With a fire pit heating up to barbeque salmon behind them, students from the Eighth Avenue Learning Centre’s unveiled the name of the school’s new garden today.
Tiic?i Tuukwas (pronounced ‘teechee tookwas’) translates into “The Life Garden” in English, the result of name suggestions brought forth by Kirsten Abercrombie’s Grade 8 and 9 class and translation provided by a group of elder Nuu-chah-nulth speakers. With an eye to the plants that people traditionally used in the area, the school garden combines a mix of vegetable growing with a First Nations pit cook in the centre. The project is the result of a year’s work from the high school class, who gave input to inform the design of the garden and partook in the site’s construction.
Tseshaht and Hupacasath hereditary and elected leaders attended the June 17 naming ceremony, which began with the Tseshaht Welcoming Song. The garden previously underwent a traditional cleansing at daybreak on April 21.
