Hutłilala - to listen

One of the first things you see when you arrive in Alert Bay, B.C., is Andrea Cranmer’s shop Culture Shock. It is a gathering place, to learn and celebrate the kwakwaka’wawk and a place to listen to stories from community members.

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Transcript

Multiple Speakers [00:00:00] [cheerful electronic music] Sim gigyat, Sigidim Haanak’, K’ubawilxsihlxw. Oki, wishing you good life. Kuei! Kuei! Yo! Wik’sas. Dánet'e, negha dágǫ́ht’e.

Announcer [00:00:14] This is Words and Culture, a series on Indigenous languages funded by SiriusXM through the Community Radio Fund of Canada and distributed by Native Voice One, The Native American Radio Network. [music fades out]

Suzette Amaya [00:00:30] Yo! Wikas, nugwa'a̱m Suzette Amaya, gayutła̱n lax̱ GwaSala-Nakwaxda’xw Kwakwaka’wakw. Gayutła̱n lax̱ Nisga’a, Coast Salish, and Cree.

Hello, how are you? I am Suzette Amaya, I am from GwaSala-Nakwaxda’xw of the Kwakwaka’wakw, also Nisga’a, Coast Salish, and Cree.

When you are coming off the ferry in Alert Bay, one of the first things you see is a small building with large blue letters that says, “Culture Shock.” It is a gift shop but it’s also more than that. It is a testament to the strength of the Cranmer family and their dedication to preserving the Kwakwaka’wakw culture.

In front of this building stands a carving of Andrea Cranmer’s sister, Barb Cranmer. Her bright red, blue, and white regalia is captured in the 8-foot memorial carving of Barb. This greets Andrea every day when she enters the shop. The shop is filled with clothing and jewellery, books, and posters. All of it embracing the language and culture of our Nation.

Today, Andrea is tucked away in her back room, her office, waiting to share more of the culture with us. This is Andrea Cranmer.

Andrea Cranmer [00:01:51] G̱ilakas'la nugwa'a̱m Na̱mnasolag̱a, gayutła̱n lax̱ ʼNa̱mǥis.

My Bak̕wa̱m name is Na̱mnasolag̱a and we’re – I’m ʼNa̱mǥis. And we inhabit the whole Wa's, Gwa'ni, Nimpkish River, and Nimpkish Lake. We moved here, to Alert Bay, in the late 1800s. And so now we call this home, even though we know our home's on Vancouver Island.

So, mu'la̱n noḵe gax̱da'x̱wa'aḵus. My heart is happy that I'm with you today.

(speaks Kwak̓wala)

My English name is Andrea. I come from a really deep rooted family in our ways of being. My Granny, Gwanti’lakw, she lived to be 89 and I worked with my Granny in school. And I was really fortunate. And I got to work with our Auntie Ethel Alfred, and she lived to be 94, and she was also part of our T̓sasała group that we created 28 years ago.

So my mom Vera Newman, she created the first cultural school – cultural class – or well, it was nursery school, four year olds. And they didn't want to do Humpty Dumpty anymore. So, my mom, they used this record they had and it was of all the old men singing on the record. And then my Auntie Tidi would teach – she would drum and Tidi would teach the dance.

So those children were, like, Chris Cook, Sean Matilpi, like, K’odi Nelson. And now those guys are all, like, in their 50s. And so that impression of teaching young people their way, that gave medicine to them to do what they do now. And it wasn't just young boys, it was young girls as well. It feels like that vision that she had created leadership in young people at some level. It was like the first imprint.

And as you know, we're in Kwakwakaʼwakw territory. We have 18 tribes. We follow that lineage, the Kwagu'ła̱n, the top tribe, and it just goes all the way down, Mamaliliḵa̱l, ʼNa̱mǥis, Ławitsis, all the way down to 18. And I come from a lot of the tribes.

So my great-Granny Agnes always said that it's when you come from so many tribes that this means you're really rooted in your land. You're really rooted in who you are.

So I'm pretty proud of that fact. That I come from a long line of really strong matriarchs that have been – a lot of them have been the teachers and my Granny Gwanti’lakw and my Granny – my great-Granny Agnes. Those two ladies kept our ways alive against all odds.

