Message from the board of directors
Fraser Valley Aboriginal Children & Family Services Society
Sqwélqwel - Xyólheméylh Spring 2025 Newsletter
Board President Angelina Bowen
Welcome to our Spring Newsletter!
On March 19 the Xyólheméylh Board of Directors held an Extraordinary Annual General Meeting. After months of engagement with the communities we serve our Bylaw Committee proposed a package of bylaw amendments intended to improve Xyólheméylh’s governance. Notable changes included:
- Increasing general meeting quorum from 5 to 18 members
- Clarifying director qualification criteria and term limits
- Improvements to Board and Committee governance and transparency
- Allowing the FVACFSS to hold fully or partially electronic general meetings
The members voted to approve all the resolutions. Thank you to our members for coming out to our EGM and thank you to the Sq’ewqéyl (Skowkale), Athelets (Aitchelitz) and Yeqwyeqwi:ws (Yakweakwioose) First Nations in Chilliwack for hosting us at their beautiful The'í:tselíya - Health & Community Centre, S.A.Y. Lands Building.
The Xyólheméylh Board of Directors has been focused on building relationships with our partners. In March we met with Xyólheméylh’s Elders Advisory to listen to their ideas. We value their wisdom and experience. We have also been busy meeting with the Stó:lō communities we serve in order to share information and to listen to concerns and ideas. These meetings have been very productive and creative. So far we have had good discussions with Máthexwi (Matsqui), Leq’a:mel and Athelets and will be meeting with Yale in May. We are looking forward to meeting with more communities in the coming months.
Wásems ’íksduqʷia – Angelina Bowen – President, Xyólheméylh Board of Directors
Message from Executive Leadership Team
ELT - Laura-Dawn Wilkin, Rod Spitzig, Nazeem Ratanshi
Welcome to our Spring newsletter.
Last spring we made the difficult decision to end our contract with Circle 5 in Surrey effective March 31, 2025. The decision was made to refocus our staffing support and resources for children and families within our Geographic Service Area.
We worked with the union to ensure all staff were supported and had options with employment within Xyólheméylh.
On March 26 we held a Smudging and a Feast at the Surrey Office and on April 3 we held an honoring ceremony to honour our partnership with Circle 5 and to celebrate the social workers who worked in Surrey over the years. The event was held at the Sumas Longhouse where 33 staff were blanketed and honoured.
As Speaker Darcy Paul told the crowd gathered, the blankets were meant to cover heavy feelings that come with doing this kind of work and to cover them with love, both for the staff that are moving to other locations and for the staff that remain in Surrey.
We want to thank everyone who has worked in Surrey over the years for their dedication and the contributions they made. You can see some photos of the event below in this newsletter.
Every Spring we hold a Staff Appreciation Event which is dedicated to honoring and celebrating the incredible contributions of all our staff members who have helped shape the success of our organization. This year we will be celebrating on May 8 at Shxwha:y Cultural Centre. Going forward we will also be inviting our retired staff to join us. It will be an opportunity for staff to reconnect with former colleagues and for us to show our appreciation for their contributions to our organization.
Now that the new fiscal year has started we will begin work with the Board on our strategic and operational planning over the spring months for the next year. We continue to be focused on reducing the number of children and youth in care, increasing out of care options, and advocating for prevention funding for Látsu:mexw (away from home) Indigenous people in our geographic service area.
Thank you to the Board, our staff, our Elders, our caregivers and our community partners for all their support.
Xyólheméylh Executive Leadership Team – Nazeem Ratanshi, Rod Spitzig, Laura-Dawn Wilkin
Meet a Visions & Voices Youth: Hunter Holden
Hunter, who is White Bear Cree, was 9 years old when she went into care and was in and out of care until she had her son at 16 years old. She then wh entered into an independent living agreement. Hunter describes her time in care as “chaotic,” a series of group homes and long stays at youth shelters. She found herself on youth probation with the youth justice system and struggled with substance abuse before having her son.
“It was very hard not being connected culturally, I missed out on so much community and struggled with cultural identity. I didn’t know where I belonged.” Says Hunter.
