This year’s Quu?asa Urban Healing Gathering for Victoria was held at Edelweiss House, and there was plenty of food and fun to be had.
The doors opened at 2 p.m. on Dec. 2 and people were invited to snack and to socialize. Geraldine Edgar, Ditidaht elder, was there to teach people how to weave cedar crafts.
Rosie Marsden, the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council membership clerk was on-site to process status card applications. Other resource people from other NTC departments provided information on the services offered at NTC and from Vancouver Island Health Authority.
Joe Tom of Quu?asa and Dave Frank, an Ahousaht elder, offered brushings and cultural support to anyone that desired that cultural touchstone.
NTC Vice President Ken Watts welcomed the people and talked about some of what he has been working on over the past year.
Emcee Stan Matthew noted that it has been a particularly tough year for Nuu-chah-nulth people in terms of losing loved ones. He asked for a moment of silence to remember them.
Vina Robinson, manager of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council’s Teechuktl (Mental Health) Program introduced herself and her team. She told the people that they are there to listen and to help Nuu-chah-nulth people in any way that they can.
The men led in the singing of the Nuu-chah-nulth anthem, followed by an Ahousaht dinner son. Finally, everyone lined up for a complete turkey feast catered by Jessica Salt and her crew.
At the end of the evening, people were treated to a version of the play Animal Kingdom that a small group of Nuu-chah-nulth and Cowichan children had been practising for.
Sault said she wrote the play with the help of her mother Kathy Robinson. The play, she said, incorporates many valuable Nuu-chah-nulth teachings.
“Old teachings that were retained from before the potlatch ban and before residential school days,” said Salt.
She went on to say that the kids thrive on these kinds of activities, and it showed in their eagerness to perform. They danced while young singers drummed with adult performers.
They finished their show by singing the song Silent Night in the Nuu-chah-nulth language, to the delight of the crowd.
