 as volumes and statements that we're holding here in our own ceremonies and respecting the protocols of our our coastal relatives here it's very important but also something happened it's actually history in BC history on how one of our women ended up in the parliament she ended up being elected amongst our people to represent us in the parliament and it was a hard decision but she resigned and you heard why but Melanie in her heart knows why and it's something we all fight for in this province is our respect our recognition as Indigenous people but also when we're voted in the highest office like this they should respect our women they should respect the voice they shouldn't have to say that it's regarding personal issues it's regarding the fact that our people were here first and our people are the voices of the land and voices of our people and we need that exemplified in the highest offices that there are up there even though it's a colonial structure so we wanted to to give our heart felt gratitude to you Melanie and our love you're still standing your powerful voice you always will be I know you did well for your constituents in the downtown Eastside but your voice rang throughout that whole parliamentary you shook it up they have to be accountable they all do for all their actions but you're still standing and you're still going to be that voice for us we know that in our hearts so we have a smudging we wanted to do and then we're going to they're going to do a song we have some beautiful people here but certainly if any of the women want to come up here and join please come up your energy is needed here your energy is welcomed and you are our leaders as well all the women that are here many many women I see fought for many many things and many issues decades and decades of work that our women have done so we want to honor you in the strong circle Melanie and then we'll have some words for you later I'm hoping you'll be able to speak to us so let's join a circle of love and protection and support for Melanie for all the work she's done and I'm going to turn you in smudge now and then maybe you can explain as much good afternoon say go you on my name is Wendell I'm really grateful to be here on Musqueam territory my daughter's land what's being done right now is being brushed off smudged with traditional medicines that were collected in the Merritt area my brother as well doing this work for me as I prepare to brush her off with a cedar boughs it's an honor to be here today to see this work going forward in a good way and I raise my hands to the nation to the people to the chiefs to our elders to our matriarchs and to my brothers as well there are many teachings in Coastal ish territory and NBC as I was shown this is a way to take off that heaviness and to lift up who we are honoring as well and I'm a young knowledge keepers still learning so forgive me if I make mistakes as I love doing this work personally and thank you for giving me this opportunity on behalf of Indian Residential School Survivor Society thank you so much for the prayers and standing in the circle and all the ones in the room this is so important we'll just turn the mic over to Melanie and hopefully Grand Chief and our executive can speak some words after Simgaget, Siguramanic, Gibet Wiltsic it is my honor to be with all of you today on such a beautiful day. Tuksijism Andrea for inviting me it's been a pretty heavy 24 hours and before I begin my Nisqa name is Lahakwiskak eagle that passes on to the next generation and the grandma that Thelma Mark is my grandmother from Lachalzap my grandfather Willie Mark is from Gittamax but he was adopted by the Mark family in Kitsugukla my dad's from the Red River he's passed away but he was Cree, Ojibwe, French and Scottish and the first thing that's coming to mind right now I my tears are for my grandparents and my strength is from my grandparents and my middle name's Joy and all I ever really wanted in my life was to have love and peace and harmony and I was told this is a love blanket and I appreciate the healing strong words because my life is basically I don't remember one year of my life without trauma and I'm really tough Grand Chief Stuart Philip Nosus I'm really tough because I can take a really good shit kicking I'm the type of person that the harder you kick me I smile at your face and tell you is that all you got and the strength in my heart is for our people for our justice for our women for our girls I want my daughters to have the best life the life that I never got I want to acknowledge everyone that paddled with me from day one the first time you met me and heard I wanted to be a politician thank you for having my back it's been the joy of my life to be an MLA to be an advocate I believe that's our job is to open our big mouths and fight fight for people's rights and I stepped away because I've been fighting my whole life and I just want to just slow down my recent diagnosis of ADHD I just found out two weeks ago it's pretty hard when you find out that there's something wrong with your brain because my whole life I've been treated like there's something wrong with me slow down listen why don't you listen work harder slow down I've learned that my brain is actually really brilliant and there's just so much in