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Sleepover

Salt Spring II: Cathy's Vanishing Legacy

Cathy Roland’s ancestors were sent by Hawaiian King Kamehameha to help with Canada’s 19th century fur trade! She’s proud of her Hawaiian-Salish heritage, but the next generation doesn’t get it. How can she keep their legacy alive?
CBC Radio ·

Cathy Roland

8 years ago
Duration 1:31
Cathy Roland

Salt Spring Island is all trees and rolling mountains, tiny colourful homes with thatched roofs and fields of lavender. It's like a hobbit kingdom!  

Cathy Roland (a.k.a. "Aunty Kate") was born on Salt Spring Island six decades ago. She is passionate and proud of her Hawaiian and Salish heritage. Cathy comes from a lineage of early settlers sent by Hawaiian King Kamehameha to help with Canada's fur trade in the 19th century!

She regales us with songs and stories but something is bothering her. Cathy struggles to preserve her family legacy when elders are dying and young ones can't get the facts right.

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PHOTOS FROM THE EPISODE

Stowel Lake Farm on Salts Spring Island where organic vegetables grow. (Veronica Simmonds)
Gourds are gathered during harvest season. (Veronica Simmonds)
And off in the distance in a farmhouse, three strangers meet. (Veronica Simmonds)
Cathy Roland aka Auntie Kate, is a local musician of Hawaiian Salish descent, who grew up on Salt Spring Island. (Veronica Simmonds)
Cathy brandishes her ukulele and opens up about a fear that has to do with her family. (Veronica Simmonds)
Scott tells us about his Hungarian Canadian prairie homesteading family, while Cody squeezes a toy stegosaurus that makes loud sounds. (Veronica Simmonds)
Cathy serenades us with song. (Veronica Simmonds)
Let the bonding begin! (Veronica Simmonds)
It may not be Hawaii, but Salt Spring Island is where delicious tomatoes grow! (Veronica Simmonds)