On Wednesday, October 7, from 7:00 p.m. – 8:30 p.m, live via ZOOM, the Whistler Public Library hosts a conversation with Styawat, Squamish Nation ethnobotanist Leigh Joseph, founder of Sḵwálwen Botanicals, (one of my favourite instagram pages.)

Learning about plants can be one of the most beautiful inquiries with potential to improve your own health, your relationship with the natural world, and your relationship with the indigenous people on whose traditional unceded territory you are wandering.

Event Details:

This talk will explore the cultural importance of plants in Squamish and the role plants play in health and wellness within the context of Indigenous resurgence. Through discussing the field of ethnobotany and how community-based research contributes to healing and knowledge renewal within the Squamish and other Indigenous communities in BC and the Yukon, Leigh will share her learning and insights as an Indigenous ethnobotanist.

Email our Program Coordinator, Jeanette, at jbruce@whistlerlibrary.ca to sign up for this virtual event!

About the speaker:Leigh Joseph (ancestral name Styawat), from the Skwxwú7mesh (Squamish) First Nations, is an ethnobotanist, researcher and entrepreneur who is working to contribute to cultural knowledge renewal in connection to traditional plant foods and medicines. Leigh has worked as an ethnobotanist for a number of Indigenous communities throughout BC and the Yukon. Through organizing community events and teaching workshops, university courses and land-based learning opportunities, she aims to expand the renewal of ethnobotanical knowledge and the healing that comes from this connection to place through ancestral knowledge. Through her business, Sḵwálwen Botanicals, Leigh offers natural skincare products crafted with key plant ingredients she respectfully harvests on the lands of Squamish, BC. Sḵwálwen has been featured in Elle Canada, Flare Magazine and enRoute Magazine, and was a Top 5 Finalist of the 2020 Small Business BC Awards.