Saturday, July 20th
10am-4pm!
Free fun for the whole family!
Welcome! Join us for this free public event that showcases this beautiful piece of nature in Burrard Inlet.
We are excited to bring together a community of reconciliation and conservation lovers from around the corner and across Coast Salish lands with 5 km of trails, music stage, and engaging presentations all day long!
Osprey Festival features guided walks, inspiring speakers, live music, children’s entertainment, and food. If you live nearby or far away, enjoy this summer day under the trees at the water’s edge.
Live Music + Speakers
Under the Trees
with M’girl, Ta7ah Amy George, Candace Curr, Miss Christie Lee,
Wil George, Bre McDaniel, Kin Balam, and more!
(See show lineup below).
M’Girl
Aboriginal Women’s Ensemble led by Renae Morriseau
M’Girl is an ensemble of Indigenous women with stories and songs on the gifts received from Mother Earth. Though officially performing together since 2004, their personal musical histories spans throughout each of their lives. Their hand drum songs blend harmonies into a contemporary style that reflects their personal story of home. The message in the music is an emergence of cultural ideals and worldviews from the Metis/Cree (Nê-heya-win) Anishnaabe (A-nish-naw-bay) Tahltan, Tlingit, and Saulteaux (Praire Anishnaabe) heritage. M’Girl will be Renae Morriseau, (Cree/Saulteaux) Jenifer Brousseau, (Anishnaabe), Tracey Weitzel and Tiare Laporte, (Metis/Cree) for the 13th ANNUAL OSPREY FESTIVAL.
Wil George
poet
Wil George is a Coast Salish poet from Tsleil-Waututh Nation. His poetry focuses on water-bodies and the land, and uses Wolf and Raven from traditional Salish stories in contemporary settings and addressing contemporary issues. Wil was the 2017 recipient of the Mayor’s award for emerging artist in Literary Arts. Wil’s work has been published in various literary magazines and journals including Ricepaper Magazine and Salish Seas Anthology published by Aboriginal Writers Collective West Coast. His book of poetry called Survival In It’s Many Shapes was published by UNIT-PITt Projects.
Miss Christie Lee
hip-hop artist | poet | storyteller
Christie Lee Charles or “Miss Christie Lee” of xʷməθkʷəy̓əm, with lineages to surrounding Coast Salish Nations, is an artist who expresses her gifts in many forms such as storytelling, Salish singing, poetry, weaving, film, raps, workshops and keynotes. “Our language teaches us our way of life and holds us strong to work on our path”. Growing up in a world of music, her focus has been hip hop where, as an emcee, she incorporates her traditional knowledge and ancient hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ dialect. A Global performer visiting : Beijing BC pavilion, WEDay, Talking Stick Festival, Fuse, Drum is Calling, TEDX Vancouver, Junos 2018 and Tribe Called Red & Bass Coast 2018 with Erica Dee. Christie is currently Vancouver’s Poet Laureate 2018-2021 and liaison for the Vancouver Creative City Strategy – “full time mother and hip hop lover”.
Candace Curr • Tla-iisma-uksu
Artist | Songwriter | Jeweler | Nuučaan̓uł
Both a musician and an artist, Candace Curr is an indie singer- songwriter of Nuuchahnulth decent. She first met Rob Thompson (Haida) in Winnipeg at the Indigenous Music Residency program hosted by Manitoba Music and Canada Council for the Arts. The two have been playing together since and have created a number of songs in collaboration. Using ukulele, guitar and vocals to blend together blues, folk, and indie influence into lyrics of love, loss, and songs from the heart.
Kin Balam
Musician | Band
The Mesoamerican Indigenous instruments integrated into the musical landscape are all of pre-colombian colonial origin, and therefore bear with them the unique identity of central American indigenous culture and spirituality. The Afro Latin rhythms deepen the meaning of this reality with the connection and bridging of African culture and struggle in the earth and flesh of the Americas Colonial history. And finally The virtuoso Flamenco guitar is the sword that ties all of these elements as one diverse family which sets to speak as one heart, one voice, in one language. The language of our humanity. Balam Santos a.k.a. Kin Balam is from the Indigenous lands of Cuxkatan, Nekepio, El Salvador. He was born in the heart of a people’s revolution, raised in the Northern lands of Turtle Island.
Bre McDaniel
singer | songwriter
This Vancouver singer-songwriter and visual artist has a voice that’s been described as “magic on toast”. She has been found gracing the stages of The Vancouver Writers Festival, Khatsahlano Fest, odd cafes and living room carpets from BC to PEI, and her debut full length album ‘Howl’ (Orphan Girl Records) explores how we need the tonic of wildness. Her recordings are a mix of smokey folk-pop, indie rock, and bare acoustics with similarities to Neko Case, Cat Power or Feist.
