Elder Sidney Douglas is from the Cheam First Nation, where he still lives. His parents had 20 children and he was somewhere in the middle. When he was around seven years he was taken from his big family to residential school, where many of his siblings were taken. He was the last of his family to experience residential school.
Fortunately, his parents were strong on culture. “I was always growing up with the teaching of don’t forget who your relatives are. Because ceremonies were banned and started coming back in the ‘70s, I was able to grow up with a lot of that.”
Sidney was a carpenter apprentice and went on to become a heavy equipment operator and worked in construction for most of his life. He was also on Cheam council for 14 years and Chief for eight years. Until recently he was a spiritual and cultural advisor for archeologists working on the Trans Mountain pipeline. He has two daughters and one son who passed away. He has five grandsons, one granddaughter, one great grand daughter and two great grandsons.
Sidney is a carver and teaches youth to carve soapstone. He is also working on paddles for the war canoe races. Another one of Sidney’s passions is sports. He coached soccer, lacrosse and baseball for many years and is involved with Xyólheméylh’s Lacrosse camp for youth. In addition to carving and sports, Sidney is also involved in the court systems and family circles. “I like to see families function in a good way,” says Sidney. Sidney’s advice for social workers is to try and understand the cultural ways. “We had our own ways,” says Sidney. “Often aunts and uncles were the teachers.”