To support the important work of the Heiltsuk Nation through the work of the Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre in researching, preserving, and supporting the revitalization of the history, language and cultural traditions of the Heiltsuk Nation, Indigenous Storybooks and sister site Storybooks Canada shared their platform for use with the story, Come to the Beach.
Come to the Beach is the intellectual property of the Heiltsuk Nation and was initially commissioned by the Heiltsuk Tribal Council for use in the Bella Bella Community School and broader community. The story is available for visitors to hear in the Heiltsuk language at the UBC Museum of Anthropology exhibit, ‘Culture at the Centre’, running until October 8, 2018. The current collaboration emerged from relationships developed between Jennifer Carpenter and staff at the Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre, the Heiltsuk Language Program of the Bella Bella Community School, Mark Turin and students in the UBC First Nations and Endangered Languages Program, the Indigenous Storybooks project, and UBC’s Language Sciences Initiative.