BC’s Clark appoints Shawn Atleo to help improve dialogue with First Nations – The Globe and Mail
Shawn Atleo has listened to grandmothers in the Arctic, heard the concerns of the youth in his home village of Ahousaht on the West Coast of Vancouver Island and felt Ottawa’s cold winters and its harsh politics, making him ideal for the new British Columbia position of Shqwi qwal.
A Shqwi qwal, pronounced she-qwall, is a West Coast aboriginal name given to a community leader who helps build new paths and relations.
B.C. Premier Christy Clark said that there is no better connected, respected or qualified aboriginal communicator in Canada as she appointed Atleo as Canada’s first Shqwi qwal at a ceremony at Vancouver Island University on Thursday.
The former Assembly of First Nations National Chief said it was time to come home and embrace a moment in history where British Columbia must engage in deep and vulnerable discussions between its aboriginal and non-aboriginal peoples.
