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Welcome to the 15th Annual Osprey Festival!
A unique celebration of shared lands and cultures in North Vancouver.
The Osprey Festival is a platform for the general public to learn about reconciliation-in-action with the Tsleil-Waututh community. In its 15th year running, Osprey Fest features national-touring musical acts on an outdoor stage, nature walks, ornithology talks, tasty festival food, a children’s zone, and visual arts.
We are expanding to stretch the programming outdoors to encourage walking between three stations. Coast Salish storytelling, live music, and ecology stations will take place around the trails. Located in the heart of unceded lands of Tsleil-Waututh, the Nature House serves as the Festival hub, with a main stage near the trail entrance, and programming activities located across the 311-acre site.
In the Nature House, The Repairing Ecological and Cultural Relations exhibit will be available for public viewing all day, exploring the complex history, and the competing worldviews of western science and Indigenous Knowledge, while inviting viewers to answer questions about the past, present, and future of the site.
Festival Highlights
Live Music & Poetry under the trees
Music Stage
Featuring: Tsleil-Waututh Warriors traditional song and dance performances.
Musical acts for 2022 include award-winning sitar player and composer Mohammad Assani, Whyte Feather, multidisciplinary artist Corrina Keeling and Mesoamerican Indigenous artist Kin Balam. !
Watch the festival livestream of live music, guitar, sitar, storytelling and poetry on @MaplewoodFlats Facebook page: fb.me/maplewoodflats.Â
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Walks
A series of hour-long guided nature and plant walks hosted by members, artists and ethnobotanists exploring Indigenous and settler perspectives on the land.
An annual favourite, the Indigenous Plant Walk with Senaqwila Wyss takes place in the morning and in the afternoon. This year’s Nature Walk will be hosted by Florian Reurink who is an PhD student specializing in behavioural ecology. Irwin Oostindie, the Wild Bird Trust’s President, will host a walk called Rethinking Land Use which will analyze the history of the site and plans for the future. Sam Mactavish and Erica Mulder will be cohosting a walk and demo on Invasive Species and material use.
12 persons maximum / Registration required (Registration Link) – Signup and meet at the Greeter Hut. First come, first served.
Repairing Ecological and Cultural Relations
Decolonizing conservation exhibition at Maplewood Flats. July - September 2022.
This exhibition and related public programming unpack this complex history, and the competing worldviews of western science and Indigenous Knowledge, while inviting viewers to answer questions about the past, present, and future of the site.
Music Stage
Watch the festival livestream on @MaplewoodFlats Facebook page: fb.me/maplewoodflats
Schedule:Â
10:00am – 10:05am Opening Welcome
10:05am – 10:45am Alex Archibald
10:45am – 11:05am Rachelle George
11:10am – 11:50am Corrina Keeling
12:00pm – 12:20pm Tsleil-Waututh WarriorsÂ
12:40pm -1:25pm Mohammad Assani
1:30pm – 1:50pm Wil George
1:55pm – 2:30pm Kin Balam
2:35pm – 3:15pm Valeen Jules
2:55pm – 3:25pm Rennie Nahanee
Walks & Workshops
12 persons maximum/ Registration required – Join a guided walk, experience a workshop or wander at your own pace to our three nature stations along the trails. Meet at the Greeter Hut. Visit our Eventbrite page to register.
10:30am – 11:30am Nature Walk with Florian Reurink
Join PhD graduate Florian Reurink for a nature walk as he discusses the habitats, amphibians and shorebirds of British Columbia.
11:30am – 12:30pm Invasive Species Identification Walk & Weaving Demo with Sam Mactavish and Erica Mulder
Learn more about invasive species in BC and the methods used to identify, source, remove, handle and create items with them.
12:45pm-1:45pm Plants & Pollinators Walk with the Native Bee Society
Learn about the different types of bees that are native to British Columbia and how we can support these friendly pollinators.
1:30pm – 2:30pm Seed Nugget Workshop with Ethnobotanist Cease Wyss
Learn about the basics of creating a seed nugget which is used to replant and reseed native plants to British Columbia.
2:00pm – 3:00pm Rethinking Land Use Walk with Irwin Oostindie
Learn about rethinking land use at Maplewood Flats with President Irwin Oostindie , who will be taking attendees throughout the site, discussing the history and future planning of the site.
2:45pm – 3:45pm Indigenous Plant Walk with Senaqwila Wyss
Join Ethnobotanist Senaqwila Wyss throughout Maplewood Flats as she discusses indigenous plant use, from edible berries to medicinal teas and more.Â
On the Trails
Wander at your own pace to our three nature stations along the trails, where you can observe birds and other wildlife at Maplewood Flats.
Free scopes and observation stations host skilled birders and naturalists sharing knowledge at Osprey Point and the Mudflats.
Osprey Point Station
Visit the poets and artists performing at 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.
Mudflats Nature Station
Visit our knowledgeable volunteers at the Mudflats Nature Station facing the Tsleil-Waututh village site. Come have a closer look at the ecologically unique mudflats landscape, and learn about Ocean Hyland’s public artwork.
Kids Activities
10am-4pm - Picnic tables near greeter hut
Children’s Activities include a Word Search, Scavenger Hunt and colouring drawings by Ocean Hyland (Tsleil-Waututh) and Ronnie Dean Harris (Sto’lo, St’at’imc, and Nlaka’pamux) featuring birds, plants, mushrooms and animals of the region, as well as Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language.
Festival Food
10am-2pm - Picnic tables near greeter hut
Grab some delicious festival food. Eat with your family on the picnic benches behind our Nature House.
Coast Salish Plant Nursery
10am-4pm - Plant Nursery adjacent to the Nature Hourse
Visit our Coast Salish Plant Nursery behind the Greeter’s Hut on-site. We have a wide variety of native plants for sale for summer planting at your home.
#OspreyFest15 #MaplewoodFlats
Tag us with #OspreyFest15 and/or #MaplewoodFlats on photos and tweets you share of the event for a chance to win a draw prize of Maplewood Flats swag.
More about the performers, artists, poets, and storytellers
Murray Porter
Blues singer, songwriter and piano-man
Murray Porter has been telling the Aboriginal side of history for over 30 years, spreading his unique style of foot-stomping, hand clapping mix of country, blues and humor around the globe. The multi-talented, self-taught musician has drawn comparison to the likes of Dr. John, Joe Cocker and Delbert McClinton.
Halth-Leah Sla-holt (Ta7ah Amy George)
Elder, Grandmother-Tsleil-waututh nation
Elder Halth-Leah Sla-holt (Ta’ah Amy George)
will share reflections on the life and legacy of her father, Chief Dan George.
As part of Chief Dan George: Actor and Activist Exhibit at Maplewood Flats, Ta7ah Amy George will recite her father’s powerful Lament for Confederation, the famous speech he first delivered in 1967.
Photo source for illustration: Stefan Labbé.
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.
Seeking volunteers
for Osprey Festival
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.
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Volunteer Sign-up
volunteer@wildbirdtrust.org
Thanks to our sponsors and partners
