Resilience in the Workplace

Bubba Qwulshemutc shares his inspiring journey of overcoming systemic barriers as a marginalized individual in the workforce.

Episode Transcript

(00:20):
Our Native Land.
Our Native Land, OurNative, our Native Land.
Our Native Land.
Welcome to Our Native Land.
Thank you so much forjoining me here once again.
Before we start, as all I'dlike to acknowledge with
respect the Lekwungen Peopleson whose traditional territory

(00:43):
CHEK's studio stands upon.
And to all the indigenoustribes that are part of the
Coast Salish, Nuu-Chah-Nulth,and Kwakwaka'wakw Nations
on Vancouver Island.
I thank these nations andtraditional land keepers for
allowing us to always live,work, and play on their lands.
My next guest is BubbaQwulshemut, a member of the
S’amunu Tribe, one of the sevenrecognized tribes of Cowichan.

(01:03):
He's also the father ofAdrian, who you saw in
our season premiere of OurNative Land featuring her
food truck Hungry Bubbas.
Bubba has climbed the rankswith the BCIB, known as the
BC Infrastructure benefits,and is now BC's indigenous
coach and cultural advisoralong as an associate manager
on the Cowichan districthospital replacement project.
Bubba is making workerexperience more culturally

(01:26):
relevant and respectful forindigenous employees by actively
sharing cultural teachings,experiences, and wisdom.
In his role, Bubba providesdirect support to indigenous
employees, but this journey tosuccess has not been without
facing a lifelong uphill battle.
Those battles includedhim attending day school.
His brothers and parentsattended residential school
and his father was takenfrom his home because

(01:48):
of his granddad passing.
His mom only spoke SENĆOTEN,so he grew up with
nothing else, no English.
He was taken away by police.
Bubba was sent to thetwo-fifteen... what we know
today as the two-fifteenKamloops Indian Residential
School, and his mother also wentto Cooper Island Residential
School on Penelakut Island.
It is with honor that I welcomemy guest to talk about how he

(02:10):
has overcome so much in hislife, and we will make sure to
talk about that, but also endon a positive note about the
amazing things he's been doing.
Please welcome myguest, Baba Qwulshemut.
Bubba, thank you for being here.
Thanks, Tchadas.
I really appreciate it.
Deeply honored to be here.
Absolutely.
Thank you.
My name is Bubba Qwulshemut.
My ancestral nameis, Xwun xwi nuk.
And, I'm a member of theS’amunu Tribe within the seven

(02:34):
recognized tribes in Cowichan.
Going back, to the  QwulshemutClan on ninth generation
from there, and I have toknow that because our name,
songs, and masks all comefrom that side of my family.
So it's important forus to know our lineage.
And how diverse andvibrant is it right now?

(02:58):
Because we know that there'sbeen a lot of things throughout
Canadian history that's triedto remove that culture and
those dances that belong to yourclan specifically, how strong
can you say it is right now?
It's a great time to beindigenous, I would say, because
there's a huge... knowledgethat's being transferred over.
What we're allowed to share,from the Coast Salish people...

(03:22):
you could go on You Tubeanywhere, you'll see the
Cowichan Tzinquaw Dance Group,for instance, of course, or
any other First Nations thatare out there that are, very
active with drum groups.
Very, popular today.
So it's, I think there's abig resurgence because they're
hungry for that, culture.
People generally all aroundare trying to find out more

(03:45):
about us, where historicallywe were put under the thumb of.
And, coming like you, youmentioned a residential school.
And, before arrival, the way itwas, we're going back to that.
So there's a lot ofteaching that's coming in.
It's been maintainedand it's been even more
highlighted because it wastrying to be suppressed.

(04:06):
So that being the case, we'vecome out in a great way.
People would witness alittle bit of culture
and just want more.
And the songs and the dancesof our people, what we're
allowed to share, of course.
But still, ceremonyis not for public.
it's very private.
Yeah.
So it's a very powerfultime to be indigenous.

