLynn McBride, Child Care AdvisorMary Burgaretta, Aboriginal Child Care AdvisorDavid Wu, Community Liaison & ResearcherPepper Brewster, Resource LibrarianScott Nahanee, Administrative Assistant/Accounts Payable

Editor/Writer: David WuDesign: DanceyDesignPrinting: Initial Print

Caring for Our Children is published by the BC Aboriginal Child Care Society. It is distributed to ACCS members, on and off reserve child care centres, Head Start programs, Bands and Tribal Councils in BC and individuals interested in early childhood education and care from a First Nations perspective.Readers are invited to reprint articles provided proper credit is given. We welcome the submission of articles, book reviews, artwork, photos, letters and poetry.

We acknowledge current funding support from The BC Ministry of Children and Family Development. BC ACCS is a proud affiliate of the Canadian Child Care Federation (CCCF). ACCS membership also means membership with the CCCF, including automatic subscription to the CCCF Interaction magazine.

For more information please feel free to contact us:

BC Aboriginal Child Care Society708-100 Park Royal SouthWest Vancouver, BC V7T 1A2T: 604.913.9128 F : 604.913.9129reception@acc-society.bc.ca www.acc-society.bc.ca

Funded by the Province of British Columbia

Secwepemc Immersion School, is this year’s keynote speaker and the FNSA also welcomes Mike Mattos of Solution Tree and Tom Finegan of Kagan Associates.

ECEBC’s 40th Annual Conference 2011When: May 12, 13, and 14, 2011 Where: Radisson Hotel Vancouver Airport, 8181 Cambie Road, Richmond BC

The theme for this year’s conference is Dedicated to Leading and Creating Change. It will be held at the Radisson Hotel Vancouver in Richmond, BC. To find out more, information please visit the ECEBC website: www.ecebc.ca, or contact Alison Eagles, Conference Coordinator at conference.ecebc@look.ca or (604) 709-6063.

CONTENTS

FEATURE ARTICLETraditional Drumming and Cultural Healing: An Interview with Elder Fred John Part 1David WuPages 1-3

Honouring the Mary Thomas Memorial Scholarship ECE Recipients 2009 and 2010: Blessing the futurePages 4-5

Online Cultural Resource: Four Directions Teachings WebsitePage 6

ACCS NEwS & ANNoUNCEmENTSPage 6

UPComINg CoNFERENCES AND EvENTSPage 7-8

Jan-Feb 2011 Vol. 13 No. 5

ACCS: How did you get into drumming and cultural healing?

FJ: I felt that I was missing something in my life, even though I did a lot of skilled labour in welding. When I attended a Pow Wow while living in Seattle, I realized I got to follow this up because I felt it in my spirit and my heart—the Pow Wow, the songs – even though I don’t know much about it. When I returned to Lillooet in Canada, I followed it up. We had people in the same way as I was. So we started learning about our culture, but there wasn’t very much to learn because we didn’t know much about it. And so we started bringing in people who had the awareness of the drumming and healing, so we continued on and started working. Then I felt the need to help people. In my spirit I was a helper, I wanted to help people. I found that by singing and using the sweat lodge, and learning more about our ways we were doing really good work for our people back home. And so I started doing the work. It came to me naturally, to learn how to sing—I must know about 100 songs in the Pow Wow way, which I try to bring in the Nations from all over, like the south, east, west and north, songs when I do sing and teaching the drumming.

The Elder that taught me said: “What I’m going to work with you is on reawakening your spirit that’s been asleep. And a lot of us have gone through that. That way, when you do wake you you’ll be able to follow up on it, learn your own culture and bring that back for your people.” That’s what he did, and I understood, and that’s the teachings I teach now with my drumming group I teach every Tuesday. I told them I will be touching on their culture side, even though they may think they don’t have it but it’s always there. They took to the drum really well.

Elder Fred John is a Cultural Elder and Adult Drug and Alcohol Counsellor from Xaxlip Band, Lillooet Nation. Elder Fred does cultural healing, teaches drumming, hand drums, Pow-Wow drums and talking circle at the Hey-Way’-Noqu’ Healing Circle for Addictions Society in East Vancouver. He also teaches drumming to preschool children at Awahsuk AHS, Eagles Nest AHS, and Singing Frog AHS Preschool. He can be reached at Hey-Way’-Noqu at (604) 874-1831.

Traditional Drumming and Cultural Healing: An Interview with Elder Fred John, Part 1

Caring for Our Children Newsletter Electronic VersionTo our members and subscribers of Caring for Our Children: To be kinder and gentler to the environment, and to ensure that on reserve child care programs and community partners that have limited computer access have hard copy newsletters, we would like to encourage subscribers to switch to receiving the electronic format in PDF. If you would like to switch, please email david@acc-society.bc.ca with the title “CFOC switch to electronic” and specify which email address you would like to receive it. Haychka Siem. –David Wu, Community Liaison & Researcher.

Email: david@acc-society.bc.ca