About

I am a member of the shíshálh Nation and spent many years in the Cultural Resource Management and tourism businesses, learning and sharing the history of Coast Salish peoples. It started when I was 12 years old, when my auntie said archaeologists working in our inlets had unearthed ancestral remains approximately 2000 years old. This was the first time I imagined people living here before Canada was created. Then she told me our people have never signed a treaty, meaning the land still belonged to us. This brief discussion set me on a journey to learn more about First Nations history and continues today. It was while working as an archaeologist, and later as a tour guide, that I realized what I know to be “common” knowledge, is not as common as I once thought.

I returned to school as a mature student at Capilano University and completed my Bachelor of Arts degree in 2019. I joined the Master of Arts in Anthropology program at the University of British Columbia in 2020 and graduated with my MA in 2023. My research always included my interests in First Nations culture, history, and sport. My master’s thesis was about how Coast Salish soccer tournaments, hosted in villages around the Salish Sea, become sites that resist assimilation and reinforce First Nation identity. Link here!

After graduate school, I was encouraged to apply to become a faculty member at Capilano University. I now teach two classes for Indigenous students. One class is about the history and culture of the shíshálh Nation, while the other focuses on developing fundamental skills required to flourish as an undergraduate student starting university.