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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.

Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children

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Contents of this tag:
Contents of this tag:
8. Elsie at Deep Bay
9. Wedding Day
10. Family Portrait Elsie Paul’s great-great-grandparents and family. The photograph, which was painted over, includes the medicine man featured in the story “He Got His Spirit Back.” Standing, from left: Teresa Tom (tɑlɛsɑt), Chief Tom’s daughter; Cecilia (child), talɛsat’s daughter; Katherine Dominick, daughter of Bob George (tiyʔəpθot) and sister to Granny Molly; Louise Bob, Chief Tom’s daughter; Emily Bob, Chief Tom’s daughter; Bob George (tiyʔəpθot), Granny Molly’s father. Seated, from left: Felix (toqʷɑnən pɛlɩks), medicine man and Elsie’s step-great-great-grandfather; Ann, Elsie’s great-great-grandmother and Granny Molly’s grandmother; Jeannie Bob (čine), Granny Molly’s mother; little girl (name unknown). Seated in foreground: Charlie Bob, the man who lost his spirit.
11. Three Generations
12. Paul Family Car
13. Bride and Groom
14. Katherine Dominick and Harmony Johnson
15. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
17. Party Time
20. Siblings Elsie Paul with her siblings at her brother Barney’s house in the early ’80s. Standing, from left: Teddy Francis (Elsie’s brother), Leo Francis (Elsie’s brother), Lillian Francis (Elsie’s niece, Barney Francis’s daughter), Elsie Paul, Doreen Hopkins (Elsie’s sister), Charlene Francis (Elsie’s niece), Jason Francis (Elsie’s nephew), Greg Francis (inch, Elsie’s nephew). Seated, from left: Aunt Agnes McGee, Rita Francis (Elsie’s sister), Nancy Phillips (Elsie’s sister), Vangie Francis (Elsie’s niece), Elizabeth Blaney (Elsie’s sister), Lily Timothy (Elsie’s mother).
23. Wedding
25. Beautiful Baskets
26. Rowing with mɑksɛmɑ
27. Give It to Them
28. Gifted People
30. New Year’s Dance
31. Our People Governed Themselves
32. Grieving
Contents of this tag:
4. Building the King of the Sea
5. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
6. Sharing Knowledge
7. Clams Elsie Paul’s cousin David George (1948–53) with butter clams dug from in front of the reserve. At the time, shellfish were clean and plentiful, but clams are no longer safe to harvest from this site. The very large cross in the background is in the cemetery. hʌwhegus (advisers in the community), including Chief Tom Timothy and Bill Mitchell, were buried near the cross. The cross blew down at some point and was not replaced.
8. Paddle Carving
9. tɑmɑ
10. Chief Tom’s Family
12. Our People Governed Themselves
Contents of this tag:
3. Three Generations
4. lɑsɑ and Granny Molly
5. Portrait of Molly and lɑsɑ
6. Boat to Westview When this photo was taken, 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.
7. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
12. Sundays
13. Visiting lɑsɑ
15. Important Medicine
16. Living with the Land
Contents of this tag:
1. Elsie and Stella
2. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
3. Boat to Westview When this photo was taken, 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.
4. Going to Town
5. Sundays
6. On the Road
Contents of this tag:
3. Elsie at Deep Bay
4. Freddie and Marilyn Louie
5. Sechelt Indian Marching Band
6. At the Dance Hall
7. Elsie and Stella
8. Mother's Day, 1980
9. Working Out
10. Retirement
11. Health Centre
12. Party at Elsie Paul's House
13. Three Generations
14. First Home
15. Joining Council
16. Makeshift Church
17. lɑsɑ and Granny Molly
18. Elders' Gathering
19. At the Elders Lodge Elsie Paul with ɬaʔamɩn Elders when she was running the Elders' program. Front row, from left: Elsie Paul, Henry Bob, Katherine Blaney, Mary Harry, Rose Louie (behind Mary), Joe Paul Sr. (behind Rose), Willie Bob, Calvin Harry. Back row, from left: Louise Bob, Marie Hackett (behind), Nora Wilson, Annie Dominick, Dave Dominick, Agnes McGee, Rose Peddie, Peta Francis (Okee Dokee), Johnny George, Charlie Charlie, Peggy Harry.
20. Making Music
21. Rose and Alec Louie
22. The Children at Home
23. Graduation (1)
24. Moses and Agnes Wilson
25. Music with Friends
27. Building the King of the Sea
28. Hospital (2)
29. Canoe Building
30. Racing the King of the Sea
32. Portrait of Molly and lɑsɑ
34. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
35. Day School
36. Elsie, Agnes, and Children
37. Molly Williams and Olive
39. Clams Elsie Paul’s cousin David George (1948–53) with butter clams dug from in front of the reserve. At the time, shellfish were clean and plentiful, but clams are no longer safe to harvest from this site. The very large cross in the background is in the cemetary. hʌwhegus (advisers in the community), including Chief Tom Timothy and Bill Mitchell, were buried near the cross. The cross blew down at some point and was not replaced.
41. Bill Galligos
43. Mending the Net
44. Siblings Elsie Paul with her siblings at her brother Barney's house in the early '80s. Standing, from left: Teddy Francis (Elsie’s brother), Leo Francis (Elsie’s brother), Lillian Francis (Elsie’s niece, Barney Francis’s daughter), Elsie Paul, Doreen Hopkins (Elsie’s sister), Charlene Francis (Elsie’s niece), Jason Francis (Elsie’s nephew), Greg Francis (inch, Elsie’s nephew). Seated, from left: Aunt Agnes McGee, Rita Francis (Elsie’s sister), Nancy Phillips (Elsie’s sister), Vangie Francis (Elsie’s niece), Elizabeth Blaney (Elsie’s sister), Lily Timothy (Elsie’s mother).
46. Elders
47. Fishing Preparations
48. Molly and Annie
49. Paddle Carving
50. Open-Air Learning
51. tɑmɑ
52. Pullers
53. Lodge Interior
54. Walnut Lodge
55. Hospital (1)
56. Hospital (3)
59. Cod Fishing
60. Elsie Paul with King of the Sea
61. Music
62. Going to Town
63. Sundays
64. Community Activities
65. Old-Timers and Hard Work
66. Give It to Them
67. Thank the Creator
68. Our People Governed Themselves
Contents of this tag:
1. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
Contents of this tag:
1. Chief tɑmɑ and the Timothy Children
2. Visiting lɑsɑ

