S7ílhen tl’a Swa7ám̓ (Food of the Ancestors)

Abstract

T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss has dedicated most of her life to Indigenous plant remediation and restoration projects that support wetlands ecosystems, food forests and the wild inhabitants of these places. This is diligent and time based work. It will take several lifetimes to heal our planet, and everything we plant now will help to ensure that our future ancestors will survive. Through the work of planting and rebuilding these wetlands and food forests we are gifting the future a little of what was greatly taken from the natural world in the past 150 years. Through interdisciplinary documentation of this work, we assure that our future ancestors will continue to be connected to the natural world, by knowing the true names in our Indigenous languages, of these sacred plant relatives. These photos, along with the Sḵwx̱úmesh Snichem text, are part of the knowledge carrying that must be taken to the next generations to stay informed and connected. This is what reciprocity means to us. This is what Indigenous Food Sovereignty looks like.