ʔəm̓i ce:p (Welcome) to the 17th Annual Osprey Festival!
A unique celebration of shared lands and cultures in North Vancouver, səlilwətaɬ (Tsleil-Waututh Nation).
The Osprey Festival is a platform for the general public to learn about reconciliation-in-action with the Tsleil-Waututh Nation. The Festival features plant and bird walks, tasty festival food, a children’s zone, and visual arts.
Located in the heart of unceded lands of the Tsleil-Waututh, the Nature House at Maplewood Flats serves as the Festival hub, with a main stage near the trail entrance, and programming activities located across the 311-acre site.
Programming Preview
Workshops and walks have limited capacity. Please register to reserve your spot below.
Free, family-friendly event featuring the Children of Takaya (Tsleil-Waututh dancers) • bird walks • nature talks • food • music • art • exhibits • poetry • land back school • kids area and activities
PERFORMANCE
Traditional dancing, singing & storytelling group founded by Chief Dan George.
Workshop
This workshop explores how Indigenous sciences, rooted in land, language, and deep observation, help us understand the return of orcas to the Inlet. Western science only began studying orcas in the 1970s, yet Indigenous knowledge has tracked their behaviours for thousands of years. From marine biology to linguistics to ancestral law, we’ll reflect on how Indigenous ways of knowing continue to shape sustainable relationships with the natural world. Participants are invited to reframe what counts as “science,” question colonial narratives, and celebrate the brilliance of knowledge systems passed down through story, song, and experience, still alive and guiding us today.
Part of the “Village Under the Sea” Exhibition at the Nature House.
Limited capacity. Register to reserve your spot below.
Workshop
This workshop explores the cultural and ecological connections between orca and Coast Salish governance systems, both led by matriarchs. Orcas, like many Indigenous communities, rely on mothers and grandmothers to guide decisions, care for the young, and hold collective memory. Through the lens of kinship, participants will learn how leadership, survival, and knowledge are maintained through intergenerational bonds. We’ll look at how Indigenous governance challenges colonial hierarchies and offers models of care-based leadership. By understanding the social structures of orcas and the teachings of Coast Salish matriarchy, we begin to see how deeply connected we are across species and generations.
Part of the “Village Under the Sea” Exhibition at the Nature House.
Limited capacity. Register to reserve your spot below.
Limited capacity. Register to reserve your spot below.
Limited capacity. Register to reserve your spot below.
Limited capacity. Register to reserve your spot below.
Some workshops have limited capacity.
Register to reserve your spot.
LAUNCH
Go green! Take public transit.
Ride your bike, or carpool.
Maplewood Flats might seem far away, but it’s actually a very quick bus trip from East Vancouver by taking bus #210 along Cordova and transferring at Phibbs Exchange to the #211 or #212. It takes 35 minutes from Main Street to Maplewood Flats.
