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By ḵ̓agwiki'lakw, Shadow Alfred Our Language and Culture Camps continue to be a transformative experience for all, offering a space to disconnect from the distractions of the outside world and truly be present. This is a time to step away from our phones and the...
As we shift gears and move into a new season, we want to share and celebrate the beauty that came with spring and summer. Each season carries with it an opportunity to reset and to create memories from new adventures. Here’s a few of ours! You can also read through...
Yarksis Vargas Island, Načiks Tofino, BC June 30 - July 3, 2024 Twelve youth from ’Ya̱lis and surrounding northern Vancouver Island nations embarked on a memorable journey across the island, making several meaningful stops on their way to Tofino. This trip was a...
In Alert Bay, a community garden is not only feeding the community, but empowering youth. By Josh Kozelj, a freelance journalist and was the inaugural Hummingbird fellow with The Tyee. The boy had never used a rake, planted a seed or combed through mushy, brown dirt...
celebrating leadership in sustainable, equitable, and socially just land use across BC At the 2024 Land Awards Gala, the Real Estate Foundation of BC (REFBC) presented awards to five projects and two individuals demonstrating exceptional leadership in sustainable,...
At Nawalakw, we celebrate the seasons of growth on this beautiful journey together. We continue to build our fluency through bak̕wa̱mk̓ala programs and we are proud of our language team who have been on their journey together through the University of Victoria’s...
The Journey of Revival: Exploring Immersion Schools for Language Inspiration Our language team embarked on a journey of inspiration and discovery as they explored two immersion schools this past week, the Quw’utsun Smuneem Elementary School in Duncan and WSA̓NEC̓...
By Cheyenne Bergenhenegouwen “When I speak with people, or I share what I am doing in the garden, I am happy, and I feel I have a luminescence outside of myself when I share it with my people. When they approach me and talk to me, it's like their body is right here,...
Alert Bay youth – Gwimolas Hunt Cranmer and Giselle Alfred - recently returned from a 16-day East Coast journey with the Students on Ice Torngat Mountains Expedition. From their floating classroom they explored coastal Labrador, including the incredible Torngat...
Initially hosting language and culture camps in Hada (Bond Sound), we decided to take the camp into the village of G̱wa’yasda̱ms (Gilford Island) for a week in July. This camp was special for those attending but especially for the community, having the elders and...
We're happy to share our latest newsletter — Celebrating Successes filled with highlights from the last year and incredible experiences we get to have on this Nawalakw journey with our elders, staff, participants, and communities. Enjoy
Last week we celebrated our youth! We had students from Carleton University join us in presenting the documentary they created in collaboration with our Nawalakw youth to the community. Jessica Mountain, Giselle Alfred, Brennan Sawyer, and Lucy Whonnock worked...
“Expect the unexpected. Hope for the best, and plan for the worst.” My dad said these words to me often, amongst many other weird dad-isms forever burned in my memory. And as I grow older, I’ll sheepishly admit that maybe there was a lot of wisdom in those words....
“Keep your chin up and your nose clean, kid.” - Manhattan Melodrama (1934) According to a recent media report, in 2019 a B.C. non-profit donated a million hygiene products to people in need. In 2020, at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic, they hit a million in a...
We have been so blessed by the loving people and generous companies that have come alongside us to support our vision and our work revitalizing the Kwak'wala language and culture. Through language and cultural programming, Nawalakw is committed to being a place of...
Without question 2020 will go down in the history books as a year unlike anything we’ve ever experienced. And yet, as I reflect back on the past 12 months, I am incredibly proud of our team and my heart is filled with love and gratitude. We accomplished a lot, hired...