There wasn't a whole group of men at that time.

They would take the young ones that wanted to learn and then my mom was one of them.

So at 11, they made her a blanket. My great-Granny made her blanket. And she literally rifled through the blankets on her bed, took the blue one out, dyed it green. Put the tree of life on that blanket and adorned it with buttons and – abalone buttons and gave it to my mom. Fast-tracked that when I started teaching, I was 19, and then my mom gave me the blanket. So she just passed that on to me. Because of the work that I – all the teaching that I was doing.

And then I've been a teacher for many years. I was taught by really strong people that it wasn't just about singing and dancing. It was about how you treat people. And it was about embracing all our ancient teachings from the beginning of time, like maya'xa̱la, like showing respect to each others. Showing respect to self first.

Hutłilala, the ability to listen. And this is what we just taught in our most recent class, are these teachings. So we ask the questions like, “What do you think it means to hutłilala?”

I have to share the story about my Granny, when I was teaching at a young age, she said to me, “Andrea, you don't know how to listen.” (laughs)

And I was like, “Gran, I'm a really good listener!” Here, I'm trying to convince my old wise Granny that I was a good listener.

And she goes, “No, you don’t.” And she goes, “I’m not trying to be mean to you.” She goes, “I want you to learn how to listen and then pay attention. ‘Cause people don't pay attention, they don't listen.” And she goes, “If you know – if you learn these two things, as you get older, they're gonna come to you. They're gonna to come to you and ask you things. ‘Cause they didn't pay attention and they did not listen.”

So I was like, you know, all like, “Oh, okay, Gran.” And, you know, I really appreciated that. And I share that with everyone.

Suzette Amaya [00:07:28] Your family has preserved culture and revitalized culture and you're sharing about your mom and your Elders growing up. We're in a place where a lot of harm was done as well, too.

Andrea Cranmer [00:07:38] Yes.

Suzette Amaya [00:07:39] Because we had the residential school and then – yet there were people in Alert Bay who held strong to our language and our culture. And that's evident in your family and who you are.

Share that journey with me, I'd love to hear it. Because at 19, you're teaching – you're already a leader before you're an adult.

 Andrea Cranmer [00:15:27] In the old days, old people would watch you and guide you. And my teacher, Jack Peters, he was my teacher for many years at the Alert Bay School. That's where I graduated from. And so was Auntie Ethel and my mom. And we did everything. We traveled to all these political gatherings. United Native Nations, UBCIC. Mainly, Native Brotherhood of Canada, which at that time was the oldest institution for Natives.

And then we got to in – secure, like, powerful, true Bak̕wa̱m leaders that – they would say no, they meant no, and they wouldn't take anything less if the people they were negotiating with wasn't being respectful.

These people influenced my life. And what I found was that, “Where's the woman?” Like, the women were the teachers, they– you know, I taught with my Granny and my Auntie, and my mom created a program and it was successful.

But in the leadership, in the political realm, there was mainly at the time, when we were teenagers, was men. But they really had an imprint. The imprint in my life about them was they did not back down. They did not back down.

Suzette Amaya [00:09:24] (narrating) What really stood out in my conversation with Andrea was the incredible influence of women in her life. While she had the privilege of learning from respected political leaders and hereditary Chiefs, she shared that it was her Granny and the older women in her family who shaped her the most. They were her first teachers, passing down the Kwak̓wala language, cultural protocols, family histories, and stories that have been carried from generation to generation. They weren't simply sharing knowledge, they were preserving the identity of their people.

Andrea reflected that although many of the political leaders she encountered were men, it was the older women who quietly ensured the culture survived.

Listening to Andrea, I was reminded the strength of our Nations has always rested in the balance between strong male leadership and the unwavering guidance of our matriarchs.

Her Granny's legacy lives on not only through her family, but through every teaching Andrea now shares with others. Continuing the work of preserving culture for generations to come. I've always admired Andrea for her strong character of female empowerment from afar, her presence has truly inspired me in my teen and adulthood.

