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As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder The Sliammon-language term for this label means “it is mine.” This book contains the teachings and history of the ɬaʔamɩn people as remembered and narrated by Elder Elsie Paul. The effort and care she takes in this work is important. She offers a counter-narrative to incorrect and inappropriate interpretations previously drawn by settlers. Please respect Elsie Paul’s right and responsibility to relate the history and teachings in her own words. She does so from her own perspective and does not attempt to speak for all ɬaʔamɩn people. Please attribute the stories shared in this book to Elsie Paul.

Some sections of this book are authored by other individuals and should be attributed to the appropriate person(s) as indicated. This label refers to a teaching that emerges throughout this book: “you learn from someone by example.” (The literal translation of tiʔiwš is “fast learner.”) The goal of this book is to share ɬaʔamɩn teachings and history widely with ɬaʔamɩn community members, students, and teachers at all levels, and with any other interested readers. This is Elsie’s goal in sharing ʔəms tɑʔɑw, and all of the authors hope the book serves an educational purpose. The authors ask readers to take care to use this information respectfully and in context. Material in this book may be culturally sensitive for a number of reasons. This label identifies such content by stating: “it is ours.”

ɬaʔamɩn teachings, laws, and practices that flow from them are subject to the ʔəms naʔ label because they are communally held and collectively stewarded by ɬaʔamɩn people for future generations. Much of this knowledge is captured in our legends, for example. The authors recognize that ɬaʔamɩn, Klahoose, and Homalco families have their own tellings of the legends.

Other parts of the book are labelled “ʔəms naʔ” because the ongoing nature of settler colonialism means that the histories discussed here are not part of a distant past. For close to a century, colonial laws and policies prevented community members from sharing teachings freely in their community without fear of punishment or retribution, imposing silences that remain even today. Thus this label also applies to chapters that discuss the genocidal practices that sought to interrupt the transmission of teachings and to sever ɬaʔamɩn sovereign rights to their territory.

Please treat information and photographs marked with this label with special care, especially if you plan to share them with others.

Boat to Westview

When this photo was taken, circa 1948, it was quicker to get to town by boat than by foot, since people didn’t have cars yet. Peggy Harry is at the back of the group (with barrettes in her hair); Molly Timothy is on the right (with headband); Elsie Paul is in the centre (with flowers in her hair); Stella Timothy is centre right, beside Elsie; further right, holding a baby, is Agnes McGee, and in front of her is Sosen Galligos. Smokey John is on the left (wearing a hat), and lɑsɑ is in front of him.

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My Dog Patsy
“That’s my dog. I look after my dog!”
Patsy was my little dog. I got Patsy as just a puppy, and I was so fond of her.And it was time to go up to Rivers Inlet. And I was quite young then – gosh, I don’t know how old I was – maybe I was about seven or eight. And I had to sneak her on the steamboat under my shirt, ’cause she was just a puppy. I was so afraid they weren’t going to let me take her, if anyone saw me taking her into the boat, steamboat. So I managed to get her – snuck her aboard.
This elderly lady didn’t care for my puppy: “Gets into everything! Leave it outside!”
Oh, I didn’t want to leave her outside! So it started to pour rain, and I was so worried about my puppy. So I got out the door, and I went and sat right up against the building and I was holding my puppy. I think I must have been crying, real sad, holding on to my dog. She came out, and she looked, and she said, “Okay, get in here. You can bring her in, but make sure you hold on to her. She gets into everything.” [chuckles]
So me and my puppy are called back into the house and sitting there, I’m all soaking wet, so is my dog. [laughs] So while we’re there, the puppy got bigger, and of course it grew. We were there for about four weeks, five weeks. And we came back home, and they let me take her onto the steamboat. Managed to get her on.
And we got back here in the community, and they used to kill the dogs here. The police would come and shoot the dogs when there got to be too many dogs in the community. So they were coming anyway to shoot all the dogs. And I couldn’t convince anyone that, you know, “That’s my dog. I look after my dog!” I had to go tie the dog myself to a post. And so the police wouldn’t chase the dogs all over, we all had to have our dogs tied to a post down towards the beach. And the police would come and just shoot them off, pick them off – shoot them. Oh, I was so upset about my Patsy. I loved that dog! And I don’t know who took care of the remains. Probably the parents or the grandparents took care of the remains. I don’t know what happened after that. But they came and shot my dog.
The things we had to endure. Yeah. Yeah, it’s a wonder I’m still sane, if I am – I don’t know. [laughs] Traumatized for life!