Festival Programme
Music Stage
10:45 am – Intro/opening announcements
11:00 am – Tsleil-Waututh Elder Ta7ah Amy George
11:50 am – ACT 1: Candace Curr accompanied by Rob Thomson
12:35 pm – ACT 2: Miss Christie Lee
1:15 pm – ACT 3: M’girl
2:05 pm – ACT 4: Wil George
2:30 pm – ACT 5: Bre McDaniel
3:15 pm – ACT 6: Kin Balam
Exhibit Reception
& Launch
10:15am – Pacific Coast Portraits
Gather inside the Corrigan Nature House for the launch of the Pacific Coast Portraits exhibit in partnership with Artists for Conservation.
Pacific Coast Portraits will feature over 25 giclee reproduction artworks by local members of AFC, featuring wildlife and wild places, with a special emphasis on birds of the Pacific Coast. The exhibit aims to celebrate birdlife and biodiversity in the region and to inform viewers about local bird species and their habitats. AFC is the world’s premiere artist group with a mission to support nature, based in BC.
Workshops & Talks
11:30am – Birding around the World: Report from Iran
Lisa Pourlak, PhD candidate, University of Tehran.
Lisa was born in 1968 in Tehran and moved to France in the 1980s due to the imposed Iraq war on Iran, and then to Canada. She studied Biology at SFU and then continued in Environmental Sciences (Cap College). She worked for the Wild Bird Trust in 1995 as an intern. She then moved back to Iran and started working with the United Nations Global Environment Facility. She has worked as an Env. Consultant/ Env. Activist for the past 20+ years focusing on wetland conservation, ecotourism and community participation in conservation of biodiversity, and the recovery of endangered Siberian cranes.
12:15pm – Habitation Restoration in the Wetlands
Chloe Hartley & Dee Gorn
Learn about projects that are part of the Habitat and Cultural Use Management Plan for further restoration and redress of this area. Find out how you can get involved.
1:45pm – How can Coast Salish and settlers rethink their relationship to Maplewood Flats?
Join a conversation with Meagan Innes and Irwin Oostindie about education, conservation and much more!
Meagan is a public educator of Squamish ancestry interested in how people learn about the land beneath their feet. She lives in Deep Cove. Irwin is the President of the Wild Bird Trust of BC and a graduate researcher with SFU’s School of Communications and Resource & Environmental Mngt. He grew up near the Flats.
1pm – Whooo can be hurt by rat poisons?
Rodenticide use in BC and risk to non-target wildlife.
Sofi Hindmarch
The talk will address the latest rat poison exposure data for raptors in our region, the different causes as to why raptors are being exposed and what we can do to reduce the risk of secondary rat poisoning of wildlife in our backyard. Sofi completed her Master’s degree at SFU in 2010, where she studied the impacts of changes in land use on Barn Owls, a threatened species in BC. She has been interested in conservation since her childhood in rural Norway.
Kids Activities
10am-4pm – Picnic tables near greeter hut
Find a spot at one of the picnic tables for some fun nature-based art projects! Build a bird, paint with plants, and colour with creativity with the guidance of our staff. All ages are welcome to learn about the birds and plants that can be found at Maplewood Flats though hands-on take-home activities.
Walks
Join a guided walk or wander at your own pace to our three nature stations along the trails, where you can observe birds and other wildlife at Maplewood Flats. Meet at the Greeter Hut.
2pm – Walk with Kevin Bell
Learn about the Ponds at Maplewood Flats. Hosted by Kevin Bell, lifelong Naturalist, ornithologist/ecologist, and retired Chief Naturalist/Manager at Lynn Canyon Ecology Centre and D.N.V. Natural Parklands.
3PM – Coast Salish Plant Walk of Maplewood Flats
Join Senaqwila Wyss for a guided walk of Maplewood Flats, where she discusses identification techniques, edible plants and cultural significance of the diverse plants and plant communities found at Maplewood Flats.
On the Trails
Free scopes and observation stations host skilled birders and naturalists sharing knowledge at Osprey Point and the Mudflats.
Osprey Point
Use a scope to spot one of Burrard Inlet’s rare predatory osprey. These birds are living proof of the effectiveness of conservation and restoration efforts to help species at risk.
Eastern Mudflats
Learn about the story of the Western Purple Martins, which nest in the small boxes located in the Eastern Mudflats. See a nest box close up or use a scope to see the birds in action!
Take Public Transit, ride your bike,
or carpool!
Maplewood Flats might seem far away by bus, but it’s actually very quick from East Vancouver by taking bus #210 along Cordova and transferring at Phibbs Exchange to the #212. Check the schedule. It takes 35 minutes from Main Street to Maplewood Flats.
Check out the #212 bus schedule on Translink.
We’re still looking for volunteers for Osprey Fest
Help with membership/info table, children’s art-making station, parking, trail host, room set-up/clean-up, food service, A/V tech & more!
Sign up for a 2-4 hour shift.
Get Involved
volunteer@wildbirdtrust.org
Info Tables
maplewoodflats@gmail.com
