Our sixth camp, Baxvala Camp, was run with support from our friends and colleagues at Greenpeace Canada. We were fortunate to have Greenpeace’s Eduardo Sousa join us in Koeye for Baxvala Camp, and below, he shares his reflections on his time with us in Koeye. We raise our hands in gratitude to Eduardo and to Greenpeace Canada for their ongoing support of our programs!
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BLOG FOR QQS: Baxvala and Biodiversity
I recently had the privilege of spending a week in the Koeye River Watershed in Heiltsuk traditional territory. More specifically, I spent a week witnessing the last of six youth camps for 2011 organized by Qqs Projects Society.
Over the past few years, Greenpeace Canada has had the pleasure of supporting individual Qqs youth camps, which intertwine cultural and environmental stewardship themes. This year, Greenpeace provided support to the last camp of the season, Baxvala Camp, which explored what a sustainable relationship with Heiltsuk traditional territory and its resources looks like. Baxvala means to harvest food in a traditional (sustainable) way.
Since beginning my work at Greenpeace Canada as a senior forest campaigner on the Great Bear Rainforest, I have often heard through different circles of the innovative work Qqs has been doing on the ground in instilling a sense of stewardship over the lands and waters amongst the youth – but in a way that reinforces their sense of what it means to be Heiltsuk.
Over the course of the week, children ranging in age from 9 to 15 worked with elders and camp staff (themselves a great group of young Heiltsuk leaders) to harvest traditional foods and medicines, all the while learning about western science-based approaches to understanding ecosystems, biodiversity and stewardship. An important component to this work was deepening an understanding of environmental ethics from a Heiltsuk perspective.
A few of the young Heiltsuk leaders who make up Koeye Camp's staff
Being in the natural setting of the Koeye, with its deep cultural history and rich variety of flora and fauna, reinforces the meaning of stewardship and what it is to value the forces that give life to the land and people.
One of the more memorable experiences for me came as I walked through old growth forest teeming with life, where the Koeye River enters the ocean. In the midst of moss and lichen hanging from old cedar trees, nestled in the dense forest was a small group of the campers playing a game: with ribbons tied between trees in a web-like pattern, one child stood in the middle, touching the various strands. They were learning about the web of life and how we are all connected, both to one another and to life-sustaining forces. More importantly, they were doing so in a place that exudes that sense of life force.
Campers hike along the beach in Koeye Bay
At times the youth camps coincide with family camps that take place at the nearby Koeye Lodge, and this particular week was such a co-incidence. Taking advantage of the overlap, over the course of a few mornings elders from the family camp also taught the Koeye campers about their language. I quite enjoyed listening to the lessons, while Heiltsuk traditional songs played in the background. And in fact this is a key component of the camps – the kids have to leave their iPods, MP3 players, etc. behind – the only songs and music played are those that are traditionally Heiltsuk.
I was also able to learn much myself as I was taken up Koeye River to learn about medicinal plants – in fact I was very fortunate in learning hands-on about traditional plant medicines found in older, mature forests by assisting in harvesting and preparing Devil’s Club and False Hellebore. I was also taught what signs to look for to get a sense of if and when bears have passed through an area, and indeed we spotted a large grizzly bear not too far from our canoe.
The week was also memorable for me for two other significant reasons. First, it was the very same week that a ground-breaking article appeared on the website of Scientific American marking the important grizzly bear DNA-based research that Coastwatch, Qqs’ research and monitoring arm, has been doing alongside Raincoast Conservation Foundation – a collaboration that brings together Heiltsuk and western science. There was quite a buzz around the lodge with the release of the article and its findings; you can read it (along with a series of interesting blogs delving deeper into the research) here.
Young Heiltsuk campers from the community of Bella Bella
But perhaps most memorable for me was the final day of the Baxvala Camp. The last day of these week-long camps always culminates in a Feast Day in which youth, who have been also learning (or refreshing their knowledge of) their traditional dances and songs, come together in the Bighouse to celebrate and reinforce their culture and identity. The Feast is open to the Heiltsuk community, so members from Bella Bella come in by boat and spend the day witnessing and participating in the dances and songs that are central to their cultural identity. It is deeply symbolic and moving to me to watch cultural values and traditions carry through the youth, but in a way that is very rooted in the present.
Over the past couple of years, as I have continued my own work with Greenpeace, with First Nations on the coast, and with the land and water, I have become aware of the importance of being grateful for the opportunities I have been given. I am grateful to Qqs and the Heiltsuk for welcoming me and allowing me to walk among them to witness powerful cultural and ecological forces at work.
A young Heiltsuk camper explores her territory's rich marine resources
Along with gratitude, I have also come to fully value the profound interrelationship between cultural diversity and biodiversity – both are interconnected, mutually supportive, and in witnessing what is taking place through Qqs initiatives like the youth camps, that bond becomes ever so apparent.
Eduardo Sousa
