Interview with Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams at s7ístken site
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The Mind of a Child Face to Face Media Ltd. WINTER HOUSE SITES SR 25 - LORNA WILLIAMS TONE Testing, one, two, three, four. One two one two one two. This is SR number, SR 25, camera roll 32, next slate will be 125. This is at the _________ site, we’re on the Brookenhead River, Mount Currie and the date is the 9th or 10th of October, 1993. Gary Marcuse, Mind of a Child Production and that was a -8 tone at the head. BEEP BEEP BEEP 124 head. LORNA So this would have been one of the _________ sites in the ... Next will be 125 head BEEP LORNA This here would be, uh, one of the old _________, that, those are the winter houses that people lived in during the winter time and so they would settle along the river just when the Fall fishing would be beginning in this area. What they would do is they would dig down about six to eight feet and then build the walls, the sides up with walls and, uh, pack the dirt around in them and this would have been a good site because there isn’t, there aren’t any big rocks in here. And so they would line it with, first with logs and then, um, and then stuff the edges with, um, probably cedar bark and then, and then cover that on the outside, then there would be lots that would go over the top here. The opening, there would be an opening for the, for, right on the very, very top and there would be a notched log that PAGE - SR 25 The Mind of a Child Face to Face Media Ltd. WINTER HOUSE SITES SR 25 - LORNA WILLIAMS would go through, go through the, the top of the _________ and, uh, so those would be the steps going down into the, into the dwelling. Um, so they would cover those with, with saplings and then with, um with boughs of the trees and then with, then they’d recover the whole thing with the dirt and so all you would see is, um, would be kind of a dome that would be on the top and then later on when the snow came, then that, you would see just snow mounds in here. The fire pit would be built right in the middle and often there were several of these that would be in a group, probably three or four and there would be one really large one and that would be the house of the, the main family with a head man and, then the smaller ones would be probably their children and, um, um, then there would be a smaller one and that would have been used as a, as a winter cache and so they’d leave the food in there so that they could, so they planned during, for the whole course of the winter so that they would have food throughout, um ... GARY When did you first learn about this place? LORNA Oh, I guess we, I’ve been, I’ve been coming here for a long time with, um, with the old ladies. Because the ground here is so nice, they use this, the whole area here for, uh, cedar, uh, root digging and then, um, and so I’ve always known that they were here. I had always had a sense that they were here but I didn’t, I don’t remember any one point in time when I didn’t know they were here and they’re, we see these all through, through our land. But it wasn’t until I was probably about seventeen or eighteen that I really, uh, had a sense that people lived in them and it was when my, um, my aunt, my Dad’s oldest sister was te-, was showing me, um, where the last one that she lived in, where that one was and then her telling me the story that she lived in these, in a sense, connected me to the, to the time when I guess further back in history, that it, that these PAGE - SR 25 The Mind of a Child Face to Face Media Ltd. WINTER HOUSE SITES SR 25 - LORNA WILLIAMS places came in, came to life for me. And so, usually people would, um, live in these, not for, not for a long time, um, and they’d rebuild them pretty well throughout the land, depending on, on where the families were moving. Could you take a stroll up here .... (instructions ) LORNA That one there is an example of a cache site. See. Uh huh. So I walk out this way and come through here? Ya, and to there. (more instructions) One two three four. This will be a guide track for the MOS shot of Lorna walking through the _________ sites and I will just simply say roll when camera rolls, for rough timing. To be recorded off a radio mic with a bit of ambience background. That is to say, wild sound. Camera’s rolling. One two three four. This will be wild sound following Lorna to go with the walk through the winter house sites. And cut. BEEP BEEP That was wild sound for the walking through the sites. One two three four. This will be ... I’m going to do a bit of wild on the river, please. Going to do a bit of wild on the river here. And cut. PAGE - SR 25 The Mind of a Child Face to Face Media Ltd. WINTER HOUSE SITES SR 25 - LORNA WILLIAMS That’s the river from up on the bank. PAGE - SR 25
Production material centres around two interviews conducted with Lorna Wanosts’a7 Williams near the former site of a S7ístken, a traditional semi-subterranean winter dwelling of the Lil̓wat7úl, along the Birkenhead River.
In tape 1, Wanosts’a7 gives a detailed description of a S7ístken and typical layout of a S7ístken village; and how inter-generational stories strengthened her connection to such locations.
Tape 1 continues with a second interview in which Wanosts’a7 talks about learning her family’s past; her uncle and his role in the community, including his stories about how smallpox and the 1918 Influenza Epidemic impacted Indigenous communities; and how loss and trauma breakdown community social practices.
In tape 2, Wanosts’a7 talks about learning the extent of the loss and trauma that her people had experienced, and finding a greater appreciation of the strength that still remains; and the importance of rebuilding and continuing to carry stories into the future.
The filmed segments of the first interview run from 01:53 on tape 1, and continue until 06:09 on tape 1. The films segments of the second interview begin at 09:39 on tape 1, and continue until 10:20 in tape 2.
Additional sequences of the environment and Wanosts’a7 walking can be found proceeding and following each interview, as well as a sequence of Wanosts’a7 driving at the end of tape 2. Much of this material does not have corresponding audio.
Originally recorded on 16 mm film and 1/4” reel-to-reel audio later transferred and synced to Betacam SP for use during post-production. Dates on cassettes are believed to reflect date of transfer.Transcripts of the 1/4” sound reels were created by Face to Face Media for use during post-production. These audio transcripts include additional interview segments not found on the videocassettes and have been provided unedited.Digitized by the The MediaPreserve. Access files created by University of Victoria Special Collections and University Archives. Metadata by Matt Innes.
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