The trip was life changing for many of these Nisga’a. Like salmon, they felt an inner need to return to a specific creek, a specific home.
Mansell is hopeful she’ll be able to live in her home community one day. She’s already started applying for jobs and looking for work in the Nass Valley.
“It’s like a big hug, this valley,” she said.
“I am Nisga’a. I’m a mother. I am independent, but I want to be able to have the comfort of home.”
Home. It was a constant theme throughout the journey, as was the sense of belonging. These Nisga’a came with questions, searching for something – and many of them, like Lawrence, found it.
“Touching the soil and breathing the air is rejuvenating for me,” he says, standing on the bank of the Nass River. He says he’s going to feel out of place in Vancouver when he returns there.
“Now that I’ve been here for the first time and seen where my family comes from, definitely I belong here.”