Andrea Cranmer [00:10:54] When my Granny passed, I remember Tommy Wallace, who's a Chief from T̓łat̕ła̱siḵwa̱la, he got up to speak at the end of her funeral and then thanked her.

And he goes, “I'll never forget, she bought me a pair of shoes. I didn't have shoes, or good shoes. So I always wanted to thank her and thank the family because she was giving that way.”

My Granny was giving to kids. So, you know, she had ice cream and she had candy and my Granny was – I think she stood in her power and did what she could do, but I think in Indian country, and I'm sorry I have to say this, and what destroys our people is the jealousy and the judgment. It just has to stop. That's not our way.

Suzette Amaya [00:11:46] Do you think that language is really helping people get back to protocol?

Andrea Cranmer [00:11:50] Yes, totally. So then to reflect back at being young. If I had (voice breaking) If I was just given, “You're gonna teach language, Andrea. This is what you're going to do.” I would be a fluent speaker right now, not what – I had to do all the rest of it.

History, family, lineage, songs, dances, legends, art, blanket making, all of it. Instead of me get – being allowed to focus on just Kwak̓wala, I didn't get that opportunity.

Well, I was guided to the other thing, which was everything else. And we went to New Zealand in 1990, to this big language conference. And the Māoris almost lost their language, the Hawaiians almost lost our language. So we were together and they had success. So they were showing people, this is how you can be successful.

And to this day, the one thing that kind of holds me accountable is, one of their teachers said to me, “You need to learn your language fluently.”

And I was just like, “You have no idea where I live and what goes on in a day.”

But then what he said was true. Like we need to learn it because that connects us to the Creator, that connects us to our land, that connects us to the sea, the sky, connects us to everything. If we Kwak̓wala, if we speak in our language. So would this big, “Oh we got to save our language.”

We didn't have to save anything, we just need to learn. People really like their catchphrases, I noticed. (laughs) You know, it just drives me crazy. Cultural safety, you know, trauma-informed practices. And I'm just like, “Gang. Go back to the basics, go back to our Gwa’yi G̱ila's. Go back to łaxwa̱lap̓a, go back to loving everyone. Go back to maya'xa̱la, everyone should respect one another. We don't need to like each others, but whatever we're doing, we need to support whoever's leading in a good way, let's support that in language.

We've gone out to ask the other Nations what success is and how does success look in language. And they have showed us ways. So we're borrowing ways to integrate Kwak̓wala through all of it. And we are having success now. Where the learners that, in our adult program, they can say, like, the intermediates could now go a little bit longer in Kwak̓wala instead of breaking down into English all the time.

So now we have younger generation learning Kwak̓wala and learning to train to be speakers of the House. And having people not extend their growth. And not extend their learning in Kwak̓wala. And now I'm talking about people that sit in the front that are Gig̱a̱me’. We want them to learn Kwak̓wala.

We want to them to speak our Kwak̓wala language to give thanks to what they just witnessed in Kwak̓wala. And you, in order to do that, you first have to surrender that you're not speaking Kwak̓wala and that you’re speak way too much English.

Suzette Amaya [00:15:27] When I see language speakers, the women are the ones who are cooking, making the regalia with each other. A part of so much of our culture, and the language part is so vital.

I always like to say we're like high-functioning in trauma because we're living in it, we're constantly in grief, we're losing so many of our precious people, and then we're still mourning those who've shared so much with us.

Andrea Cranmer [00:15:53] Yep.

Suzette Amaya [00:15:54] And yet, I see all the great things happening in Alert Bay.

Andrea Cranmer [00:15:57] Yeah.

Suzette Amaya [00:15:58] There’s this – there's – people are learning Kwak̓wala in the schools. And then they get to experience it when there's a potlatch. You are such a gift to our people.

Andrea Cranmer [00:16:07] Oh, geez…

Suzette Amaya [00:16:08] I love for you to share, like, how language is so intertwined in everything we are and everything we do in our culture.

Andrea Cranmer [00:16:14] Yes. So when we were growing up, we – my mom would always say, “Oh, the man's the king in our culture.” And so when they would be at my house, she would be like, “Oh, you go get these boys something to drink.”

And I was the rebel. I was totally the rebel, I'm like, “I am not serving these guys. Go get your own juice, and when you got your juice, you bring me one.” And my mom was horrified.