(04:27):
Of course.
And I think people willunderstand,  Tzinquaw, because
we've aired it here on, CHEK.
And we'll throw an image up ofwhat we're talking about here,
your relation to Tzinquaw areyou, actively with the group?
Or, do you have some connectionswith your clan and your lineage?
Oh yeah.
The Tzinquaw group, initiallystarted as an opera.
At a time we mentioned thebanishment of our culture.

(04:48):
So that was trying to besuppressed and then it became
a musical, opera that aired.
And I think that because ofthat exposure, that's where
it really started to become,Hey, we wanna see more.
We want to hear more.
And my late father and my latecousin, Ray Peter and, Ron
George, were in education.
Were looking at, havingsome culture brought to the

(05:12):
youth, the students that theywere working in, the school.
So that's when they startedthe song and dance group.
They call it the TzinquawSong and Dance Group.
When we started, I wasprobably six years old
when dad had us in there.
He was singing while we wouldbe dancing, that kinda stuff.
And I'm 62 now, soit's been a few years.
You don't look aday over 40, Bubba.

(05:34):
Thank you for sharing that.
Before we go to the break,I know people are gonna ask
this question, or I'm gonnaget messages and they're
gonna say the name, Bubba.
Where does that come from?
And was that right outright from birth, Bubba?
Or did that change over time?
Not so much birth as, I wasjust a baby and my older
brother's a year older.
Clay Qwulshemut.
Couldn't say baby.

(05:55):
Yeah.
So it went to Baba, and, yeah,it carried from there, Wow.
Yeah.
So that's, how, that started.
I love it.
That's a great name.
Bubba.
I set us off track 'causeI really had to know that.
But you were reallytalking about.
Resilience and I think,you're the perfect person
to talk about that.
And we're gonna get intothat and how you've been
able to cross paths, witha lot of racism to get

(06:18):
to where you're today.
So we're gonna take a quickbreak, but when we return, we're
gonna have a chat about that.
We'll be right back.
Don't go
anywhere.

(06:40):
Welcome back to Our Native Land.
I'm here with myguest, Bubba Kushima.
As I mentioned before, he was,on the season premier of our
native land with his daughterAdrian and the Bubba Food Truck.
But we're not talkingabout food today.
We're talking aboutBubba himself and some
of the resilience.
That you have, talked about veryopenly and publicly, and there's
an article you wrote actuallyon the BCIB website, and you're

(07:03):
very open about, how thisjourney came to be about being
honest with some ofyour experiences with
residential school.
Tell me, working in theconstruction industry, being
on site and that momentyou were talking in that
article about sharing andbeing open with people who
may have never been exposedto anything when it comes to

(07:25):
racism or residential school?
We were guided, my late motherbeing a residential school
survivor from, Penelakut.
We know it as Penelakut,which is Keeper Island.
she'd always said, neverair your laundry in public.
So that was something youjust never talked about.
When I came over to, thehospital working... course,

(07:48):
I'm a Red Seal Plumber.
B class gas fitter.
And I started plumbing there.
The first couple monthsthat I was there, I got
exposure to the point whereit advanced me into BCIB and,
witnessing, the ROI, which is,is a prerequisite to getting
onto all of our job sites.
And ROI stands for,Respectful Onsite Initiative.

(08:10):
All of our employees thatare employed by BCIB have
gotta go through this, andthat's just a prerequisite,
like a training day.
And, when I witnessedthat, I seen that.
Wow.
There's a lot of history that'sbeen told here, and I really
strongly felt that this isa, time for us to be able to
start sharing something thatin our family, we never did

(08:33):
really speak publicly of that.
It was time to share thatour family members, of course
my parents and my two elderbrothers were part of it.
I was in day schoolwith my brother.
There were some experiencesthere of course, we've
never, ever really evertalked about too much in
detail, but I felt it wasreally the time to do that.

(08:55):
And it's that sharing ofknowledge that I felt that,
hey... up to now, you get peoplethat are being very judgmental
based on no information.
And now they're informed andthey're changing, like start
to finish at the end of thatday of, the ROI, session.

