NIȽ TU,O’s continued collaboration with the University of Victoria’s (UVic) Indigenous Law Research Unit (ILRU) offers new activities and lessons based on the stories shared by local Knowledge Holders.

(Excerpt from The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety video – Credit Ellen Campbell)

As a Coast Salish-led organization, NIȽ TU,O recognizes that Coast Salish practices have governed the care of children and families far longer than any colonial law – and that Indigenous Laws are critical for providing culturally informed care to community members. In practice, NIȽ TU,O actively works to implement Coast Salish laws and teachings in its day-to-day programming and services.

That’s why NIȽ TU,O is working with UVic’s ILRU on a multi-year project to ensure Coast Salish customs become the guideposts for all work supporting Coast Salish children and families.

(Cover of Abridged Casebook, artwork credit Sarah Jim)

NIȽ TU,O and ILRU’s collaboration began in 2018, resulting in the community-directed creation of the Child and Caregiver Nurturance and Safety Toolkit, Casebook, and Activity Book, which were designed to communicate and engage with Coast Salish legal principles. These materials – which include traditional Coast Salish stories and guides for exploring their implications for modern-day child and family caregiving practices – were released to the public in 2021, to much acclaim. All materials are available for public use and can be found on the ILRU website.

Now, after a year-long hiatus, the collaboration is back in full force. According to ILRU’s Tara Williamson, ILRU and NIȽ TU,O plan to update the Casebook and Activity Book with new stories and activities based on important Coast Salish teachings. Currently, the process of vetting stories and obtaining necessary permissions from Knowledge Holders is underway.

Once the materials are updated, ILRU and NIȽ TU,O plan to focus on how NIȽ TU,O can weave these materials into every aspect of their work, strengthening the Coast Salish community, especially in their day-to-day work. A training event is currently planned for the Spring.

Additionally, Williamson shares, ILRU and NIȽ TU,O are looking into the ways these materials might influence a broader audience through curriculum matching. Williamson says, “We’re looking to see if there is a way to match the materials with university curriculums used to train social workers and middle and high-school curriculums used to teach social studies and Indigenous studies.

Williamson shares that the activity-creation stage is an exciting part of this process. In her words, “The really fun part is brainstorming fun activities and thinking about how to communicate these ideas and legal principles to kids, teenagers, and frontline workers.”

(Excerpt from The Coast Salish Laws Relating to Child and Caregiver Nurturance & Safety video, Credit Ellen Campbell))

These new developments in the project are all in service of implementing Coast Salish law, beginning with the incorporation of Coast Salish teachings in NIȽ TU,O’s work through the continued efforts to ensure Coast Salish practices are acknowledged in all settings related to the care of Coast Salish children and families. Williamson reiterates:

“Our goal is always to hold up Indigenous law at the same level as Canadian law gets held up. Taking care of children and families is not new to Indigenous people, and so we’re making sure that we do as much as we can to push the voice of Indigenous law. The creation of these materials is just one more opportunity to share that Coast Salish laws are still relevant, powerful, and lawful.”

NIȽ TU,O is proud to be working in collaboration with ILRU and looks forward to further aligning its work with Coast Salish laws and principles to ensure the care provided to the children and families of Beecher Bay, Pauquachin, Tsartlip, Songhees, Tsawout, Tseycum and T’Sou-ke is firmly grounded in Coast Salish culture.

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