It's really funny how you put culture in language, like, when you're writing a proposal and I'm like, “No language is culture.” Like, that's the whole bloodline. That is culture for everyone and then the stems of culture, like, that's one of the worksheets we give out. “What do you think culture is?”

People will say, “I don't know.”

I said, “Do you go get traditional foods?”

And they'll go, “Well, yeah, I go with my dad.”

And so we go, “Traditional foods. Yay. Do you know how to cut a fish?”

And they'll be like, “Yeah, I know how to cut a fish.”

And some people wouldn't know how. They'd say, “I know how to bake, or being kind to people, or dancing in the big house, or –” Like, they had many – because culture is not just dancing in the big house. And it's not just singing in the big house.

So when you push out matriarchs, and matriarch wisdom, and women's voices? Prior to contact, they had balance. And then we had all this trauma and all this influence from outside world. And our people started to change the way they thought. And they thought they needed to do this and this and this. And one of them was to suppress. Suppress us, if we're a female.

And yet our sisiyutł – which when you drive off the ferry to Alert Bay, there's this double-headed serpent, so people be reminded that you’d – to attain balance in your life. So that middle face is you, and then you choose, “Am I gonna go down this road, or the rough road, or am I going to go down a good road?” Like, I get to choose.

So the other thing about our people when you connect to your natural – supernatural energy, good medicine comes out of that. And yet, when I talk about it with groups of people, you could tell they just are thinking about, “What am I gonna eat for lunch? Oh, I wonder if the Canucks won.”

They don't even think deep. And yet in the old days, people thought deep because they had to move through so – they had to move through the seasons, they had moved through, like, makeshift houses that they're gonna put on a boat and go somewhere else to survive through the winter.

They were always, in our language, ḵ̓a̱msa is lazy. “No.” That's what I tell kids, “No lazy Indians. If you didn't do what you're supposed to do, you're gonna mess up the rest of the day for everyone else. So if you're suppose to go get the water and you decide, ‘No, I'm not gonna do that.’ Then how are they gonna cook? So then everyone starves until you go get the water.”

So they always had natural consequences if you didn't do what you say you're going to do. 

So I know that for me, my strength comes from – it really comes from my mom, my Grannies, my Aunties. It comes from a feminine leadership.

So I tell people, now, that we're not just the backbone of the communities. That's already a big task. I said, “We're feminine leaders and people need to accept what – the wisdom that we bring with what's been given to us.”

It's kind of like we need to restore the authority that we have. We have to. Because what's going on right now, our world wouldn't be so crazy if people would just surrender. Balance. They have – we have to have balance. If we don't have balance, the next generation of little boys are gonna be put in the world, bigged up. “Oh, look at how cute they are. Oh, they're so great. They're learning their language. Oh it’s so…”

But what about the girls? What about the young teens that are female? What about young adults that are mums? And I feel in my heart, I want everyone to have the opportunity to feel good right here about being a Bak̕wa̱m. I want everyone to have the opportunity to have a coming of age ceremony. Not only the people that potlatch.

So I guess at the end of the day, I want everyone to have a sense of belonging. And so that they feel good right here.

Suzette Amaya [00:20:59] As a woman, I'm from GwaSala, I have felt that patriarchal sense I grew up with – I'm from the Walkus family – I grew with ten uncles and – but just seeing in our big house how we do need to get back to balance and I love how you brought the sisiyutł in there. To – for us to know those teachings and I feel so hopeful for generations to come. Because I think about your mom, your family, and you who teach every day.

Andrea Cranmer [00:21:29] Yes, so. Oh, it might sound controversial, but I'll share what I know. So when we're in the school district, our parents of that time did not care for that system. So a group of parents and others from this village decided to create a school, but based on our ways. And my sister Irene was one of those students, now she's the principal for the school district. The Aboriginal principal that works with all the schools of Aboriginal students on the north island.

She came out of T’łisalagilakw School. We didn't go to T’łisalagilakw School. There was a group that stayed and they kept going, but what happened was it started to change and they started to just go become another school instead of a school that was distinguished by culture as the vibe, language, you know, learning about your tribe, learning about – and it became another school.