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Legends about qɑyχ (Mink)
“My lesson in life was from my grandparents. So it’s from all those legends I heard as a child – those were the lessons I learned.”
In the winter months when the darkness came early and you’d sit by the open fire or by the stove, and the grandparents or your parents would tell stories – legends. And that was so entertaining. And those legends always had a moral to the story. So that was your classroom. I did not go to school, myself. I don’t have formal education, per se. I didn’t go to university. I didn’t go to college. I didn’t go to high school. My lesson in life was from my grandparents. So it’s from all those legends I heard as a child – those were the lessons I learned. And you had to pay attention! When the story’s being told. And if it’s told to you night after night, you never tired of listening to those stories. It was really interesting. And our language is an oral language? It’s not a written language. So a lot of it was paying attention to what was told in the story. And then you were always asked at the end of the story, “What did you learn from that?” And so it was a real good teaching tool. You listened, you paid attention, and then the storyteller would explain to you at the end of the story, “This is what you learned from that story. If you’re gonna live this kind of life, this is how you’re gonna end up. If you’re gonna behave this way, these are the consequences.” So all of those things just happened! You didn’t get a quiz, or you didn’t do a written quiz. But it was just how much you absorbed and you learned. It became a very personal thing? It’s your life, it’s your way of life. It was not “You’re going to be marked on how much you learned,” “You’re gonna get eighty percent, a hundred percent,” or whatever. Or “You didn’t learn nothing!” [laughs]
And if you’re told that over and over again, that legend or that story, and then you knew your way. You knew what is inappropriate and what is not? You knew what is appropriate and what is not appropriate, just by listening to those stories and legends, you know.
So those were all part of the teachings and it was really, really important. So when we talk about the legends, such as Mink and the Wolf, and Mink and the Cloud, the Mink and – all the different things he married – the teachings were all in there. That he was lazy, he was unsettled, that he was very impulsive and never listened to his grandmother that was always forever trying to correct him. He was stubborn and set in his own ways. But look at the consequences. How he always ended up on a losing end, because he never listened. So those stories that were told, that was discipline in a nutshell in each of these stories, each of these legends: “What did you learn from that? What did the Mink –” or the “qɑyχ” as we call him – “What happened? Was that right what he did by marrying the cloud? By marrying the barnacle? Or marrying the salal bush? Or marrying the pitch?” It’s not compatible to any of these things. So this tells you, you’ve got to think before you act. Think before you do something. If the Elders tell you you’re making a mistake, you have to listen, pay attention. Look at what happens. So there’s always that reference made to qɑyχ. Look at what happened to him in this case! Look at what happened to him when the whale swallowed him because he made fun of the whale. He says, “Oh, you baldheaded, shiny-headed whale!” And even though this was just in his thoughts, the whale can read his mind. And the whale came along to his boat and swallowed him, boat and all. So this teaches you, you must respect all living things. The whale senses you, can read your mind, be respectful to the whale. And same as all other living creatures. You actually raise your hands to them when you see them. You respect all these things. Because you’re good to all these things, then they’ll be good to you.