Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Michelle Good for sharing your story!

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Michelle Good for sharing your story!

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Michelle Good for sharing your story!

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Wendy Stevens for sharing your experience!

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Valerie Nicholson for your beautiful story!

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Te'ta-in, Shane Pointe, Musqueam, for your storytelling generosity.

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Anhluutuukism Gaak, Sherry Small, Nisga’a Nation, for your warmth and for permission to use clips from The Generous Spirit Project

—---

Generous Spirit Credits

Written and Directed by
Jada-Gabrielle Pape
Saanich & Snuneymuxw Nations

 Illustrations by
Andrew Dexel, Nlakapamux
Vision Maker 2020 

Original Music & Sound Design
Matthew Cardinal, Nêhiyaw

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to the Co-Conspirator team for your ongoing collaboration

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Biiwashikwe, Danette Jubinville, Pasqua First Nation on her father’s side, with Cree, Saulteaux, Jewish, and mixed-European ancestry, for doing your birth-work in such a good way

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to Xwacú?, Allan Lindley, Syilx, Nlaka’pamux, Mistawsis Cree, AKA “Auntie Allan,” for your beautiful sharing.

Collaboratively Produced
by Drawing Wisdom

Hosted and Written
by WuWas, Jada-Gabrielle Pape, Saanich and Snuneymuxw Nations

Producers
Jada-Gabrielle Pape & Kat Dodds

Co-Conspirators
David Ng & Kat Dodds

Director of Photography
D’Arcy Hamilton

Edited by
Kat Dodds and D’Arcy Hamilton

Original theme music
by James Junger

Additional Music
From Artlist

Thank you to the Co-Conspirator team for your ongoing collaboration

Jada shares, “I think it's such huge courage for young people to say, "I'll not only share my stories with you; I'll share my dreams with you." I think that's something that exhibits incredible resilience. And that's part of what the history of Star In Your Own Stories is and then that led us to be able to do this.”

Martin explains, “It was people like Doris Peltier and Albert Beck who would reach their hand down to me in community and they would pull me up to the table and teach me about the language that was happening and the concepts we were learning and  in partnership with Drawing Wisdom that allowed me to elevate other Indigenous and Two-Spirit folks.” 

Additionally, Martin talks about the distinction between Indigenous ways of knowing from decolonizing: “This is just us. Our existence and us doing this work is in active resistance to colonialism.”

Norm shares his experience working with The Circle of Grandmothers; whose goal is to bring more grandmother love to the Downtown Eastside.

Norm explains, “Seeing it in action and understanding the power that has like to imagine having a grandmother hold you and [tell you] that things are going to be okay and how amazing that is, especially for people who haven't felt that maybe ever or for a long, long time and how transformative that can be.” As well, Norm shares insight on the interconnectedness of familial love and the land.

"The land is our first Grandmother and she has given everything to the people since long before we were people… without limit, without condition, without interruption essentially that unconditional giving is the greatest definition of love. To understand that the land loves ... makes you understand that the land is with us and loves us more than we can ever imagine and we can never really repay that; but we do [have] a duty of responsibility to honor it in a good way.”

"There is a real liberation and freedom in knowing the truth because once we’re really talking about the truth, we have the opportunity to do something different; but if we can’t’ know what we’re working with, we can’t make any changes, we can’t have a concept or idea or a pathway forward into this notion of reconciliation.”

With excerpts from Na'tsa'mat A Healing Journey and a cultural safety workshop.

We call upon federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to fully adopt and implement the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples as the framework for reconciliation.

We call upon the Government of Canada to develop a national action plan, strategies, and other concrete measures to achieve the goals of the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples.

We call upon all chief coroners and provincial vital statistics agencies that have not provided to the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada their records on the deaths of Aboriginal children in the care of residential school authorities to make these documents available to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation.

72.  We call upon the federal government to allocate sufficient resources to the National Centre for Truth and Reconciliation to allow it to develop and maintain the National Residential School Student Death Register established by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada.

73. We call upon the federal government to work with churches, Aboriginal communities, and former residential school students to establish and maintain an online registry of residential school cemeteries, including, where possible, plot maps showing the location of deceased residential school children.

74. We call upon the federal government to work with the churches and Aboriginal community leaders to inform the families of children who died at residential schools of the child’s burial location, and to respond to families’ wishes for appropriate commemoration ceremonies and markers, and reburial in home communities where requested.

75. We call upon the federal government to work with provincial, territorial, and municipal governments, churches, Aboriginal communities, former residential school students, and current landowners to develop and implement strategies and procedures for the ongoing identification, documentation, maintenance, commemoration, and protection of residential school cemeteries or other sites at which residential school children were buried. This is to include the provision of appropriate memorial ceremonies and commemorative markers to honour the deceased children.

76. We call upon the parties engaged in the work of documenting, maintaining, commemorating, and protecting residential school cemeteries to adopt strategies in accordance with the following principles:

The Aboriginal community most affected shall lead the development of such strategies.

Information shall be sought from residential school Survivors and other Knowledge Keepers in the development of such strategies.

Aboriginal protocols shall be respected before any potentially invasive technical inspection and investigation of a cemetery site.

Kamala talks about the transformative nature of Indigenous ways of knowing and the importance of land acknowledgment within an urban context. Kamala shares, “I know so many non-Indigenous people who [have] a love and appreciation for the land but it’s still devoid from the sense of who it belongs to and what that means. [Acknowledging the lands you live on] is not something to be afraid of or to feel like oh well if I acknowledge it it's no longer my home, but it is just the truth of where you live and hopefully it also transforms your relationship to that place and to the people who are the hosts nations.”

What is one thing that you do or know or feel that is really, really good medicine in your life?

“I definitely want to say skateboarding because I was doing it yesterday and [it] allows me to tap into my inner child a lot, which is something that I have been disconnected from for many years. So I'm very grateful for the opportunity to play in skateboarding.”

Taylor also shares, “There were a lot of community connections that I didn’t necessarily grow up with that makes me love being able to be a part of that for a different generation. It makes me think about how it is so radical to be able to create community care structures within cities and within deeply colonial spaces.”