Where am I from?

If you know me, I am a very social butterfly. Ask me a question, and you'll learn a lot about me. But this is a question where inside I feel that I am rolling my eyes as I take a breath to try to get this question answered. For some people, this question is a simply one word reply. But for me, there's an explanation required after the answer.

I was born in Trail, and lived there until I was three, but I grew up in Vancouver and still live here. I am an Okanagan Indian Band member, but neither of my parents are from there. My Mother is from Capilano, and my Father is from Chehalis. If you know BC, you know where these places I've mention are, otherwise, this also requires further information. Sometimes it's nice that people know where I'm talking about, especially if they truly want to know where I'm from.

Trail is in the southern part of BC, if you look on a map of Canada you'll find Trail in the middle of the BC border. My parents ran a pool hall in Castlegar which was where we lived when I was born, but the closest hospital is in Trail, BC. Anyone who's heard of Castlegar usually also know that there was only one pool hall there when I was born and that they'd probably been there; yes, these people are usually older than me. I even remember my best friend was Gloria and we wrote to each other, but I've lost touch since I was a kid. She mailed me a picture of herself in her favourite chair (a green recliner); she was one of the teenagers who hung with my parents. We'd moved out of Castlegar when I was three, so I can't truly say I'm from here but believe it when some from "the valley" say I'm from there too.

But, I insist that I'm from Vancouver as that's where we lived and where I grew up. Sure my parents lived on the west side of Vancouver, but I found myself in my teen years on the east side of Vancouver. My first school was Walter Moberley, and that's on the south side of East Van; we lived on Ross Street. That's where I first started going to church (it was across the alley behind our house), and where I had my first crush (in kindergarten). I do recall we had a neighbour that I liked, but he liked my older sister (something I'd find in the future would happen often). We stayed at the Ross Street house for at least one year as I was in Kindergarten / Grade 1 in the same year. My birthday is in November which was when I was placed in Grade 1 in the AMs and Kindergarten in afternoons.

We moved to the west side and my parents lived at that house for 43 years. There's a lot of history here, but that's not this story. I went to Edith Cavell for Grades 2 until 5; they failed me and my sisters because "apparently" the school got more money from the government for each Native student they had. I feel that I should've been the only one who had to repeat a grade as I was the one with a poor immunity. If someone caught a cough, I'd get the full cold, stuffy face and all, so I'd miss at least a week every time I got sick. Bottom line, after the second time in grade 5, my Mother moved us to Emily Carr for grades 6 and 7. I went to Eric Hamber until I graduated; this was where I'd found myself to be into Heavy Metal, and found myself and my friends in high-tops, jeans, and mack-jackets. I even had a collection of metal jerseys of my favourite bands. In high school, I found I didn't fit in with this west side kids, and started hanging on the east side like Britannia and the old Indian Center.

This is where I bring up my heritage, Indian or Native or Aboriginal or First Nation. I still say that even "they" don't know what to call me. I am not easily offened and don't care what you call me, but if it's easier to recognize, I say I'm a "red skin". So, I'm signed up with the Okanagan Band but I'm not from there and I've never lived there. My Grandmother had a pre-arranged marriage with a guy from there and that's how I've become an Okananan Indian. My Mother is from Capilano, her grandmother is Mary Joe Capilano. Capilano was one of the last rez's to sign up the Squamish Nation. My Father is from Chehalis, up by Agassiz. Even though it's up by the Sto:Lo Nation, they are an independent Indian Band (Chehalis Indian Band). I haven't changed over as I haven't decided to follow my Mother and change to a Squamish Nation member, or to follow my Father and become a Chehalis member. Since I've grown up in Vancouver, I'm not from the rez and don't feel I belong to either. I didn't truly know about my culture until later in life; I even have younger cousins who speak the language and I do not.

So in brief, I was born in Trail but we moved when I was three so I'm not from there. My Mother's from Capilano and my Father's from Chehalis, but I'm an Okanagan. We lived on the west side of Van but I grew up hanging out on the east side and I live in the East Side of Vancouver now. That's where I'm from.