there that it just gets caught up and doesn't know where to stop so I'm trying to calm down my brain and my house and there's way too much to say I just want to really acknowledge John Horgan for putting me in cabinet because that table is shaped like a canoe and I always said we got a paddle together and he gave me that chance I want to thank everyone who took their chance on me and believed in me and that's gonna still believe in me because I'm gonna still fight I'm gonna fight harder but I just want to leave things in a good way because I'm really proud of all of the things that my eagle feathers touch in this province for kids in care for education I just wanted to leave a positive mark so thank you Tuxedo I just want to thank you for your strength and your courage and to share with you in in our house of culture the cedar brushing helps to brush away any negative energies that may be going towards you and it helps to brush it off you so you don't carry that around and when we blanket people in in Bella Bella as we have you before it's to blanket you with strength and to protect you and so you can take that blanket when you're feeling that your spirit is needs that strength and you wrap it around you and it's wrapped with the love and the courage of everybody that's crossed your path and has supported you and I also want to thank you for always telling it how it is and you know with the tears you know our tears our strength in our tears are courage and it's healthy to to let them out and that's something that you've taught a lot of people and I want to thank you for all of your integrity and your work and for allowing us to stand with you and support you thank you see him this all Quinn see him to see a hide said cut quits eat at me take some nomad to the quail my dear elders family who are here I thank you for this beautiful work that has been done here today and in there I was sharing with the chiefs yesterday Melanie that you're one of our own and that we have to take care of each other and we have to take care of you and it's with the you've inspired many many women many First Nations many firsts and we're always going to remember you and be grateful that you're the person who went through those doors and fearlessly and gave it your everything we watched Melanie and we we made note of the changes that you've made as minister and as your time as MLA and sometimes we think people aren't watching but we're watching Melanie and you've inspired many and I I want to especially thank you for your vulnerability sometimes in life when it's difficult you know we we try and give that firm chin and say everything's fine but today you taught many that there are times when life can get difficult and you take care of yourself and you choose you before anything else and that's what you've done here you've chosen yourself you've chosen your wellness you've chosen your mental health and a better vision forward and I promise you days weeks years from now you and your family will be the beneficiaries of this decision that you made because you'll spend that time with the people that you treasure most and out of the blanket here in Coast Salish territory is like the creator wrapping his arms around you like a grandmother who will put her hand on your back and he's always with you and this is to a blanket is to worm your spirit and those times where you know you may feel cold or your spirit may feel cold or it's not with you it's to call back your spirit and warm it and it's the creator with you and what a privilege it is to to stand on the cedar boughs and to be blanketed and what an honor and you deserve that honor and I just want to thank you for your dedication your years of service and inspiring many who you don't even know and who you haven't even met and we thank you for that so good to see you I just want to say Melanie I'm so happy you're here you are definitely part of our family I remember that afternoon you came into my office so many years ago and you were thinking about running and we spent a couple hours talking about what that might or might not involve and I recall there were tears and so on and so forth it was a big decision I also remember the day you were drummed into the legislature and there was such great joy across the land and we're also proud of you full regalia drums singing the celebration that was happening bringing you know your presence and what you represent in terms of being an indigenous woman into the BC legislature which we all know as the bastion of colonialism everywhere you look in that building there is one of those harsh faces of leaders from days gone by that were gleefully implementing the repressive laws of colonialism and taking away our lands and our way of life and you had to go to that environment every single day and deal with those traditions and those attitudes and we want to thank you for standing up for all of us and for fighting the good fight there day after day after day I know that the legislature has a very dark side you may or may not know the Premier was here today and Melissa called them out on what happened in the legislature and I was the last speaker so I told him what happened there was disgraceful and disgusting and I absolutely believe in my heart of hearts it demands a response you're