Project Description
Everything is Connected
Islands of Clayoquot Sound are reluctant to get out from under the cover of morning fog. But later in the day, the summer sun often burns through the mist, and the light throws land- and seascape into sharp, vibrant relief.
Like other Indigenous communities throughout Canada, the Tla-o-qui-aht people are survivors. Despite environmental, social and cultural upheavals, the Tla-o-qui-aht are finding creative holistic solutions and restoring their traditional stewardship over the Ha-huulthii, their traditional territory, also known as Clayoquot Sound. Guided by their traditional teachings of “Hishuk Ish Tsa’walk”— everything is one, everything is connected—Tla-o-qui-aht people are developing ways to meet their ancestral obligation of looking after their traditional territory as climate changes. They are working on restoring logged watersheds after decades of clear-cutting; reviving traditional salmon runs after decades of logging and overfishing; healing their communities devastated by the decades of government assimilation and pressure; and developing a local economy that does not undermine, but supports, local ecological and cultural systems.