She started to reconnect with her culture at 19, and when she turned 22, she was connected to Visions and Voices, which gave her the opportunity to learn more about her culture and to help the younger kids. Visions and Voices is Xyólheméylh's youth advisory group. They plan events, provide advice and learn leadership skills. It was through visions and voices that she was hired by Xyólheméylh to become a Child and Youth Mentor on staff.
“I love it”, says Hunter. “It’s different being on the opposite side. I understand what it’s like to be a child in care. I’m not going to judge them, and I see a huge sense of relief when the youth I work with learn that about me.”
She is now 24 years old, in her third year of a Criminology major at university. Her goal is to continue working with kids, specifically indigenous kids within the youth justice system and aims to keep youth connected to their culture.
She now has three kids of her own and has also become a caregiver for her nephew. This year she is celebrating five years with her partner, and 10 years sober from her DOC. She is now very involved in learning and teaching her culture – dancing, drumming, sewing, learning the language and attending powwows. “It’s so fulfilling, I love it”, says Hunter.
Meet an elder: elaine malloway
When Elaine’s mother Mary Malloway would take her to meetings of the Xyólheméylh and Qwi:qwelstom Elders, little did she know that Mary was preparing for her to take over her role as an esteemed Elder in the Stó:lō community. Mary passed away in 2023 and that is exactly what has happened.
Elaine is the Hereditary Chief of the Yeqwyeqwi:ws First Nation, and the oldest of eight children of Mary and Frank Malloway. Her son, Terry Horne, is currently Chief.
Elaine was fortunate to grow up with a strong sense of culture, family, the Longhouse traditions, and canoe races. Between her work as Hereditary Chief, her work as an Elder and her cultural work, Elaine is very busy, but she says the work is very rewarding. “It’s hard to believe I’m 68,” says Elaine. “I still feel young.”
Elaine worked with Xyólheméylh as an administrative supervisor and Northwest Indian College in Washington State. She moved back to the lower mainland to be closer to her aging parents and worked at Seabird College and University of the Fraser Valley in the Indigenous Student Centre. Elaine is married to Tom George and together they have a blended family of seven children.
Elaine says it took her a long time to develop self-esteem, partly because of growing up with prejudice against Indigenous people. But she eventually learned to have confidence after a successful career in the education system. “It made me realize I’m a good worker, people value me and I needed to accept that people believe in me. It’s an honour that people believe in me.”
Elaine’s advice to social workers is to understand Indigenous ways and to ask the Elders questions. She says, “There are no crazy questions, you are not going to learn if you don’t ask.”
Elders Teaching: Working with Elders
Join Mickaella Laslo and Shawn Underhill on their journey to wellness through an innovative program offered by Xyólheméylh.
Langley Child and Youth Advocacy Centre
Xyolhemeylh’s Rhea Del Vecchio and Shawna Pearson at the opening of the Langley Child and Youth Advocacy Centre (CYAC).
Rhea and Shawna were part of the committee that was led by Encompass Support Services Society and involved a number of other Langley based community partners that created the CYAC. Rhea and Shawna were blanketed for their work with the committee.
The CYAC is part of a network of centres in BC that are designed to provide a coordinated response to child abuse and crimes against children and youth. CYACs connect children, youth and their families to services designed to meet their unique needs, and assist them to navigate any system they may encounter such as medical, criminal justice, and child protection The CYAC is a coordinated, trauma informed, child and youth friendly, culturally safe, co-located program that will benefit many young victims in Langley.
Key elements of a CYAC...
- Interview with police and child protection
- Linkage to a child advocate for system navigation
- Medical exams
- Victim services & court preparation
- Counselling & other supports
Thank you to Rhea, Shawna and all our community partners for making the CYAC a reality in Langley.
Surrey closing appreciation ceremony
On April 3 Xyolhemeylh honoured the staff of our Surrey office at the Sumas Longhouse. The event was to mark the end of our contract in Surrey, to blanket the staff who are leaving and those that are staying and to hand over Circle 5 back to MCFD.
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