As part of the reporting out to the Wellness Almanac’s funders (gracias to the Pemberton and District Initiatives Fund (PDIF) from the Village of Pemberton and Area C of the SLRD, and to the Lil’wat Nation), I have been working on a slide deck reflecting on the past year.

One of the things I wanted to share, as I invite the funders to look forward, to what might follow the Wellness Almanac, is to look at what’s already underway in the community, and support it. So much amazing work is happening, striving to bring healing, wholeness and connection. I wanted to call those things out, as we reflect on the year, and give huge shout-outs to the courage all this work takes. Every human being who has stepped out of a comfort zone and into a shared space, into a new idea, into a different offering or different way of doing things, into a place where one has been hurt before or doesn’t know how they’ll be received, is courage-in-action. We are so much better for it. Even if it sometimes feel as if nothing is happening, nothing is improving, we’re still mired in stuckness, shifts are taking place, and beautiful work is being done.

Here were just a few that I wanted to lift up. Please, add yours below!

1. Village of Pemberton pauses its OCP to prioritize reconciliation and relationship building
2. Lil’wat Christmas Spirit Fund – supported by Wellness Almanac, Village Yoga (Karma yoga class), Pemberton and District Chamber, Pemberton Legion meat draw
3. PVTA is collaborating with Lil’wat Nation’s cultural staff and Lands and Resources on renaming certain trails and updating the signage
4. Tourism Pemberton is working with the Lil’wat Language and Heritage authority on wording for a welcome sign
5. PVTA works with Lil’wat Lands and Resources, original trail builder and RSTBC and Real Estate Association of Whistler to improve Mt Currie/Ts’zil trail
6. Spelkumtn Community Forest – recruited its first Board of Directors, hired an executive director, distributed money, hosted a mushroom walk and talk with Gelpcal and Andy
7. Economic Development Collaborative meets quarterly with view to use economic lens to build opportunity and find ways to weave positive flourishing futures together – apolitical place to create tangible life benefits
8. Chamber’s lunch and learn with Chief Dean Nelson and Rosemary Stager
9. Orange Shirt Day storytelling with Tanina Williams, in collaboration with Wellness Almanac, Stay Wild and Chamber of Commerce
10. PAC Youth Mural featuring kids from PSS and Xet̓ólacw Community School
11. Museum talk with Patricia Ritchie
12. PORCA Bike collab with ILSA/Lil’wat recreation department
13. PORCA trails day with Lands and Resources team
14. The Pemberton and District Library’s top 3 most borrowed non-fiction books were Namayut, Braiding Sweetgrass, and Gifts of the Land
15. Canada Day effort – indigenous crafts, weaving together, Lois and Maxine
16. Sandy Ward’s film screening Slides on the Mountain, at Signal Hill and at Xet̓ólacw Community School
17. Signal hill orange shirts and raising survivors flag
18. Signal Hill Pit Cook
19. SLCC Unceded exhibit
20. Lil’wat Rodeo
21. Indigenous Strong PowWow
22. Joffre harvest festival
23. launch of the St’at’limx Pow Wow Society and construction of the arbour
24. Return of Outdoor School by SD48 to Lil’wat Nation
25. Zero Ceiling hires Auntie Anita 
26. Chamber offers Indigenous and Intercultural Awareness training program at Tz’sil, in partnership with Lil’wat and BCIT, May 17
27. Pemberton Youth Soccer Association invites Tanina to kick off summer camp with teaching about sportsmanship 
28. SLCC offered cultural awareness training with Tanina Williams and Tatalya Nahanee
29. Xterra Pemberton run donates to Lil’wat Recreation
30. Nkukwma Cultural Interperative plan, and Trails and Open Spaces plan
31. Upcoming: Whistler Pemberton Literacy Parnterhsip – 2023-2024 focus on normalizing the use of Ucwalmcitws throughout St’at’imc territory
32. Upcoming: Rumbling towards Reconciliation project with the library
33. Upcoming: SD48 inquiry project on math and weaving and indigenous ways of knowing – Tam Beaton and Tanina Williams