one of our most beloved role models and you were abused and treated the way you were and we all need to respond as leaders as women's groups as organizations what you may describe as a diplomatic sanction and I told the Premier straight out it's got to stop the bullyism and the racist innuendo and misogynistic behavior that goes on in the legislature has got to stop and we can help that by writing letters and and doing those kinds of things and not let this go by as oh well I know we haven't seen the last year your your light just shines too bright and it gets you in trouble but you were put here with purpose we talked about that on the first time we met and you'll continue to live your purpose throughout your life and you'll continue to advocate and fight for what's right and I'm so proud that we were there to help you in a small way along your difficult path we're still there we're still here and you're always welcome at our campfire and when we get hurt we go where we're loved and you're here because of that so I was so happy when I saw you outside the door there so I want to thank people that brought you here and gave us this very special moment and I just want to stand by stating the obvious we love you so we'll always love you we'll always support you thank you wow it's very emotional Melanie it's it's a beautiful to witness this I just want to share with leadership a little bit about this blanket yesterday I was asked by Chief Jen Thomas to teach self-defense to the women's group at Slewa tooth nation and I just I'm a Muay Thai instructor the first indigenous female Muay Thai instructor for Canada in the US for the for the government of Thailand and I just learned Melanie is actually a fellow Muay Thai sister so it was and they gifted me this blanket and we did a lot of talk on defending our women and our girls using our voice and speaking up for ourselves and to hear what you did yesterday you stood up for yourself and you led by example and you live by what we by what you teach and your words and I just want to applaud you for that I want to acknowledge Chief Angela and counselor Annie for helping us blink at you elder Jewel for blessing us and giving us the okay and making sure we're doing things in the in a good way here to honor you and I just want to give a moment we have a youth representative it's her second day for UBC I see and I want to give her a moment to speak and I also want to ask Katisha Paul if you can lead us in a woman's warrior song as well and the page that brought a quick resource a tissue Paul to the top lip Stanley and let me see it's nearly 10 day Lonnie Riley near the man you're quite a tin I'd zap got much way I'd zap got much way I'd zap got quite a lot more musty much need to come up the home I just know I call I just call on not some up musty muck my name is arts at drop a little angel in Katisha Paul Melanie I am honored to be speaking in front of you and to everybody in this room your energy is really feeding her and I can feel it to be able to lift strong woman up like this in a time of turmoil and disgusting actions is amazing the way that we're gathered here today it reminds me of a story of the seven sisters in what is now called Stanley Park and there when it happened was one of the sisters had passed away and the rest of those six sisters were in mourning they were crying and crying and crying and they wouldn't stop crying so health a creator came down he turned them into trees and they're all standing around in a circle in Stanley Park and one of those trees that fell down during a really big storm here in Vancouver so what the nations did is that they grabbed that tree and they restored it and they made a canoe and they journey in it now that's what I feel like is happening right now one of our cedar trees has fallen but that's not the end of the story like was just previously stated this is only a step only one stroke there's gonna be so many more and there's so many more pulling with us when I seen your name it first started in social media and then I started reading about the politics and it amazed me I want to follow with you I want to walk alongside you so many other women that are here I'm honored to be standing where I am today because I myself have gone through too much even as a young person and it's so so horrifying how we have to be survivors every day surviving waking up and figuring out what else is gonna come at me give it to me I promise you I'll fight back and I'll win every single time we have to have that mentality and that's what you're showing and I appreciate you I appreciate everybody who is here standing with us today I'd stop cut thank you all you're welcome to come up and give Melanie a great big hug because I think she needs it as you're giving Melanie hugs I'll ask your elder jewel to come forward to bless the table elder jewel would you mind blessing the table please the portable Mike please thank you elder so let's dish up as quickly as we can and we'll try to get some more business done this afternoon gentle reminder as you're walking about please wear your masks for those of you online again please stay connected we'll be coming back I'll aim for 20 minutes between 20 and 30 minutes from now which will put us about 1 o'clock 1 10 thanks for your patience everyone