Indigenous musicians hope joint concert opens door to tough conversations

Three Prince George musicians are teaming up for a concert they hope will open the door to wider conversations about history and reconciliation in the city.

Kym Gouchie, Marcel Gagnon and Jeremy Pahl (known on stage as Saltwater Hank) don't all play the same style of music, but say they have shared experiences as Indigenous people from Northern B.C.

It is those experiences they hope to share Friday evening when they take the stage of the Prince George Playhouse for the showcase, titled "For The People."

That's also the name of a song by Gouchie, which includes lines such as, "Stephen Harper said he's sorry to the people/Not all accept the apology," referencing the former prime minister's statement of apology to former students of residential schools.

Other songs, performed in a country-rock style, deal with subjects such as the Highway of Tears and the burning of the Lheidli T'enneh village to make way for Prince George, where a park was built on top of a burial ground that includes Gouchie's own family members.

She said it's often easier to bring up these subjects in song than it is in conversation.

"The topics that I sing about aren't always topics that people want to talk about," Gouchie said. 

"So when I sing about them, it opens a door to conversation, and it opens people's eyes to something that they might not have otherwise seen."

History with humour

Pahl, a member of northwest B.C.'s Tshimshian First Nation, said he turns to humour and storytelling to explore the themes in his music.

For example, his track Coyodel #1 tells the story of the "true north strong and free" being sold off by a hungry coyote in exchange for unlimited chow mein — something he says was inspired by Canada's secretive Foreign Investment Promotion and Protection Agreement (FIPA) deal with China.

Another song, Old Hazelton, tells the story of a Gitxsan rancher accused of murder in 1906 who went into hiding until he was caught, was then put on trial and found not guilty 13 years later.

• FIPA agreement with China: What's really in it for Canada?

"It's bringing light to the issues that have gone on in Indigenous communities for a long time," he said.

"I think that music is such a universal method of connecting to one another ... we're fortunate as songwriters to be able to do that."

The concert will also be filmed and released as a documentary, a first for Prince George.

Gouchie said she's most looking forward to speaking with people after the show, to hear what kind of conversations have been sparked.

She said in all her years in Prince George, she believes the city is more receptive to topics around Indigenous people than it ever has been, pointing to the recent renaming of Fort George Park to Lheidli T'enneh Memorial Park to recognize its history as a village and burial ground.

"I really feel like the city of Prince George is doing the work," she said. "I do feel the change."

With files from Nicole Oud