“If you have come to forbid us to dance, then leave us. If not, you will be welcome”
- quoted from the film: Potlatch...a strict law bids us dance.
Directed by Dennis Wheeler and produced by Tom Shandel, this film was created in collaboration with the Kwakwaka'wakw First Nations of Alert Bay, British Columbia who retained editorial control.
Fiona and Sonya have been working in shared circles for over two decades in health systems, most recently in Indigenous Cultural Safety. Over the last 8 years we have been mentored by, and are listening to a diversity of Indigenous people including those on what is colonially known as ‘vancouver island canada’ - the Kwakwaka’wakw, Nuu-chah-nulth and Coast Salish families. We have been invited to turn the lens on ourselves, our patterns and our relationships, and have been called into the work of Indigenous specific anti-racism.
This website is a product of these relationships as we work to embody and enact what we are unlearning and learning, and become collectively accountable for our actions as white settlers.
We are humbled by the generations of Indigenous peoples that have resisted colonial assimilation and survived genocide. We acknowledge the immense work and leadership it takes to protect your communities from the violence of ongoing settler colonialism and Indigenous specific racism. We have come to understand that as white settlers on these homelands we have work to do in order to move forward without continuing to silence and invisibilize the current and ancestral peoples of the lands we occupy. We have much work to do.
Below you can read a bit more about us! And on the Accountability page you can read more about how we are moving at the pace of trust, and are committed to transparency and openness in our work and processes.
We are white settlers calling ourselves into the work and healing of disrupting whiteness, settler colonialism and patriarchy in self and systems.
We are rehumanizing.
As facilitators, Sonya and Fiona are on an ongoing learning and unlearning journey themselves. We are not here as content creators, teachers, wisdom holders, leaders, or experts.
We are just here on our own unlearning journey with you.
Who we are:
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Fiona Devereaux
Good day, I am Fiona, white settler of Irish ancestry. I am a daughter, sister, auntie, friend and lifelong learner. My parents are B and Tom Devereaux and my grandparents were Mary Healy, Micheal Dorgan, (Burnfort, Co.Cork), Angie Quinn and Johnny Devereaux (Tullamore, Co. Offaly). My family immigrated to the Treaty 6 Territory homeland of the Métis colonially known as Saskatoon. I grew up on the homelands of the Quw'utsun peoples. I personally and professionally occupy and benefit from unceded, ancestral and stolen homelands of Ləkʷəŋən peoples of Songhees (Ləkʷəŋən) and Esquimalt (Xwepsum) Nations. This land is known as Metulia is theirs. I am learning Ləkʷəŋən means ‘a place to smoke herring.’ I picture the vast amounts of herring being smoked and preserved on the Songhees walkway and the bounty these lands, waters and forests provided. These lands and the environment are foundational to wellbeing. Healthy lands, healthy peoples.
Each day I acknowledge that these lands are Indigenous homelands and each Nation has distinct and deep connections to their lands, waters and forests. As a white settler, I must acknowledge the vast colonial policies that impact and shape the lives of Indigenous families and Nations. I commit to listening deeply, learning more, and reflecting on my power and privilege. I will continue to take steps to disrupt racism within myself, others, and society and to amplify Indigenous voices. I hope to build relationships with others who want to reflect on our collective responsibility to address these inequities and work towards social justice and Indigenous human rights.
I am honoured to have had a long career working alongside Coast Salish, Kwakwaka'wakw and Nuu-chah-nulth communities. I am a lifelong learner and have a MSc Social Dimensions of Health on Indigenous Specific Racism and am a plant medicine student. Please see my education, training and professional background page for more. I spend my time with family, friends, hiking, camping, gardening and being among the trees, plants and by water.
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Sonya Gracey
I am a cis-gendered queer white settler of Irish and Romanian, Bukovinian ancestry who arrived here uninvited in Coast Salish territory over 20 years ago settling on the homelands of the Ləkʷəŋən peoples of Songhees (Ləkʷəŋən) and Esquimalt (Xwepsum) Nations. I have spent the last several years coming to understand what that last sentence means and what it requires of me. Ultimately, I have come to see a generational disconnection from my own ancestral stories and knowledge. I can also see how my unearned privilege is tied directly to the Dominion Lands act of the 1860s that allotted Indigenous land to european immigrants (my ancestors) in order to secure and occupy the land for the crown.
Through working alongside Fiona, and our friends and colleagues in this work; and by listening and learning from the work of so many powerful Indigenous and racialized/ peoples of colour who are leaders, scholars and healers, I have discovered that stepping into these truths and changes me. I have begun to see how and where I can interrupt colonial thinking and behaviour patterns as I relearn connection and relationship and find ways to contribute meaningfully to justice and healing.
I have been a Registered Nurse for over 20 years, have a Masters in Public Health and a graduate certificate in Systems Leadership. I have spent the last decade pursuing an understanding of transformational systems change. I am currently building my capacity to support others along the necessarily personal and profound journey of disrupting white supremacy trough group facilitation and 1:1 support with a focus on embodied learning and healing. I am a solo-mom to two kiddos, love music, pottery and being in the wildness of the natural world.
We’ve been changed by this.
‘This work is life-giving work’
- Harley Eagle
Sonya and Fiona would not want to be anywhere else and feel so grateful to be here to share this unlearning with you.