Haayuusinapshiilthl: "He Brings Ten Whales Up On The Beach Each Year", also known as Ron Martin, is one of ten children born to Cecilia Mabel Sport and Robert Martin Sr. His older brothers were trained as hunters, fishermen, and master canoe carvers of the Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation of Clayoquot Sound. Nuukmiis (Robert Sr.) observed that Haayuusinapshiilthl had a good memory at a young age and began to train him to hold the family's history and teachings. There are very few people living in the world that have been trained like Haayuusinapshiilthl, and he has recorded over 700 family names.
Haayuusinapshiilthl studied history and anthropology at the University of British Columbia and Carlton University. He then worked in the planning and analyzing department of Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, at the BC regional office. At age 27 he was elected the youngest ever Chief of Council for the Tla-o-qui-aht. Because of his familiarity with the mechanics of INAC, he was successful in negotiating a precedent setting lease of the Tin Wis waterfront lands and was instrumental in the development of the Tin Wis Best Western Destination Resort in Tofino. This resort is the main source of revenue for the Tla-o-qui-aht Band, and has been operating for over twenty years. His frontline knowledge of government also enabled him to obtain money to build the Meares Island Cultural Centre and two pre-schools. Haayuusinapshiilthl also brought in money for social housing, enabling the band to build a record 22 new homes in 2 years.
Haayuusinapshiilthl has worked for the past 25 years in First Nations' administration in British Columbia. He specializes in community and organization development, strategic planning, health program development, innovative project development, and maximizing funding eligibility. He has also worked as a researcher, writer, workshop facilitator, and business consultant. In 2005, Haayuusinapshiilthl had the honour of sitting on a Canada Council jury to award grants to aboriginal arts projects. In 2008, he co-authored a children's book entitled "Which Way Should I Go?" and received the Best Aboriginal Read Award by the Ontario Library Association.
"We come from a rich, proud history, and a rich culture. Our teachings are simple, and strong, and we need to share them with the world. Our teachings rang true for our ancestors, and they will ring true for all future generations.
In our own language we are "kuu-as". Real, living human beings. It is sad that in this 21st century I still experience ignorance about who I am, and what I am. We never got the chance to introduce ourselves to the people that came to our lands to live, or to the millions that come every year as tourists.
I have been preparing for this moment for fifty years and want to thank you for taking the time to consider this project. Our voice has been muzzled for many years, and we have suffered the devastating effects of the Indian residential school colonialism.
We need to get to know each other -- what motivates us, what our beliefs are about our land, and ourselves. We need to reconstruct our identity, because we have been part of a social experiment that tried very hard to strip it from us, and succeeded in far too many cases.
There are things in this story that you will not find anywhere else, because they come from us. We are our own experts on our culture and our history, which has been denied in this country since the Europeans first arrived here. It is fair that our children get to learn their history. Many of our stories have been lost and our language is on the verge of extinction.This film will instill pride in untold generations of our people yet to come, to understand that they came from good people, and that they are good people. Our children will clearly understand that we are here because we belong here."
Cam Baker is an activist who strongly believes that mutual benefits arise from proper respect of traditional territories, and educating people on the beauty of cultures and environments other than our own. With a background in archaeology and adventure tourism, Cam formed a partnership with the People to People Student Ambassador Program in 2002. After a conference of 100 civic leaders from the United States, People to People was founded by President Eisenhower in 1956 in an effort to promote peace through understanding, and their incredible marketing force made Cam's company the largest high-end educational travel company in Canada.
In 2003, Cam travelled to Tofino looking to expand his itinerary. He couldn't find any accommodation suitable but learned of the story of the Tonquin. Since then he has been actively involved in a plan to tell that story, and the story of the people of the west coast of Vancouver Island.
He recorded the Nuukmiis Family Teachings from Ron Martin, which will be published by UBC Press. This experience led him to study many other First Nations leaders, warriors, and philosophers, and to also try and include their insights into the script in an attempt to make it unique, and a strong teaching tool. Eisenhower once quoted, 'I like to believe that people in the long run are going to do more to promote peace than our governments. Indeed, I think that people want peace so much that one of these days government had better get out of the way and let them have it.'
President Obama has not signed on to be the honorary chairman of People to People International, as every president has done since Eisenhower except for Jimmy Carter, and Cam is no longer associated with People to People. That is another story, and an opportunity.
Cam has helped in the past to stop logging in an area that housed a tipi camp he helped create in Stony Nakoda First Nation territory with the argument that tourism is much more sustainable, and therefore more profitable than logging. With his past successes in raising money, and his ties to some of the largest travel companies in the world, he can help bring people to the Northwest and Hawaii to partake in cultural tourism, and hopes to inspire them to protect our earth.
"After I won the contract with People to People I asked them to send me their best workbook so that I could beat it. The book that resulted took three weeks to put together, and wasn't hard to do. It's also the best in the industry. I applied the same principle to this film in hopes that it could at least be different. I started working on it in 2004 and have been doing so full time since July of 2009. I wouldn't say it has been easy, but in some ways it's not that hard to beat what's out there, especially when you dream of things that have never been done before. If we can find financiers that are philanthropic, this film will do things that none have done before it.
Not only can we tell an incredible story and create scenes never before shown by Hollywood, we can leave many legacies. We hope to inspire the younger generations to listen, and to create. If some learn and remember the names, their meanings, and where they come from, we can strengthen cultures. If the youth learn to listen for the songs and the medicine in their language, we can make them thrive.
With one film we could spawn competition, expand human rights, foster creativity, restore the environment, revitalize culture, save languages, and share knowledge that took thousands of years to acquire. There is so much to be rediscovered by so many.
On October 4th, 1957, the Soviet Union launched Sputnik 1 into space, beating Project Vanguard. The American public was shocked, and President Eisenhower declared a 'Sputnik Crisis.' He poured vast resources into education for the space race that led to many new technologies and jobs, and the advancement of knowledge. The highest tax bracket for Americans was 91%.
What if movie going could be a form of voluntary tax? I'd sure love to live in that world. Ecosystems and economies could be restored, and people could be entertained and educated at the same time.
The Tonquin is an epic tale, and not the only one from an area that must use creative means to work towards the conservation economy and prosperity. The potential for a Sputnik moment is real and I am excited to meet people that share our vision."