This thesis provides a model for understanding how social classes arose in the Gulf of Georgia area. This model distinguishes how social status in rank and a class societies are manifested and maintained in non-state, kin-based societies, drawing mainly from ethnographic descriptions. The relationship between the living and the dead for making status claims in both rank and class societies makes the archaeological study of mortuary ritual important for investigating these relationships. I propose that burial mounds and cairns, which were prominent in the region from 1500 to 1000 years ago, reflect a time when status differentiation was defined mainly through social rank. Following this period, when all forms of below-ground burials cease and above-ground graves become the dominant form of mortuary practice, I propose that the historically recorded pattern of social class emerged. Archaeological investigations of the burial mounds and cairns at the Scowlitz site have provided the first fully reported instances of mound and cairn burials in this region. Using less well reported data from over 150 additional burial mounds and cairns reported from other sites in the region, evidence for the nature of status differentiation sought out. Patterns in the burial record are investigated through discussing variation within classes of burials, demography and deposition, spatial patterning, grave goods, and temporal variation. These patterns and changes are then discussed within the context of the larger culture history of the region, suggesting that the late Marpole or Garrison sub-phase may be defined as ending around 1000 BP with the cessation of below-ground burial practices. The general patterns observed in mound and cairn burials and the changes in mortuary ritual subsequent to their being built generally support the idea of a shift from a rank to a class society. The thesis provides a basis for further investigation of questions of social status and inequality in the Gulf of Georgia region.

The concern of this thesis is the position of people of alternative genders in Coast Salish culture, not only in the past, but in the present. How were individuals with such a difference treated? What forces constrained them? What factors afforded them opportunity? Were such genders even recognized? With these questions in mind, field work was conducted with the permission of the Std: Id Nation throughout the summer of 1998. This paper is based on interviews conducted then and subsequent interviews with people from other Coast Salish groups. In addition, local ethnographic materials—with reference to field notes whenever possible—and traditional stories were analyzed from the perspective of Coast Salish epistemology. Alternative genders need to be understood foremost in the cultural contexts in which they occur, only then can comparisons proceed from a secure foundation. Research revealed a paradoxical situation. Oral traditions in which the alternately gendered are despised, occur side-by-side with traditions in which such people were honoured for the special powers they possessed. Individuals and families operated in the space generated by this paradox, playing the "serious games" to which Ortner alludes (1996:12-13). The absence of a "master narrative" in Coast Salish culture accounts for some, but not all of these contradictions. Equally relevant are persistent patterns of secrecy, personal autonomy, kin solidarity, differential status, and differential gender flexibility that both restrict the social field and offer stress points that were, and are, manipulated in individual and collective strategies. Given a world view in which transformation was the norm, and in which the disadvantaged could become powerful overnight by revealing the power they had hidden, some alternatively gendered people were able to maximize their potential and become significant forces. No formal roles offered sanction, instead an ad hoc approach marked the response to alternative genders and the outcome rested on the position of the individual and her/his family, and their ability to maneuver within multiple constraints. It was this potential to transform a stigmatized status into an honoured role that made the position of the alternatively gendered paradoxical.

This dissertation explores how transformative spaces and agency provide opportunities in everyday lives for transformative shifts from the dominant culture towards a culture of ecological decision-making. Stories about transformative change and system shifts, told by forty people involved in Canada’s Gulf Islands, form the basis for the findings. Their stories demonstrate how personal transformation leads to changed lifestyles and system shifts that reflect the interconnectedness between all living organisms. Two elements of the shift to ecological thinking are increased understanding of the natural world, and willingness to hear and empathise with other people’s realities. Change in communities is cumulative and unpredictable, mirroring personal transformation. Community self-governance is at the core of cultural shifts – the extent to which community members, with various purposes and realities, engage in empathetic dialogue. When interacting with governments and corporations, those who have shifted to ecological-thinking mode exercise their agency and respond according to their inner values. Factors that increase the likelihood of cultural shifts include: a) a multiplicity of different realities in the same space that create the opportunity for people to rethink their cultural box and see the arbitrariness of dominant norms, b) people exercising their agency rather than looking to government as authority, c) collective, non-hierarchical processes, and d) support and links to others in a network of symbiotic ecological-thinking nodes. The power in d) is the power of an accumulation of localisms that creates cultural shifts, arising from communities, which shifts society’s norms and behaviours. / Graduate / 0329 / 0615 / fayweller@shaw.ca

Thesis (M Nursing)--Montana State University--Bozeman, 2008. / Typescript. Chairperson, Graduate Committee: Karen Zulkowski. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 48-50).

