Tsawout F irs t Nation

Events Calendar 02

Notices and Events 03

Traditional Ways Fair 04

Seafood Festival 05

Social Development 06

Head Start 06

Environment 10

Douglas Treaty 11

Health 12

Learning House 13

Business Advice 15

CONTENTSHonouring the Babies

Tsawout Elder Doreen Thomas stands with her granddaughter

Christine, and Great Granddaughter - baby Alayna Loretta

Jewel Thomas. The family attended the recent "Honour the

Babies" Ceremony that was sponsored by NI�TU,O Child and

Family Services Society at the new Songhees Wellness Centre.

Babies were honoured with a traditional blanketing ceremony

where Witnesses were called and Elders were invited to speak

to each of the parents and children. More photos on page 9.

March 2014 / Issue 45

W�SNE� Moons

We are now moving from WEXES

(Beginning the sacred Season), and

heading into PEXSISEN (Blossoming).

H�SW��E to Eric Pelkey for providing

this information.

Triple P

Elders Swim

Elders Swim

Nurse Practioner Clinic

Day

LifeRing

Healing Circle

Elders Swim

Elders Swim

LifeRing

Nurse Practioner Day

LifeRing

Healing Circle

Spring Break Camp

LifeRing

LifeRing

Traditional Ways Fair

LifeRing

Chiropractor - Dr. Youlton

Acupuncturist - GaChing

Acupuncturist - GaChing

Acupuncturist

Chiro. - Dr. Youlton

Traditional Ways Fair

Acupuncturist - GaChingNurse Practioner Day

LifeRing

Healing Circle

LifeRing

Healing Circle

Nurse Practioner Day

Spring Break Camp

Tax Services

Health and Science

Career Fair

Grave-site Cleanup

Respected Elders and Community,

As Easter is around the corner - we are planning

to clean the old grave-site and we feel it would be

a good time to start marking the unmarked

graves while we are together. We will be asking

the band Public Works Department to help us

with making crosses. If you would like to be in-

volved with this we will be asking our gravedig-

gers and knowledgeable elders to help recall the

sites so that our ancestors are not forgotten.

Another question for Elders is whether or not

the expansion of the new cemetery should be

plotted out by family lots similar to the old grave-

site. Kindly let me know if you want to be in-

volved as we

plan to meet

again before

Easter, prob-

ably in March.

HISWKE SIIAM

Rose Jimmy,

Elders' Worker

Tax Services

Tax Services with Roxanne Brydges,

Certified Financial Planner

New this year, full efile tax services are coming

to you.   Please take advantage of this opportunity

to have your taxes filed by a long-time financial

professional.   Roxanne has 20 years experience

with taxes and can help guide you through the

process, making sure  everything is done right

and to your best advantage.  

Please come to the gym on Monday March 17,

10:00 AM – 3:00 PM

Roxanne is a colleague ofMarco Faasse, both

associated with Desjardins Financial Security.  

Health & Science Career Fair

March 6th, 201411:00 a.m. - 4:00 p.m.

Who will be there?

• Post Secondary Reps.

• Employers

• Funding Agencies

Be Prepared for manyOpportunities!

• Bring your resume

• Dress for success

More reasons to come!• Light Snacks

• Refreshments

• Entertainment

• iPad Door Prize Raffle!

For more information, please call Jessie Jim - 250 652-9101 ext 334

Friendly Reminder from the Social Development Team

No renewal & no employment action plan = no cheque processed

Delays in receiving information = delays in processing = delays in receiving a cheque

Takes 5 - 8 business days to process a completed application

Deadline for declarations and budget and decision forms are the 15th of each month

Please bring in Hydro Bills once received in the mail.

This is so we do not have past due amounts or disconnection notices (NO BILLS =

NO PAYMENTS)

Hearts of the CommunityAwards

CONGRATULATIONS TO KRISTAL UNDERWOOD who was

nominated as a student who has not only volunteered,

but trained to become an advocate and bring more

awareness about bullying into the schools. Tabita

Marks had the opportunity to interview her, and

submitted an application with a reference letter from

her teacher that contributed to her nomination. The

awards ceremony took place Feb. 25th at Mary

Winspear, and featured a live performance by the

Stelly’s Secondary School, and a complimentary

luncheon.

Beacon Community Services and the Peninsula News Review have been sponsoring the Heart of the

Community Volunteer Awards. This heart warming event honours volunteers who have contributed to the

Saanich Peninsula Community.

Elders Honouredby G.A.L.S.

The G.A.L.S. Group age 12 - 18 years hosted a beautiful Valentines

Tea in the old council chambers on Feb. 12th to honour 10 elders.

They presented them with lovely decorated jars that held scented

bath salts and homemade candles. Holly McDonald, from V.I.H.A.

also did a presentation on oral health, shared a poem, and gifted all

the ladies with dental care items.

