About this Event
Join us to hear stories and music from your North Shore neighbours. Hear about belonging and connection, vulnerability and courage. Hear about friendship and humanity across differences.
For more information, email: cdi@nsms.ca or call: 604-973-0461.
Storytellers and Performers
Chepximiya Siyam’ Chief Janice George
Janice is proud to have attended Capilano University and the Institute of American Indian Arts. She interned at the Canadian Museum of History, and completed an Artist in Residence at the Institute of American Indian Arts. She is also the co-author of Salish Blankets, Robes of Protection and Transformation, Symbols of Wealth (Nebraska University Press) with Willard Joseph and Dr. Leslie Tepper.
For the past 15 years, Janice has been teaching the technical, spiritual, and generational aspects of the Salish Wool Weaving tradition in Salish speaking territory. She views this as a responsibility and is passionate about reclaiming this art.
Janice has integrated into her teachings the knowledge from her Late Grandmother Kwitelut-t Lena Jacobs (who was directly connected to pre-contact times) and other Squamish ancestors. She states, “In this short time of my weaving life a few of my mentors have left this earth, their breath is carried on in the teachings I pass on. I feel and see the pride that comes from reclaiming our inheritance from our elders and ancestors when we weave and when we wear our beloved weavings. We are taught spiritual protection is part of what we are wearing and feel the love that is put in each hand movement it takes to make a robe. I am so grateful to be a part of this exciting time in the history of Salish People. Together with our students, we have taught over 2,400 people. It is such an honour. Chen kwenmantumi (We are grateful).”
Sam Seward
Sam’s ancestral name is Nekwimetstn. He belongs to 2 rich cultures, Snuneymuxw and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. He grew up in Eslha7an, in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh territory and attended St Paul’s Indian Day School. During this time, he began his career in acting. Sam always excelled at lacrosse and basketball and continues to coach and mentor lacrosse in his community. He is also a wool weaver and currently has a shawl on display at the NACHIM Studio on Granville Island.
Milad Parpouchi and Masha Rademakers
Milad Parpouchi is a professional keyboardist and drummer who plays pop and rock music. Next to his musical career, he is also completing his PhD in mental health and addictions at SFU.
Masha Rademakers is a professional singer and flutist, who is part of various musical projects and bands around Vancouver. She works with new immigrants and is passionate about creating connections between different cultures on the North Shore.
Milad and Masha have played together in the Persian events band Bakara Band, and will tonight perform two songs that are inspired by the great Persian singer Googoosh.
Silk Road Music
VICO presents Silk Road Music of Vancouver who introduces audiences to different cultures through their experience, discoveries, and travels. Qiu Xia He 何秋霞 originally from China plays Pipa 琵琶, accompanied by her husband André Thibault who was born in Montreal and plays Spanish Guitar, Middle Eastern Lute, and Vancouver’s own versatile world percussionist: Phil Belanger. Together, they are creating an exciting breed of multicultural music. A true acoustic musical wonder!
Giselle Clarke-Trenaman
Recent Vancouver Stage Management credits include working with Presentation House Theatre on Cat Killer, Jack and the Magic Bean, Where the Wild Things Are, Baking Time and So, How Should I Be. She was also nominated for a Jessie Award for her work in Stage Management in 2019. She has previously worked with Carousel Theatre on The Winters Tale for their Teen Shakespeare program.
In her Toronto life she has worked with CanStage/Volcano Theatre on the acclaimed Another Africa; The National Arts Centre/Young People’s Theatre on the hit tap show i think i can; SoulPepper; Opera Atelier and Opera Lyra Ottawa to name a few.
Bassam
Bassam (they/them or xe/xim) is a spoken word poet, proud auntie, and settler currently residing on the unceded traditional territories of the Musqueam, Squamish, and Tsleil-Waututh First Nations (colonially “Vancouver, Canada”). They are currently serving as National Director for Spoken Word Canada, and are a member of the League of Canadian Poets. They are the author of one chapbook and four collections of poetry, the latest of which entitled ‘disaster in die / an overdose sunrise’ (Swimming with Elephants Publications) released in 2019.
A (gender)queer, Jewish person of Middle-Eastern descent and a longtime sufferer of body dysmorphia, bipolar and eating disorders, Bassam believes in radical kindness as resistance to colonization, that there is no equity or peace without justice, and that intersectionality is vital in the struggle against kyriarchy.
Mary Tasi and Wade Baker
Mary Tasi, mcip, rpp, co-founded Sky Spirit Studio in 1995 with Squamish Nation partner Wade Baker, to bring contemporary indigenous narratives and design to Western Canada.
Mary’s background includes an Honour’s Degree in Environmental Planning from the University of Waterloo and over 20 years of experience in indigenous communities learning from ancestral knowledge keepers. She is also a published author & lecturer and has won countless awards.
Wade Baker, Halikium, is descended from cultural wisdom keepers including Chief Joe Capilano, Chief Simon Baker, Chief Shakes from Alaska, and Chief Emily Baker from Alert Bay. He has over 40 years experience creating sculptures in red cedar, and was presented to Prince Charles during the 2010 Olympics for his steel sculpture “Canada’s North Star” located at False Creek. He also created one of the millennium quarters for the Royal Canadian Mint. Over 50 million of the double wolf design titled “family” are in circulation. Wade co-authored “The Hidden Journals” with Mary to further explore his British ancestry, and bring the lost indigenous narratives of history from the late 1700s into the present.
Both Mary and Wade believe that now is the time for new understandings and perspectives to come into focus.
We are grateful to host our events on the traditional, unceded ancestral territories of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh (Squamish), Səlilwətaʔɬ (Tsleil-Waututh), and xʷməθkʷəyə̓ m (Musqueam) peoples.
The North Shore Multicultural Society | Centre for Diversity and Innovation | North Shore Immigrant Inclusion Partnership* | Presentation House Theatre
Funded by Immigration, Refugees, and Citizenship Canada & Heritage Canada