Reclaiming Haisla Ways: Remembering Oolichan Fishing

Abstract

I acknowledge the storytellers of my community and family. Over and over again they have shared with me stories—diverse stories—of our place and about who we are as Haisla people. These stories were shared with me in the various sites where we live, work, and practice our social and cultural traditions: around the dinner table, in our feast hall, and on the boat with my Dad. I want to honor them for their teachings and their patience as I continue to ask questions about stories they have shared with me. Before going further, I also acknowledge my academic teachers, my peers, and other storytellers in the academy. In my scholarship I use this academic space to explore my identity through an examination and analy­sis of our stories. The analyses of our stories have also provided me with various pedagogical strategies and methods to use in my professional academic work. This article demonstrates various forms of teachings about identity, traditional teachings, and traditional territories. I illustrate that by knowing our personal stories we can regenerate our traditional Indigenous knowledges, philosophies, and values. I believe that by center­ing Indigenous Knowledge, we thus assert our Indigenous philosophy wherever we are! I recognize my privilege in the academy and am thank­ful for our Haisla stories. WA (thank you).