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The Sun Shines Brightly on T'Sou-ke First Nation
By: Anita Bedell
In a small First Nations community on Vancouver Island, energy meters are spinning backwards. As the sun beats down on the new solar panel installation that the T'Sou‑ke First Nation built, so much clean energy is being produced that there's enough to power the entire community and sell a surplus back to BC Hydro.
Two years ago, the community of T'Sou‑ke (pronounced Sow-k) embarked on a visioning process they called Visions in Progress. They wanted to start the journey towards creating a sustainable community together, and found that comprehensive community planning was a way to guide them as they took steps towards achieving their goal. According to Andrew Moore, a planner and facilitator for T'Sou‑ke First Nation, it was critically important that the whole community be engaged in the visioning. “A collective vision is a picture in which everyone can see themselves,” Moore said. Every community member provided input into the plan, and the community continues to drive the project, achieving remarkable success in a short time.
Mother Nature's Gifts
“We've always wanted to look after our land and our people in a way that's gentle to mother earth,” said Linda Bristol, a T'Sou‑ke Elder. After a year of intense planning and community engagement, T'Sou‑ke developed a five-year plan designed to end the community's dependence on fossil fuels. Ambitious and unconventional, the plan is based on the use of solar and wind power. Its first phase is the T'Sou‑ke Solar Community Program, Sum-SHA-Thut, meaning sunshine in the Coast Salish language, Sencoten.
As part of the program, solar hot water panels were installed on all members' houses, a 75kW photovoltaic (PV) installation was erected — the largest PV installation in BC — and T'Sou‑ke members received training on solar technology and panel installation. The community will also be looking at conservation. “It's much cheaper to save energy than to produce it,” said Moore.
T'Sou‑ke First Nation Chief Gordon Planes believes that climate change and rising energy costs are a wake up call — and that the time to act is now. “We asked ourselves what can we do as First Nations people and Canadians living in British Columbia? What can we do to spark people's ideas, to say ‘hey, we should all do something about this?' We need to do something,” said Chief Planes.
The Tradition of Sharing
According to Chief Planes, the project provides a true opportunity for learning. “If we can network and share, we can get a lot of really good things done,” he said. With this in mind, the solar project was built as a demonstration project for others to see.
Recently, T'Sou‑ke hosted a solar gathering in their community, inviting other First Nations to tour the solar installation and hear about T'Sou‑ke's experiences. Most of the First Nations people who attended the solar gathering are off-grid, living in remote communities that rely on diesel fuel.
Consistent with the Aboriginal tradition of potlatch, a ceremony where wealth is redistributed and gifts are given, T'Sou‑ke is giving away the information they have gained to anyone who is interested. “That's who we are as First Nations people. We don't own anything. The more you share, the wealthier you are,” said Elder Bristol.
Chief Planes believes all of us need to more effectively use the gifts we take for granted on a daily basis. “We want to show how sustainability can be achieved, using the power of the sun, wind and sea,” he said.
The T'Sou‑ke First Nation has taken a step, one of many, towards realizing their goal of sustainability. But they're not stopping at that. The community has already identified their next step: to explore the use of wind energy and harness the high winds coming off of the Straight of Juan de Fuca.
“This is the beginning. The beginning for all of us,” remarked Chief Planes. “We're all jumping into the same canoe and paddling together.”
The T'Sou-ke Smart Energy Group
The T'Sou-ke Smart Energy Group is a youth-led group educating the community of T'Sou-ke and others about the importance of sustainable clean energy and conservation. Through art and storytelling, they are looking at traditional ways to increase environmental education and awareness. They've just launched a conservation challenge, asking people to reduce their energy emissions by 10 per cent. “We're making all this energy, but if we just waste it, what's the point,” said Tyler Finnie, a member of the T'Sou-ke Smart Energy Group. “We need to look at ourselves and what we're doing.”
If you'd like to learn more about the T'Sou-ke Smart Energy Group and their conservation challenge, they can be reached by phone at (250) 642-3957, or email at tsoukesmartenergygroup@gmail.com.
If you'd like more information on how you can conserve energy, visit BC Hydro's Web site .
