Photo: Greg Hart
Join us this year to celebrate Earth Day 2021 with a Talking Trees Film created by local Indigenous Tour Company Talaysay Tours. “We Are the Land and the Land Is Us” – Talaysay guides and Cultural Ambassadors Candace Campo and Wes Nahanee speak to complex cultural relationships with the land as they discuss the rich uses of local plants and trees for food, medicine and technology. Stories, teachings and Indigenous uses of the snowberry, thimbleberry, the red cedar and the western hemlock tree are explored. Pacific salmon and the small fish, Pacific herring, two keystone species that sustained indigenous societies for millennia are discussed as you learn first hand Indigenous practices of sustainability and how their values can support the environmental recovery we need for future generations. “Take only what you need.”
This original film is based around Talaysay Tours’ most popular Talking Trees walk in Stanley Park. This film was created for a local class project that SPES is supporting, in which students are making videos around what a reciprocal and meaningful relationship with the natural world can look like. We are very grateful for Talaysay’s support in that vision, and SPES and Talaysay thought we’d share this beautiful film with our community for a short period of time by donation (shared by both organizations). We hope you enjoy!
*We do not endorse any harvesting in Stanley Park, unless you are Indigenous to the area and carry the teachings to do so.
**Tickets to view film are by donation – minimum $5 donation suggested. Film will be available for viewing through restricted link that will only be available until May 3 at 5:00 PM, regardless of donation date.
We gratefully acknowledge that the land on which we gather and help steward is the unceded and traditional territories of the xʷməθkwəy̓əm (Musqueam), Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) Nation, and Səl̓ílwətaʔ/Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) Nation. Since time immemorial, Coast Salish peoples have lived reciprocally with the land, harvesting and cultivating foods and medicines and practicing ceremony. The abundance of these lands and waters, which enables us to live, work, and play here today, is a result of the past and on-going stewardship and advocacy of the Coast Salish peoples.