I know that they do have a strong cultural program. What I notice about our people, some of the younger generation, they don't want to hutłilala x̱a ḵ̕wa̱lsḵ̕wa̱l'yakw. They don't wanna listen to the older people who give guidance.

So they, you know, get on there, puff up their chests, and go and do what they're gonna do. And they don't like feedback. So, with our teachings, like, what I started talking with you, if you don't have that ingrained in these young people, then they're going to – gonna choose things that they like in culture. Which isn't the way forward. You have to teach them. Discipline as well.

Like, you don't get to pull that out today because it's not time for that. Now if you say that, people get their bee in a bonnet and you're just trying to, you know, you're just breaking their spirit. And we're like, “We are not breaking spirits ever.” Like, get that out of your head right now. We are needing to teach these young ones that there's time and place and that these pieces are sacred. Where's the sacredness in our ways right now?

And there's too many people who lost sight of their Gwa’yi G̱ila's. Their ways of being. And if they're the quiet one in the village, they're not gonna say, “Well this is what we need to do.”

They're gonna be scared to say it, but I'm encouraging everyone that's listening, if you know your Gwa’yi G̱ila's, your Way of Being, and you've been taught it, go teach it. Go influence someone, even if it's one person, go do it. And then that will ripple out to someone else, and someone else.

Because in our healing work, they say if even one person shows up for the workshop, a hundred people around them will be affected. So if seven people show up for the workshop that's seven-hundred people and, you know, that's almost the whole reserve.

And some of these young ones, when I talk about stuff, they totally understand what I'm talking about. They totally get it.

 Suzette Amaya [00:24:49] Well they have you as an Auntie.

Andrea Cranmer [00:24:51] So –

Suzette Amaya [00:24:52] You know, that you're so empowering and strong. You know, I'm thinking about, like, for people who don't know – Kwakwaka’wakw people who see our totem poles or see images in our potlatch world, what are things that you want to know that do you hold so proud to be Kwakwaka’wakw? You know, I know that, like, yeah, we are so impacted by colonialism and patriarchy and, you know, we're in a state of healing, and then reclamation, and we’re so resilient.

I see you in such a huge light. When you say, like, Bak̕wa̱m brilliance, I'm like, “Yeah! that's…” People really look up to you, and they've seen you throughout the years as someone who's given them strength and honouring in themselves as well. What do you want people to know about us?

Andrea Cranmer [00:25:42] We had strong leaders prior to us that were intact, even though they were going through a lot of hardship. And a lot females – that everyone that's become new in this world want to step out and they don't understand that they don't need to do that. They just need to love. And one thing that I know is you have to have – we say, “Ale a'agala mu'ma̱lima. I was just overjoyed with gratitude.”

Something like that is so important because mu'ma̱lima is to have gratitude.

Suzette Amaya [00:26:22] (narrating) I have so much respect for Andrea and taking the time to share her language and culture journey with me.

Speaking with Andrea Cranmer validates the feelings I have had my entire life as a Kwakwaka’wakw woman. I am raising two sons to be respectful of women and teaching them our ways.

To move forward in language and culture, we need to have healing and respect. She reminded us that healing requires us to acknowledge our feelings, release our pain, and allow ourselves to grieve what was taken from us. Through language, community, and compassion, people are not only reclaiming words, they are reclaiming parts of themselves that have been waiting to come home.

Language is a journey and I’m still on mine. I’m Suzette Amaya, your host for the Kwakwaka’wakw episodes of Words and Culture.

G̱ilakas'la, thank you. And ha̱lakas'la, goodbye.

Announcer [00:27:27] [cheerful electronic music] Words and Culture is made possible with funding from SiriusXM, through the Community Radio Fund of Canada. It is distributed through Native Voice One, The Native American Radio Network. Words and Culture is produced by Kim Wheeler. Kaylen Belair is our audio engineer and editor.

Multiple Speakers [00:27:47] Hamiyaa. Yammi! K’achu naohdá nǫ́. Ha̱lakas'la. Kitakitamaatsinyo’pau, we’ll see you later. [music fades out]