Indigenous storyteller at Vancouver Public Library shares city’s lesser known tales

CBC News March 30, 2018

Summary

Since 2008, Vancouver Public Library has had an Indigenous storyteller in residence who uses storytelling to bridge the gap between Indigenous and non-Indigenous communities. This year, T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss, an artist and ethno-botanist, who studies plants and their traditional uses, has been selected.

*T’uy’t’tanat-Cease Wyss, Indigenous storyteller in residence, Vancouver Public Library*

Wyss plans to research her own family’s heritage as well as focusing on Skwomesh women.

One little known story is how during the 1886 Great Vancouver Fire, Skwomesh women in canoes rescued people trying to escape the flames on the shoreline. Wyss says, “The women just paddled through the night and saved thousands of people.”