Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers’ Group of Lax kw’alaams

Lax kw’alaams is a Tsimshian community on British Columbia’s northwest coast. Since 2010, all 37 Lax kw’alaams children in care, including those who live outside the community, have been identified and supported by a group of Elders who call themselves the Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers. Among other forms of emotional support and cultural connection they offer (which the Grandmothers themselves describe in this article), the Grandmothers have invited the children and youth to learn traditional seaweed gathering and meet their extended families in Lax kw’alaams. The Na gantsi’i’stk Grandmothers’ Group is being increasingly recognized for their culturally and community-grounded leadership. The group was a regional finalist for BC’s 2010–11 Premier’s Awards in the partnership category. They also received the BC’s Representative for Children and Youth Award of Excellence for Cultural Heritage and Diversity in 2010. The Grandmothers “have a genuine passion and concern for the Lax kw’alaams children and are taking action to ensure their children stay connected to their community, heritage, and culture. Their efforts are helping to promote healing for families in the community and are thereby reducing the number of children being taken into care” (British Columbia Ministry of Children and Family Development, 2013). In this article, we wanted to uphold the work of the Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers so that others could be inspired by their leadership and perseverance. The article brings together the vision of the Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers’ Group with that of Northwest Inter-Nation Family and Community Services Society (NIFCS) and Siem Smun’eem: Indigenous Child Well-being Research Network (ICWRN) at the University of Victoria. All of us came together in 2013 at two forums on “Cultural Permanency for Our Children”—one in Prince Rupert, BC, and one in Terrace, BC. The sessions featured Elder, community, and youth speakers and focused on strategizing for practices and policies for cultural permanence and customary cultural adoption. ICWRN members facilitated the sessions and helped document and record the community presentations. The Lax kw’alaams Grandmothers presented several times during these forums and shared both their vision for supporting child and family wellness and a strong cultural identity, and their efforts to maintain connections with children from their community who are in foster care and the adoption system. That the Grandmothers attend so many of these events and generously share their teachings and stories is a powerful testament to their commitment to their communities and children. This article draws on video and audio documentation from the two forums, as well as notes from other presentations, to share the voices of the Lax kw’alaams Grandmothers. The importance of their work was highlighted again as we were developing this paper, when a grandmother in Alaska was denied custody of her grandchild because she had not filed a formal adoption petition. The landmark case pitted a Grandmother from Tununak, Alaska, against a court system that denied both her inherent and legislated right to custody of her grandchild. The US-based National Indian Child Welfare Association (NICWA) decried the decision, stating, Although this particular case is an American one, similar policies of systemic discrimination against Elders as caregivers, cultural knowledge keepers, and leaders in their communities continue to operate in Canada. We raise our hands to our strong, determined grandmothers and Elders, like the Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers’ Group, who dedicate their lives to honouring and reconnecting with their community’s children and to maintaining our kinship systems. We, the Na gan ts’i’stk Grandmothers, are majority matriarchs of the nine tribes of Lax kw’alaams on the northwest coast of British Columbia. We are a Tsimshian nation of a matrilineal nature. Women are the caretakers of the …