Wayne Seward

 

Photo by Red Works Photography

I am Wayne Seward, a Coast Salish man from Snuneymuxw (Nanaimo BC). I currently work as the Indigenous Liaison Officer for William Head Institution, a minimum security facility located Southwest of Victoria BC. My job is to assist Indigenous offenders with their Correctional Plan, keep them connected to their family and community and the staff. I also bring community members into the Institution for events as well as Elders, to share teachings and culture to the offenders. I am a man with many hats and do a lot of different things in my job as the Indigenous Liaison Officer. I also work as a Cultural Support Elder for the Truth and Reconciliation process across Canada, and provide individual cultural support for people involved in the Indian Residential School settlement hearings
throughout the span of the TRC hearings. I get called upon, when available, to different communities to assist families and/ or communities for cultural support.

I do a cleansing with cedar boughs and water. After brushing the people, I would get them to wash away the tears with the water that I have medicine in there as well. I am a spirit dancer in our longhouses and travel up and down the Island, the mainland and the west coast of Washington USA, to these longhouses. I travel to different communities to support those gatherings. There is a lot of singing and dancing amongst other things, in which I cannot speak about as our people say that is all we have left and do not want to lose it. I love to sing for different events / gatherings. I have been taught many songs and prayer songs by my grandfather and I always share the name of the songs and what they mean. My grandfather always told me to always remember that. Most people say that I have my grandfathers voice when I sing. I provided cultural support during the Stable Homes Strong Families Digital Story Telling workshop in Victoria a few years back.