On that same night three of our gals supported elders who travelled to Sooke to view the Kuper Island

Residential School film, slides by Alex Louie, listened to Elders' personal stories, and witnessed the

gathering of artifacts for a cedar blanket. Big thank - you to Siona Thomas who organized bus & driver

Perry Lafortune for this event!

Hearts of the Community Awards Continued

Trinity Time Dinner & Honouring

OUR HEAD START FAMILIES OUTING TO HOLY TRINITY ANGLICAN HALL has moved

to once a month. We now meet for dinner at 4:30 pm. There is circle

time with singing, drumming, storytelling, and seasonal crafts. It has

been very successful attendance as many of our Head Start children

attend pre-school. Everyone is welcome to attend!

Our families who attended Trinity Time, witnessed the honouring of

Tsawout Chief Harvey Underwood, Tseycum Chief Vern Jacks and

Pauquachin Chief Bruce Underwood, represented by an elder. The

Archbishop of Canada and Primate Fred Hiltz was invited to the feast

of which many of our families had the chance to share in songs,

stories, and gifting. Next Trinity Time outing is Thursday, March 13th.

Transportation will be provided at 4:15 pm at the band office.

“Focus on the Family Conference”

Tabita Marks was chosen as a delegate to attend the conference held at

the U.B.C. Longhouse on February 1 8-20. She would l ike to share the

words and picture from one session with the grandparents’ panel .

Honour the Babies Ceremony

“Focus on the Family Conference”

She would also l ike to share a picture she drew while being inspired by an elder’s story and her role as

a grandmother.

Tsawout Member Preston

Salopree, mother Marie

and baby Cheyanne at the

recent "Honour the Babies"

Ceremony held at the new

Songhees Wel lness Centre.

Attention: Mobile Home Park Managers

February 18, 2014

RE: Capital Regional District Kitchen Scraps – 2014 Ban at Hartland Landfill

The Capital Regional District recently implemented a phased approach for dealing with kitchen

scraps at Hartland Landfill. Kitchen scraps include organic materials such as meat, bones, vegetables,

fruit, breads, grains, eggs, soiled paper products and cooked leftovers.

The phased approach has already been in place since 2013 and is as follows:

•2013 and 2014 - Incentives (20$/tonne) for waste haulers to separate kitchen scraps and

bring them to CRD-approved transfer stations and composting facilities.

• January 1, 2014 - 20% surcharge for waste that contains kitchen scrap materials.

•January 1, 2015 - complete ban on kitchen scraps from the Hartland Landfill.

Tsawout First Nation has been working with BFI Waste Management Solutions (http://local.bfic-

anada.com/) and ReFUSE Resource Recovery (http://refuse.ca/) to implement a pilot project for two

key areas on the Tsawout East Saanich Reserve to collect kitchen scraps and document what works

best for the Tsawout community. So far, the pilot project has been successful, with very high particip-

ation rates. In the future, our goal is to roll out the composting program to all Tsawout Band Members

living on-reserve.

Tsawout is also home to a number ofmobile home parks, and each mobile home park is responsible

for managing their own solid waste. Tsawout First Nation would like to recommend BFI since they

have already established a relationship with the leading compost business in Victoria. reFUSE;

however there are other waste management options such as Waste Management Solutions (ht-

tp://www.wm.com/index.jsp) that are available to you. Please contact the service providers directly

to arrange a meeting to go over your options.

For further information on the Capital Regional District’s Kitchen scrap strategy, please visit their

website at https://www.crd.bc.ca or contact them via telephone at (250) 360-3000.

If you have any further questions for Tsawout First Nation, please contact Shauna Johnson or Gwen

Underwood at:

sjohnson@tsawout.ca or

shaysema@tsawout.ca.

Sincerely,

Shauna Johnson

Environmental Technologist

Treaty Office Report -- February 2014

(Eric Pelkey ; Treaty Officer)

Tsawout Longhouse(A central part of our identity as WSNE People and Families of STUTW�)

I will no longer report on this matter as it has been turned over to Lorne Underwood. I have exited

with recommendations sent to the Board about possible Longhouse construction start options. I will

leave that to him.

Land Claims and Specifics Claims

We continue with interviews of our Elders and those that are out on the Land and Waters practising

their Douglas Treaty and Aboriginal Rights in our territory. We are documenting and mapping this

information as proof of our continued, continuous use of all the resources and Lands in our territory

and Homeland. We are also documenting our historical uses of all the lands, waters and resources in

our Territory. This is to support the Rights and Title action against Canada and BC that we are

working towards.

Ongoing and regular funding for important work however is our main hold-up.

The BC Treaty Process is one of our main enemies that we are forced to deal with. All of the

surrounding Nations outside the WSNE are making claims on our Territory and resources through

their new treaty claims. Tsawassen Treaty, TEMEXW Treaty and Hul,Que,Meenum Treaty are those

in the BC Treaty Process making claims to our Territory and resources.

