Barbara Wyss [Khalt-siya]

Barbara Wyss, Squamish Nation Elder, is the Mother of three grown children and seven grandchildren and lives in West Vancouver. Barbara’s time is spent volunteering to improve the literacy and numeracy rates of aboriginal children. She has been developing an approach to learning, through working with her grandchildren as well as people from various age groups within her community, to assist them in learning more efficiently and thus empowering them to learn more on their own. This includes using traditional cultural teachings as well as reading and writing skills development.

In 1994, she published an article entitled “All My Relations: Perspectives on Commemorating Aboriginal Women” which is about the contributions of aboriginal women throughout Canadian history. Barbara’s education spans from the Residential School environment to University education, onto community education. She has come full circle in her life, being educated, as well as developing a sense of educating others.

Senaqwila U’Alani Ku’Uipo Nihu Wyss

Senaqwila is Squamish, Hawaiian, Swiss & T’simsian, and she was born in 1994. She lives in the village of Suu’nak, aka: Vancouver, BC, and she attends a Fine Arts Progam at Nootka Elementary School. She is a multi-disciplinary artist, with an interest in all aspects of the arts. She asked her Granny if she could edit this book for her, from a child’s perspective. Her Granny was thrilled to accept! She recently joined an Aboriginal theatre group entitled “Aboriginal Youth Theatre Project”, aka: AYTP and she has been acting since she was a newborn. Senaqwila’s birth was video taped and when she was about four months old, she was featured in Tomson Highway’s play, “Dry Lips Oughta Move to Kapuskasing” at the Arts Club Theatre in l995.

Cease [T’uy Tanat]

Cease is a Media & New Media artist for over a decade and a half. She undertook the illustrating of this book as a means of bonding with her mother. Cease endeavored to make the characteristics of the stories that Granny Barb is sharing with two of her grandchildren, animate on paper. The colourful visual story that accompanies her mother’s wonderful gift of storytelling, and was created to bring the basic characteristics of the Squamish People to “technicolour life”! Cease is currently working on completing a documentary about Aboriginal People and their various traditional and contemporary methods of hunting and food gathering in both modern times, as well as their traditional practices, of which some have diminished and some have flourished.

Price: $24.99 plus $5.00 shipping and handling.
E-mail: wyss167@shaw.ca