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As I Remember It: Teachings (Ɂəms tɑɁɑw) from the Life of a Sliammon Elder 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. 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. 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.

Mink and Pitch

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Mink and Pitch
So as he goes along, he finds Pitch. Beautiful Pitch. A hot summer day, it’s a beautiful day. And he sees this fir tree, and the Pitch is just oozing and kind of running down the tree, and it’s really pretty and golden colour. And he goes up to it and says, “Oh! You’re beautiful. Beautiful!” He says, “Oh, I love you.” Says, “Can we be together? Can you and I get together and be a pair? Be a couple?” And Pitch says, “Oh, don’t be ridiculous. Go away! I don’t think so.” “Why? Why can’t we be together? I love you.” And Pitch says, “No, I don’t think so. For one thing, when I go to bed at night, when I sleep, I will sweat. And if you’re layin’ beside me, you’ll get stuck to the bed.” And what they had for a bed was cedar planking. So finally he talked her into it. So he told her, “I’ll just toss and turn. I’ll toss and turn all night long. And I’m not going to fall asleep, ’cause I know if I fall asleep I’ll be stuck to the planks.” So he was all right the first night. He was tossing and turning and just kept moving. The second and third night, he was totally exhausted, lack of sleep. Finally, he fell into a deep, deep sleep. And sure enough, the Pitch was melting and sweating in her sleep. And qɑyχ woke up in the morning and he was stuck to the bed. He was stuck to the plank. Planks on the bed right across his back, ’cause he had been laying flat on his back. And the board was right across his back. So, after trying to get up for quite some time, he could not get upright. He couldn’t stand up. Finally, he was able to stand up and get moving, thinking, “What am I going to do? How am I going to get this plank off my back?” Totally stuck to it. So he’s walkin’ along. He’s holding the plank just in case someone’s watching him, and he doesn’t want to be embarrassed. He’s so afraid that the kids or someone’s going to see him being stuck to this plank. So he’s walking along, pretending to be just out for a walk carrying a plank. He’s gonna go look for two trees that are together enough that he can run through and it’ll pry the plank off his back. And he’s walking along there and the children, of course, they come along: “Where you going, qɑyχ? Where you going? What you doing with that plank? What’s that plank for?” And qɑyχ says, “Oh, this is a plank I’m taking way over there – I’m gonna use it for something. I’m gonna build something. So you get going! Move on! Quit following me around. Go away!” So off he goes. He’s lookin’ for two trees close together. Finally he finds two trees that are close enough that he thinks he can take a dash through the middle, and that will pry that plank off his back. Which he did. Several attempts. He would just bounce right back and land on his back again. He would try to get up, and finally he would get up, and several, several attempts before he finally pried the plank off his back. So that was another experience for him. That didn’t work out for him. He still didn’t learn his lesson. It was the end of that relationship for him and the Pitch.