Years ago, a visitor to Gitlax瘫t'aamiks (New Aiyansh), the largest community in the Nass Valley, may have noticed the two flags at the foot of the driveway of a house on a quiet residential street.
One flag was that of the Nisga'a Nation and the other the maple leaf, confident displays by homeowner Joe Gosnell of the Nisga'a Nation's place in Canada.
Gosnell was the leader of the Nisga'a in the crucial years leading to the successful negotiation of the Nisga'a Final Agreement and then the first president of the Nisga'a Nation. It's been 25 years since the final agreement came into effect on May 11, 2020 and on Aug. 18 it will be five years since Gosnell died at the age of 84.
An essay in a slim volume of other essays and stories published this year by author Alex Rose contains a series of revealing Gosnell vignettes. Collectively they present a fascinating picture of the man who became the face of the effort resulting in B.C.'s first modern day land claims treaty.
A communications consultant for the Nisga'a in the run up to the treaty, Rose had full access to Gosnell, able to observe and absorb.
On a tour of Europe to explain the treaty, Gosnell laid bare the damage done by residential schools one night to dinner companions:
"We didn't get a chance to learn how to be parents. We were children having children and that has taken a devastating toll."
A fisher in his early years, Gosnell recounts his boat being battered and tossed during a fierce storm:
"I took my personal ID and taped it to my chest so that when they found my remains, they'd know who I was."
Aside from the vignettes, there's an equally revealing commentary by Rose on the early days of how Indigenous issues were covered in the mainstream media and on the "Indian industry," as it was then called, of consultants and spin doctors.
In addition to the Gosnell essay, there's a sobering one on the extinction by genocide of the Beothuks in Newfoundland. It's presented against the backdrop of a visit to Newfoundland by Queen Elizabeth II to celebrate the 500th anniversary, in 1997, of John Cabot's arrival in Newfoundland.
There are also a number of stories presented as autofiction, the term for what is factual then merged with fiction. Readers may find the content harsh but well put forward.
Rose's volume, Acquainted With Grief. Stories and Essays was published by Walhachin Press, a small company founded by Rose.
For those wishing to learn more about the Nisga'a and Gosnell, Rose is also the author of Nisga'a: People of the Nass River and Spirit Dance at Meziadin.
