News

Elly Hooper was surrounded by family when she made her first big discovery.

It was a calm, sunny day at setɬamékmən (Coquitlam I.R. 2) last September. Elly, a Kwikwetlem First Nation member, had just joined the Kwikwetlem Guardian program—a Nation-led initiative that allows members (and certified professionals) to protect and monitor Kwikwetlem territory, which centres around the Coquitlam Watershed.

Elly stood at a standing sifter, a tool used to sort through dirt and debris for artifacts, when something caught her eye. It was sharp and shaped like a triangle. After shaking the shifter a few more times, a clearer picture formed: it was an arrowhead. Within a minute, she found another two other arrowheads.

The discoveries meant a lot to Elly, who joined the program for her love of nature and seeing multiple family members serve as Guardians. “I love nature, that’s really big for me, and following in the steps of my family,” she said. “It’s like, I’m there, protecting my land, trying to find artifacts.”

Success stories like this are not uncommon for Guardian programs across the country.

There are hundreds of similar Guardian programs across Canada, creating thousands of meaningful jobs and investments into Indigenous communities. Research suggests that having Guardians on the ground can benefit “lands, people and the economy”—all by following Indigenous teachings and offering training or work opportunities in small communities.

As a Guardian, Elly’s work typically boils down into two streams: archaeology tasks and environmental monitoring. The former involves sifting through dirt on sites for artifacts, similar to how Elly found the arrowhead at setɬamékmən, while the latter requires Guardians to monitor construction sites or other areas slated for development. In those instances, Guardians make sure the environment is being treated properly and ensure that garbage is disposed of properly.

(The Kwikwetlem Guardian program currently receives so many requests for archaeological guardians that we cannot keep up with the demand. We also have eight long-term construction projects that we regularly visit for environmental monitoring, with four new ones on the way.)

Elly recently sat down with the Voice of the Nation to discuss her biggest lessons as a Guardian, future goals, and advice for anyone else interested in joining the program.

This interview has been lightly edited for clarity.

Voice of the Nation: What inspired you to join the Guardian program?

Elly Hooper: I was doing the Junior Guardian program. That was a little more based on environmental work. Kat [Delaney, interim Guardian Manager], the way she talked about nature, and when I started doing the program, it kind of opened my eyes to newer things. I’ve never done anything like that before.

What really got me into doing archaeology was the Junior Guardian program, where I went to different sites, I was out in nature, which, I love nature. That was really big for me too. And I was following in the steps of my family as well, because Andrew and Jaymz, they both have done it and I never really understood what they have done. Like, I didn’t ask. But now, being out in the field, I see what they do and so I think my passions just came from the nature side, following in their footsteps and being involved in our community.

Voice of the Nation: What is it about nature that you love so much?

Elly Hooper: Whenever I’m out in nature, I love my hikes, I love walks. When I was up at the watershed working there, I felt very grounded, at peace. I heard birds, I saw animals. Some sites I’ll be at are busy—but when you have opportunities to be at the watershed, it’s amazing. The view, the cultural part of it. This is our land and that’s where I feel the grounding. I feel more comfortable [there] rather than out in the world.

It just lets you think, lets you escape. Nature is very healing so I always recommend for people to hike, walk and just be one with nature.

Voice of the Nation: So, what kind of work do you do now? Take me through your role.

Elly Hooper: For archaeology, we usually do either monitoring, like if they’re excavating stuff. We dig, shovel, so either we’re just sifting through dirt and shovelling. We try to find our artifacts—whether it was in an area where some of type of artifact was or if it’s a known spot. Sometimes we have excavated dirt that could have possible findings. We’ll also sift through that, so it’s a mixture of digging, shifting and monitoring.

I don’t really do environmental, which, for that one, you go to construction sites and you see if they have spill kits, checking if they are putting garbage away, things like that.

Voice of the Nation: I was wondering, generally speaking, why is this work important to do?

Elly Hooper: It’s important because it helps us protect our land. For me, that’s why I’m here, protecting my land, watching, seeing what they’re doing. There’s a lot of construction that’s gone on over the years, and we did have [archaeology workers], so it’s important for us to be there, making sure everything’s going right, or in our eyes going right, and just protecting what we have left.

Voice of the Nation: What is your proudest moment as a Guardian so far?

Elly Hooper: I would say up at IR2 (setɬamékmən), I found three arrowheads.

Voice of the Nation: Really? How did you go about finding them? Were you just like sifting things?

Elly Hooper: So, we have piles of dirt from a known site that they excavated. We have standing sifters and we would just take buckets and sift. It’s a lot of work, picking up the buckets and sifting but it was amazing. Especially since it was most of my family who was doing it, so it was kind of like family bonding time.

Voice of the Nation: We were talking earlier about you protecting the land, how that’s really important. When you find something like that, how does that make you feel?

Elly Hooper: It makes me feel amazing because I found that stuff in September. When we find things, it’s like ‘we were here’ or ‘people were here,’ you know? When you’re sifting through dirt all time and you don’t find anything, it’s not discouraging … but when you find something, it’s like you worked for it. You went through all that dirt and found something. It’s like ‘yes!’

Voice of the Nation: I also want to ask about the environment too. What have you learned about the environment in this role that you maybe didn’t know before?

Elly Hooper: It’s kind of hard to say because each environment is so different. I feel like I’ve learned different plants. I can’t think of them on the top of my head. But Kat, in the Junior program, we went on a walk to kind of get introduced to one another, and she would teach about different little plants around. We did learn about scat and different things. I think each environment is so different.

Voice of the Nation: That’s just good to know, especially when you’re camping or hiking with friends, especially different bear paws and stuff like that.

Elly Hooper: Yeah, it teaches you a lot of life skills. Some that not all of us have the opportunity to learn because it schools they’re not teaching you about beer poop or coyote poop.

Voice of the Nation: Knowing that there’s so many different things you do, if there was someone who wanted to do what you do, how would you describe what your role is?

Elly Hooper: The way I explain it to my family is that I’m there for our Nation, making sure things are going in the way we want it to go.

Voice of the Nation: What are your future goals with this program?

Elly Hooper: It’s hard to tell because I will eventually go to school and follow my passions. But for now, I definitely want to work more with archaeology. I like sifting and moving—all that stuff is my jam.