Surviving Vancouver: Gathering in our City

Join our panelists Lori Snyder, Woody Morrison and T'uy't'tanat- Cease Wyss as they engage in an exploratory and educational discussion about Indigenous Food systems, abilities to subsist, survive and live with traditional food sources and healing properties of the natural world. The evening will be moderated by Jolene Andrew.

The philosophy of plants for food, medicine and cultural resources are found in the very cities we live in. Despite popular belief, people need not travel outside of urban centers to discover a robust world of eco-diverse plants and animals that contribute to the health and vitality of our well being. Traditional technology and knowledge of harvesting belongs to Indigenous people's beliefs and ways of knowing, rooted in their relationship to the land. Particularly in this period of climate change and great uncertainty about the earth's future, many people believe it’s Indigenous values and practices that will help the climate emergency, one of which the City of Vancouver has recently acknowledged.

This exciting panel will speak to their individual practices, identifying food sources, medicine properties and cultural resources from local flora and fauna. They will address Indigenous experiences and intimate relationship with the land; one that values adaptability and rejuvenation, a position that complicates eco-conservation as a progressive environmental practice. Storytelling will additionally be explored in relation to Indigenous pedagogy; narratives that contribute to lifestyles and communities which live in harmony with the natural world.

Nature enthusiasts, survivalists, naturopathic therapists and users, in addition to food practitioners, will surely benefit from this dynamic discussion.

Date: Wednesday, March 20, 2019

Time: 7:00pm

Admission: *$14 Early Bird, $19 General Admission, $10 MOV Members. Free to individuals who self-identify as Indigenous.

*Early Bird ticket sales end March 18 at 5pm.

Event ticket includes FREE admission to Haida Now and Wild Things: The Power of Nature in Our Lives exhibitions. Please arrive early with your event ticket to view the exhibits.

Woodrow F. (Woody) Morrison, Jr. is of Cherokee and Haida decent. His father was a well respected Haida Elder who spoke the Haida language. Woody Jr. began his training with Haida elders as a history keeper when he was three years old. As a young child he enjoyed the depth of his own Haida culture inspired to walk the footsteps of his father as a fisherman. Woody Jr.’s life changed following 8th grade when he attended schools managed by the US Department of the Interior, Bureau of Indian Affairs. His careful study of his own culture as well as the cultural indoctrination of Indigenous people through his and other’s experiences became a cornerstone to becoming a lawyer and returning to the history and stories of his people. Woody utilizes his education and his rich Haida roots in transforming the abuses and anger that he and his people have experienced.

Lori Snyder is a Metis herbalist & educator of wild, native and medicinal plants. Lori was born in Squamish, BC. Her ancestry of 7 Indigenous nations spreads from the ‘East” across Turtle Island. She is called to share the wisdom of plants at elementary and secondary schools and presents at Professional Development days within the Metro Vancouver School Districts. Lori is currently the “eco-artist in residence” at Moberly Arts & Cultural Centre. She caretakes a Medicine Wheel garden, offers various workshops on permaculture, medicine making, and garden consulting. In the past two years Lori has teamed up with ‘Farm2School’ to facilitate Indigenous Foodscapes into school yard gardens to help co-create living legacies for future generations

T'uy't'tanat- Cease Wyss of Skwxwu7mesh/Sto:Lo/Metis/Hawaiian/Swiss heritage is an interdisciplinary artist who works with new media and other mediums and community engaged public art. She is currently developing two public art sites in Vancouver based in permaculture and land based work. Cease is a Coast Salish ethnobotanist and is an emerging cedar and wool weaver with a textiles art practice that includes plant and other natural dyes. Cease is also an emerging developer of XR Futures, and has developed a series of VR experiences for her Sacred Teachings Series. She is a beekeeper and a member of the Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast and lives in East Vancouver.

[Moderator] Jolene Andrew is Gitksan Witsuwiten and has worked with The Urban Indigenous Community in the Lower Mainland for 18 years. Her specialization is in strategizing to build resilient communities through Indigenous approaches.  Community and systems engagement, community planning and designing initiatives, and organizational development are some of the ways she works in community.  She is also an artist and has a passion for land based practices to promote health and culture