May 23, 2024
Throughout her schooling in clinical psychology, Dr. Karla Tait’s long-term vision was to build a healing centre on her traditional territory for Wet’suwet’en youth. What began as a humble camp operated out of a tent, the off-the-grid Unist’ot’en Healing Centre is now a multi-floor building featuring a full kitchen, dining space, meeting rooms, and lodging for Elders and participants.
The healing centre offers programming for addictions treatment as well as trauma caused by the intergenerational impacts of residential schools and colonialism. Construction was completed entirely with donated materials and volunteer labour from community members and allies, making the camp possible for participants to attend but also for Unist’ot’en members and supporters to live in full-time.
“For communities considering doing this kind of work, lean into the skillsets you have in your traditional house groups if you’re organized in that way. Lean on who is there, willing to do the work and willing to be on the land,” said Tait, speaking on a “Land as Healer” panel discussion at the First Nations Health & Wellness Summit which ran May 7 – 9 in Vancouver.
The 22,000 square km of Wet’suwet’en Nation territory in the northern interior of BC is divided into five traditional clans and 13 house groups. The Unist’ot’en are an ancestral family group associated with Yex T’sa wil_k’us (Dark House) of the Gil_seyhu (Big Frog) clan. There are also six Wet’suwet’en communities established under the Indian Act. Many First Nations in the north have similar house and clan systems.