A negotiated, cooperative co-management arrangement between six Coast Salish First Nations and Parks Canada has created an opportunity for Hul’qumi’num peoples to “re-story” a colonized landscape in the southern Gulf Islands archipelago east of Vancouver Island, British Columbia. Collaborative research undertaken with the Hul’qumi’num-Gulf Islands National Park Reserve Committee is part of a long-term and practical effort to regain authorship over Central Coast Salish cultures, languages and history. In particular, this thesis seeks to challenge popular and public narratives which do not recognize Hul’qumi’num peoples’ territories and territorialities in the Gulf Islands National Park Reserve (GINPR). By tracing the processes of narrative and historical production, and with attention to how power imbues these processes (Trouillot 1995), I argue that the narrative of ephemerality whereby Hul’qumi’num peoples are thought to have “floated by” the southern Gulf Islands, but never “settling” there, emerged largely through early colonial processes and Indian land policy which reconfigured Central Coast Salish territorialities. These assumptions have been reproduced in a regional anthropological “seasonal rounds” narrative and through the language of “villages” and “seasonal camps.” Through the period of comprehensive land claims, this narrative has been reified by framing the southern Gulf Islands as the exclusive territory of First Nations’ neighbouring the Hul’qumi’num. Narratives of ephemerality and exclusivity continue to dominate the public imaginary through their reproduction in GINPR interpretive materials and in the grey literature of consulting archaeologists. These narratives are not neutral, but have implications for rights and title recognition and accommodation by the state. The perspectives of Hul’qumi’num peoples help to understand the silence in the dominant narratives by elucidating the historic and ongoing significance of specific locales in the southern Gulf Islands for Hul’qumi’num individuals, families and communities, as well as the transformative processes effecting territorial dispossession in the post-European contact period. / Graduate / 2019-08-31

The seed for this research germinated deep in the lands of our Coast Salish ancestors thousands of years ago. As a Coast Salish Two Spirit researcher, I noticed there is a striking absence of west coast Indigenous and Coast Salish specific knowledge about Two Spirit identities, experiences and vision work in academic and community circles. Therefore, this research was conducted exclusively on Coast Salish territories, with Coast Salish identified Two Spirit participants and allies. I apply my Four House Posts Coast Salish methodology in an Indigenous research framework, and through storytelling and art-based methods, this study asks - How does recognition of Coast Salish Two Spirit identity and experience contribute to community wellness and cultural resurgence? The intention of this study is to offer pathways for intergenerational healing and reconnections, cultural revitalization and transformation by weaving traditional Indigenous knowledges with contemporary narratives, in order to increase voice and visibility of Coast Salish Two Spirit People. / Graduate

Eelgrass (Zostera marina) is a critical nearshore marine habitat for juvenile Pacific salmon (Oncorhynchus spp.) as they depart from their natal streams. Given the poor marine survival of Coho (O. kisutch) and Chinook (O. tshawytscha) salmon juveniles in recent decades, it is hypothesized that deteriorating eelgrass habitats could contribute to their low survival. The primary goal of this research was to investigate the possible long-term spatial-temporal trends in eelgrass habitat in the Salish Sea and was addressed by two main objectives: (1) Define a methodology for mapping eelgrass habitats using UAV imagery to create a baseline for long-term mapping; and (2) Assess changes in eelgrass area coverage and fragmentation over the period of 1932-2016 using historic aerial photographs and Unmanned Aerial Vehicle (UAV) imagery, and assess the relationship between eelgrass and residential housing density and shoreline activities. Three study sites in the Southern Gulf Islands of the Salish Sea were chosen for analysis. The overall accuracies of eelgrass delineation from UAV imagery were 95.3%, 88.9%, and 90.1% for Village Bay, Horton Bay, and Lyall Harbour, respectively. The UAV method was found to be highly effective for this size of study site, however results were impacted by the environmental conditions at the time of acquisition, namely: sun angle, tidal height, cloud cover, water clarity, and wind speed. The results from the first objective were incorporated into a long-term dataset of historic aerial photography and used to evaluate changes in eelgrass area and fragmentation. All three eelgrass meadows showed a deteriorating trend in eelgrass condition. On average, eelgrass area coverage decreases by 41% while meadow complexity as indicated by the shape index increases by 76%. Shoreline activities (boats, docks, log booms, and shoreline armouring) and residential housing density increased markedly at all sites over the study period. By using a linear correlation model, it was revealed that eelgrass areal coverage and fragmentation (Shape Index) were, in general, very strongly correlated to these landscape-level coastal environmental indicators. While this correlation model is not meant to show a direct causative impact on eelgrass at these sites, these results suggest an overall deterioration of coastal environmental health in the Salish Sea due to a dramatic increase in the use of the coastal zone, as well as likely declines in water quality due to urbanization. / Graduate