Pender Island Claim – Poets Cove

I now have the completed Tsawout Specific Claim for Poets Cove on Pender Island. The claim is now

under review by the federal government and they will inform us soon of their decision on moving

forward.

The report is invaluable with a wealth of historical information on how that land was taken from us

and how Tseycum got added onto the shared ownership of that reserve land on Pender.

This claim is not about that reserve, however, it is for the land where the Poets Cove Resort is. That is

where our village was located.

LifeRing

A SECOND, WEEKLY drop in session has been added to the LifeRing Program. LifeRing was

formed for people choosing to receive support in their journey of reaching and maintaining

sobriety.

Chris deBoer and Glenda Mercer now co-facilitate two LifeRing sessions per week. These 1-

hour sessions are held in the old Council Chambers from 3:00 pm to 4:00 pm, every Monday

and Thursday. We look forward to seeing you there!

Counsellor Contact Information

Counsellor Extensions

Health Department – 250-652-1149

Please note the following extensions for the Tsawout Health Counsellors:

Chris deBoer 201

Sandra Lacroix 204

Glenda Mercer 206

Chair Yoga

Chair yoga class is becoming more popular! Seniors come

from our Tsawout mobile home parks, Sidney & Victoria!

Everyone is welcome to attend on Tuesdays from 11:30 am

-12:30 pm & Friday's from 10:00 am - 11:00 am.

Floor-Mat Yoga

Floor mat yoga class is now offered on Friday for you younger

folk from12:00 noon-1:00 pm.

TSAWOUT I,TOTEL EW�,UTW� “LEARNING HOUSE”

Tsawout Learning House

For the month of February Tsawout Learning House's

focus was on friendship, in support of the National

Anti-Bully Day on Wednesday, February 26th. All the

students attending received a pink t-shirt to remind

them that we are all friends, and to treat each other

with respect, caring for each other by including each

other in our play, our games, our activities and our

circle of friends. This will be our on-going focus as we

learn to work together at T.L.H. The students signed a

pledge that reads, “We take care of each other.”

For the Elders' Valentine Luncheon, the children and

staff helped to make friendship bracelets and sequined

hearts for the elders and friends attending the

luncheon. Thank you to Naomi, Dylan, Sophie and

Kelsey for being helpers and giving these out for T.L.H.

Tsawout Learning House has excellent support for

your children. Upon my absence, when I was

attending two workshops: Fostering Resiliency and

Save Your Sanity, T.L.H. staff proved once again their

confidence and skills in working as a team and in

managing the after school program.

I want to welcome Rachel Pelkey who began on Feb.

18th. Rachel is hired as a Youth Worker through

Victoria Native Friendship Centre. Also, thank you to

Kevin Horne, now on our substitute list. Kevin proved

he has awesome skills in supporting the students,

when he joined the staff for our Non-Instructional Day

activities on Friday, February 21, 2014. The students

enjoyed S.T.E.M. Camp with science experiments in the

morning and spaghetti lunch, a movie, computers and

recreation in the afternoon. Please note, we have some

excellent tutor support for older students too.

Laura Gerlinsky a practicum student from Stelly's is

assigned at Tsawout Learning House to tutor on

Wednesday from 4:00 pm-5:30 pm.

Mr. Dennis Goos is a retired teacher/administrator who

volunteers at Tsawout Learning House on Tuesdays,

and Thursdays (as needed) from 3:00 pm-4:00 pm.

  Stelly's Tutors

Stelly's Secondary School Vice-Principal,

Tina Peirik has allowed all Tsawout First

Nation students to access the tutors

available at Stelly's Secondary School:

Monday, Tuesday and Thursday from 3:10-

4:25 for extra help in Math/Science,

English/Social Studies.

Spring Break Camp

Spring Break Camp is two weeks this year:

Monday, March 10th to Friday, March 21st from 9:00-3:00 pm. There is no cost for this year's camp.

Please see Stephanie Adams, Tsawout Learning House Coordinator, for registration forms, for students 4-12

years old. Activities are planned in collaboration with Tsawout Health, Education and Social Services

Department, Cultural Fair.

I will not be accepting registration forms after Friday, February 28, 2014. I will be away at a Visions 2014

Conference first week in March, Monday 3rd to Friday 7th.

I welcome Parents/Guardians as Volunteers or Secondary School Students who would like to volunteer to

complete Work Experience Hours during the Spring Camp. Please bring a completed work experience form

from your School Counsellor.

Blessings to all my little children and your families,

Stephanie H. Adams

Tsawout I ,TOTEL�EW�, UTW� “Learning House” Coordinator

250-652-1149 Ext. 332

J N �Y, S� EL E TI It's a good day.

Students proudly display their pink T-shirts in support of Anti-Bullying day February 26, 2014.

Financial Advice -Column

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