Joe Gallagher (k’ʷunəmɛn) and John Matterson grew up in the same geographic location on the northern Sunshine Coast, yet their life-experiences were found in two parallel worlds, completely unknown to each other.
Gallagher, who is from Tla’amin Nation, grew up with intergenerational trauma and ingrained racist attitudes toward Tla'amin from the settler community, while Matterson grew up in collective ignorance about the territory that was traditionally Tla'amin, and took for granted the advantages he had while growing up in a small, industry driven community in the 1980s.
Matterson and Gallagher were friends as teenagers and played soccer together but went separate ways before reconnecting 35 years later. After a journey together of listening and understanding, the pair has co-authored a book, titled, Now You Know Me: Seeing the Unhidden Truth in Settler Colonialism.
"I actually reached out to Joe after having a Parkinson's diagnosis," said Matterson. "I had been thinking about Joe often over the years and was aware of some of the work he had done on the [Tla’amin Final Agreement] but had lost touch."
Gallagher was a head negotiator during the Tla'amin treaty process that began in 1994 and was ratified in 2014.
The two friends reconnected when they realized they both lived in the Lower Mainland. They began to meet regularly and Matterson began to listen to Gallagher speak openly about his experience battling racism, a traumatic childhood and being told by his father that he couldn’t succeed in a white world without working twice as hard.
"There was a lot of sadness and emotion when I realized what Joe's life was like," said Matterson. "At that point I realized my own ignorance and, typical of a white guy, felt like I needed to do something."
Now You Know Me is co-authored, but with the conscious decision to write primarily in Matterson's voice as a non-Indigenous person, in order to highlight his personal journey of learning and unlearning history. However, readers are also taken on their own relearning journey, about the discriminating laws and racism toward Tla'amin people at that time and how it has negatively impacted the community to this day.
"I left [Tla'amin territory] in 2005 and my entire life has been about advancing the title rights of our people," said Gallagher. "Now I'm focused mostly in health care and advancing the First Nations health governance partnership, and the First Nations Health Authority (FNHA)."
Gallagher led the negotiations between BC First Nations, the provincial government and the government of Canada to transfer federal health services to BC First Nations control and that led to the formation of the first and only FNHA in Canada, in 2012.
Although the friends didn't reconnect until 35 years later, they both thought about each other and wondered about the other's life. Growing up, Gallagher straddled both Tla'amin and colonial-based worlds. Like many First Nations people at that time, he said he felt ashamed of his ancestry, and his father encouraged him to "fit in" to the white world.
"I was happy to hear John's questions, his curiosity and how he received the truth that I shared with him, because I wouldn't openly share that truth with people on a social basis," said Gallagher. "All day at work I am dealing with people, battling, negotiating, whatever it is to advance things."
Both authors said the book was a chance for them to reconnect in a deeper way and for Matterson to better understand the history of Powell River and the qathet region from the Tla'amin point of view.
"A lot of my work has always been around trying to help people understand the issues that we [First Nations] face, and specifically from a health context," said Gallagher. "On one hand, people have stereotypes in their minds of who we are [First Nations] and how they see us, which is really an extension of this white supremacist ideology of the Doctrine of Discovery that created Canada."
Gallagher emphasized that the idea to put a book together came from their conversations and willingness of both parties to sit down and talk openly about the past, present and future of their lives.
"We created this partnership that I thought was really innovative in a lot of ways, because I was going to speak and write some of it, but John would be my voice to put it on paper," said Gallagher. "For him to do that, he had to learn about [Gallagher's history], and we went back and forth over the different sections of the book, to help him grow in his understanding, appreciation and acceptance of the truth that I was sharing."
Both Matterson and Gallagher agreed the book would be more impactful by using Matterson’s voice in order for those reading to feel a connection to Gallagher’s struggle.
"We wanted to have a different kind of conversation and that's how John and I developed what became the book," said Gallagher.
The opening chapter is an essay by Gallagher outlining who his family is, where he comes from, and what it was like growing up on what was called Sliammon Indian Reserve #1, and Tla'amin's close connection to the Homalco, Klahoose and K'omoks, who are all Coast Salish-speaking peoples.
"Settlers need to kind of put themselves in our shoes a little bit and really understand what those impacts have been," said Gallagher. "John has done a lot of deep reflection and deep learning to be able to do that."
Matterson said he realized when he was younger that he used to drive with his family all the way to Lund, but they would never stop or speak about Tla'amin or the territory they were driving though.
"So basically, I'm a white settler born and raised in a colonial town that displaced Joe's nation," said Matterson. "It took a while for me to get there, and it took many conversations, but that's what we're trying to get across in the book, is to help people to get there as well."
Now You Know Me is meant to be an illuminating conversation, not necessarily an angry one, and a way to put oneself in another's shoes as a small step on the journey toward reconciliation.
"What I've learned, and all of what I commit to do, is trying to find a way to live my best life and help others live their best lives as well," said Gallagher. "You can't live with just all the negativity of things you've experienced in your life. Keep moving forward, find that strength-based approach and an appreciation of all those good people who have endured a lot in their lifetimes, and understand them for who they are based on that history and appreciate what they've done and what they are doing."
Now You Know Me was released in August and can be found on amazon.ca/Now-You-Know-Me-Colonialism/dp/0888397828 or at Hancock House Publishers.
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