This thesis provides a model for understanding how social classes arose in the Gulf of Georgia area. This model distinguishes how social status in rank and a class societies are manifested and maintained in non-state, kin-based societies, drawing mainly from ethnographic descriptions. The relationship between the living and the dead for making status claims in both rank and class societies makes the archaeological study of mortuary ritual important for investigating these relationships. I propose that burial mounds and cairns, which were prominent in the region from 1500 to 1000 years ago, reflect a time when status differentiation was defined mainly through social rank. Following this period, when all forms of below-ground burials cease and above-ground graves become the dominant form of mortuary practice, I propose that the historically recorded pattern of social class emerged. Archaeological investigations of the burial mounds and cairns at the Scowlitz site have provided the first fully reported instances of mound and cairn burials in this region. Using less well reported data from over 150 additional burial mounds and cairns reported from other sites in the region, evidence for the nature of status differentiation sought out. Patterns in the burial record are investigated through discussing variation within classes of burials, demography and deposition, spatial patterning, grave goods, and temporal variation. These patterns and changes are then discussed within the context of the larger culture history of the region, suggesting that the late Marpole or Garrison sub-phase may be defined as ending around 1000 BP with the cessation of below-ground burial practices. The general patterns observed in mound and cairn burials and the changes in mortuary ritual subsequent to their being built generally support the idea of a shift from a rank to a class society. The thesis provides a basis for further investigation of questions of social status and inequality in the Gulf of Georgia region. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The concern of this thesis is the position of people of alternative genders in Coast Salish culture, not only in the past, but in the present. How were individuals with such a difference treated? What forces constrained them? What factors afforded them opportunity? Were such genders even recognized? With these questions in mind, field work was conducted with the permission of the Std: Id Nation throughout the summer of 1998. This paper is based on interviews conducted then and subsequent interviews with people from other Coast Salish groups. In addition, local ethnographic materials—with reference to field notes whenever possible—and traditional stories were analyzed from the perspective of Coast Salish epistemology. Alternative genders need to be understood foremost in the cultural contexts in which they occur, only then can comparisons proceed from a secure foundation. Research revealed a paradoxical situation. Oral traditions in which the alternately gendered are despised, occur side-by-side with traditions in which such people were honoured for the special powers they possessed. Individuals and families operated in the space generated by this paradox, playing the "serious games" to which Ortner alludes (1996:12-13). The absence of a "master narrative" in Coast Salish culture accounts for some, but not all of these contradictions. Equally relevant are persistent patterns of secrecy, personal autonomy, kin solidarity, differential status, and differential gender flexibility that both restrict the social field and offer stress points that were, and are, manipulated in individual and collective strategies. Given a world view in which transformation was the norm, and in which the disadvantaged could become powerful overnight by revealing the power they had hidden, some alternatively gendered people were able to maximize their potential and become significant forces. No formal roles offered sanction, instead an ad hoc approach marked the response to alternative genders and the outcome rested on the position of the individual and her/his family, and their ability to maneuver within multiple constraints. It was this potential to transform a stigmatized status into an honoured role that made the position of the alternatively gendered paradoxical. / Arts, Faculty of / Anthropology, Department of / Graduate

The macro-algae Nereocystis luetkeana or bull kelp is an important canopy-forming species in the rocky nearshore ecosystems of the Salish Sea. It provides structural habitat for many fish and invertebrates including juvenile salmon. In the Pacific Northwest, major declines in Chinook and Coho salmon populations have led to increased scientific efforts to determine the causes behind these losses. High mortality of juvenile salmon during their first months in the marine environment may be linked to loss of habitat such as kelp beds, which can provide shelter, concentration of prey and energetically favorable conditions. This work seeks to understand the role of kelp habitat in the early marine growth period of juvenile salmon. Initially, methods using satellite imagery were developed for mapping the location of kelp beds adjacent to a salmon bearing river in Cowichan Bay, on the West Coast of British Columbia. These methods were then applied to a time series of imagery from 2004 to 2017, to determine how kelp beds are changing over time and the possible drivers of those changes. The results found spatial and temporal variability in kelp beds with a decline from a high in 2015 to the lowest levels in 2017. The observed changes were over a short period considering the natural variability of Nereocystis and continued long term monitoring will help to determine if the declines are permanent. Spatial and temporal variability were found to relate to substrate type, current strengths and potential lag effects of declines due to warmer than average sea surface temperatures. Lastly, the maps created through satellite-based methods served to inform surveys investigating the importance of kelp habitat to the declining populations of Chinook and Coho salmon. To address this, remote underwater video and visual snorkel surveys were used to determine the presence and absence of juvenile salmon in paired kelp and no-kelp sites throughout the season when the fish are known to be present in the region. Higher densities of juvenile salmon were detected in kelp-associated areas; however, this effect was detected both before kelp growth in early spring and during kelp presence. Transects conducted on the inner edge of kelp beds, adjacent to rocky shorelines were determined to have the highest salmon densities indicating that physical factors such as substrate type and wave energy associated with these areas may be preferential to juvenile salmon. / Graduate