Bev Sellars is a former councillor and chief of the Xat’sull (Soda Creek) First Nation in Williams Lake, British Columbia. First elected chief of Xat’sull in 1987, she held the position from 1987-1993 and then from 2009-2015. Between her terms as chief she earned a degree in history from the University of Victoria (1997) and says “My “aha” moment came when I was taking European history.” This was followed by a law degree from the University of British Columbia. She has served as adviser for the B.C. Treaty Commission and a representative for the Secwepemc communities on the Cariboo Chilcotin Justice Inquiry in the early 1990s. Bev is currently the chairperson of the First Nation Women Advocating for Responsible Mining (FNWARM) which monitors proposed and existing mining operations in BC.
Sellars has long been an activist and spoken out on racism and residential schools and on the environmental and social threats of mineral resources exploitation. Sellars is the author of They Called Me Number One, a memoir of her childhood experience in the Indian residential school system and its effects on three generations of women in her family, published in 2013 by Talonbooks. The book won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness, was shortlisted for the 2014 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. Her book, Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival, published in 2016 by Talonbooks, looks at the history of Indigenous rights in Canada from an Indigenous perspective (see the interview in Prism International ). She was named the 2016-17 Distinguished Alumni by the University of Victoria.
Sellars has long been an activist and spoken out on racism and residential schools and on the environmental and social threats of mineral resources exploitation. Sellars is the author of They Called Me Number One, a memoir of her childhood experience in the Indian residential school system and its effects on three generations of women in her family, published in 2013 by Talonbooks. The book won the 2014 George Ryga Award for Social Awareness, was shortlisted for the 2014 Hubert Evans Non-Fiction, and was a finalist for the 2014 Burt Award for First Nations, Métis and Inuit Literature. Her book, Price Paid: The Fight for First Nations Survival, published in 2016 by Talonbooks, looks at the history of Indigenous rights in Canada from an Indigenous perspective (see the interview in Prism International ). She was named the 2016-17 Distinguished Alumni by the University of Victoria.
George Muldoe, born July 6, 1942, Carlisle Cannery, 20 miles south Prince Rupert, B.C.
Went to Edmonton Residential, St. Albert, 1951-1960 Graduated Jasper Place Composite High School. Spent 20 years commercial fishing, Chief Councillor for Kispiox village for eight years in the eighties and nineties, band councillor for ten years, three summer symesters UBC for capital design and development for Kispiox Village, Gitanmaax Village, Birch Grove and Cowichan Village. Included lot development, road designs, water and sewer, and residential lot developments. Worked for Gitxsan Government Commission for 20 years, Executive Director initially for eight Gitxsan and Wet’sew’ten Villages, Gitanyow, Gitwangak, Gitsequekly, Hagwiget, Gitanmaax, Glen Vowell and Kispiox.
Local politics all my life. Retired, March 31, 2003
Went to Edmonton Residential, St. Albert, 1951-1960 Graduated Jasper Place Composite High School. Spent 20 years commercial fishing, Chief Councillor for Kispiox village for eight years in the eighties and nineties, band councillor for ten years, three summer symesters UBC for capital design and development for Kispiox Village, Gitanmaax Village, Birch Grove and Cowichan Village. Included lot development, road designs, water and sewer, and residential lot developments. Worked for Gitxsan Government Commission for 20 years, Executive Director initially for eight Gitxsan and Wet’sew’ten Villages, Gitanyow, Gitwangak, Gitsequekly, Hagwiget, Gitanmaax, Glen Vowell and Kispiox.
Local politics all my life. Retired, March 31, 2003
Hup-Wil-Lax-A (Kirby Muldoe) is of Tsimsian and Gitxsan descent, works for SkeenaWild Conservation Trust and lives at the confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers. He is very passionate about sharing information about the true history of what is now known as Canada, the Indian Residential Schools, the impacts of colonialism, racism, oppression and genocide. Hup-Wil-Lax-A is also an advocate for the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP), the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) calls to action and knowing the land you now occupy, the history, culture, social structure and values of the first peoples of that land.
