15 years ago the
Pacheedaht First Nation had the highest teenage suicide rate in
British Columbia. Today they are still struggling but making some
progress. They are looking to providing service to tour groups, such
as ours, as an option for sustainable economic development. Island
Adventure Tours rolled into their community with a busload of Danish
Tourists that specifically asked for a tour of real aboriginal
culture that focussed on traditional health care and healing. The
impact on the community is very positive.
We strolled the tidal pools at Botanical Beach, a provincial park
that boasts sealife filled tidal pools at low tide and huge breakers
at high tide. We then hiked the 3 km. sandy beach at Port Renfrew
that was dotted with a few tenters and camper vans. They pay the
First Nation $10 a night for the privilege of camping on sand and
having waves crash a few yards away. After these walks we had all
worked up a grizzly sized appetite. "Don’t worry," said
Jeff, "we are in for a feast". Apparently one of the
things aboriginal people excel at is preparing lavish feasts and
spreading their hospitality on thick. Stacey Jones, nephew of
hereditary Chief Chuck Jones prepared a feast that included cedar
stick roasted salmon, bannock bread, 4 kinds of salad and
traditional vegetables baked by coals buried underground.
The warmth of these people radiated towards the
group. They welcomed us with a song and a prayer and apologized that
more of their people couldn’t come and share in the welcome. They
really liked the fact that we came to visit them and that we had an
interest in their culture. Most of the Danes found it so strange
that a group of people could be surrounded by such abundance of the
natural landscape and yet be so poor. It is only now that things are
beginning to change. I started the day without any knowledge of the
Pacheedaht people. I felt enriched by my new-found awareness of
these wonderful people and their spectacular village site.
(This article is contributed by Island
Adventure Tours - Editor. For more interesting travel articles,
please visit InfoHub Specialty
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We proceeded west from Victoria through rainforests and scenic ocean
vistas. The winding and twisting 2-hour drive along the scenic
Pacific Coast Highway took us to the tiny village of Port Renfrew
situated at the end of the road at the mouth of Port San Juan. I was
a guest on one of Island Adventure Tour’s Aboriginal Culture Tours.
I wanted to see some aboriginal culture but I was not prepared for
reality.
Our guide, Jeff Hunter-Smith, explained how the aboriginal land
question remains un-anwsered in British Columbia. Of the 190 Indian
Bands in British Columbia only 15 have signed Treaties with the
governments of Canada and British Columbia. "It is no easy task
to sit down for 5-10 years and negotiate all the complex issues that
form a final treaty. Most Bands simply do not have the capacity to
take on such a task. In the mean time their resources are depleting
as logging companies step up operations and tourists snap up the
prize tyee salmon" Smith adds.