(09:17):
Some of them would come forwardand say, Hey, I was raised,
my parents, my grandparentswere openly prejudiced.
I have two sons now thatwill not grow up that way.
And I thought, wow,that's a huge impact.
I hope that, this is, Hey, thisstarts very small, and we're
trying to make that bigger.
So I'm strongly, supportiveof what they're doing at BCIB.

(09:40):
Right to the top, they aregenuine and, I know them all.
I love them all.
I just worked with them, thattwo years in February, be, I've
been on that site in April.
Two years ago coming up will bethe time I've been with BCIB,
so it's been amazing for me.
Oh, nice.
Tell me what changes, tangiblechanges have you both seen sand

(10:02):
felt on the work site sinceyou've taken the title of being
that go-to resource on top ofbecoming an associate manager?
What are some tangiblethings that you think,
it wasn't just BCIBthat had been being....
the wards are so great.
the, contractors, theprime primary contractor,

(10:22):
EllisDon is huge forallowing me, so much leeway.
there's actually a plaque there.
I'll, send you a picture of it.
Just amazing.
It's just, it became so sacredto us because this trying to
be removed from our culture,like divide and conquer was,
I think the reasoning behindgetting to our resources.

(10:46):
I'm just speculating now, butyou had, a saying from our
elders and all of our CoastSalish people in our longhouses,
'cause they're so sacred to us.
And even more so after itwas trying to be banished
so it went underground.
So we're able tonever lose that.
We didn't miss a stroke,we kept that alive.
And the saying was, beforeyou enter our longhouse,

(11:10):
our sacred longhouse.
There's a nail, there's ahorseshoe, there's a spike
on the door, and you canleave all your or your hate,
anger, prejudice, all on this.
And come in herewith good feeling.
And then when you leave, it'sstill there if you want it.
Something to that effectthat we've actually, did

(11:32):
that and it's on our siteat Cowichan Hospital.
That's amazing.
So I felt that was prettycool of them to accept that.
Give me a little bit of leeway.
Initially one of the guyswas saying, Hey, we gotta
put your face on this.
Said, no, it's not me.
This is our elders.
This is the wisdomof our elders here.
So sit's not about me, I'mjust sharing what I've heard.
So do you feel, this is soincredible to hear and then

(11:55):
it makes me think of therelationship that indigenous
people have had, not onlywith the residential school,
but with the medical system.
Do you feel like you're turninga new page on sort of the
history and how we can makesure we're not repeating it?
Because hospitals have beensuch a tragic portion of the
residential school system.

(12:16):
Are you feeling, hopeful?
I think there's a hugechange because when I
was just a youngster, mygrandmother was still with us.
She had no belief inhospitals or doctors.
An Uncle that was in abad accident and went
through that and neverbrought to the hospital.
And that rationale thatthey had came from their

(12:38):
treatment at the hospitals.
Was just horrendousstories behind that.
But I won't get into that.
But even up to in thislast few years, you still
hear stories of, but.
I strongly feel that, ourhistory coming forward is
gonna change a lot of that.
That's really what Isee as a huge positive.
If you know more aboutus or know our story.

(13:01):
And we'd be very naive to say,Hey, that's only happened to us.
Every continent has beenat the mercy of this.
Like we just happened tobe the most recent ones.
So for, us to say woe isme, woe is me, and we're not
looking for a pity party here.
We're just saying, Hey, let'sshare a history and, we're

(13:23):
gonna have a whole lot morerespect with each other as
a direct result of that.
We bring that into the workplacewith our ROI system there.
I strongly believe thatIt's a big plus for us,
Wow.
Thanks Bubba.
I really appreciateyou sharing that.
We're gonna learn some more.
We're gonna talk some more.
We'll be right back.

(13:52):
Welcome back to Our Native Land.
I'm here with myguest,   Bubba Qwulshemut.
We're talking aboutso many things.
I want to talk a bit moreabout resilience, which
we talked about earlier.
During the commercial break, wewere talking about it's time.
When did you decide it was time?

(14:13):
We were talking about beingon that site and sharing, what
was the one thing that kind ofjust pushed you over the edge
and say, I have to do this now.
I had to fall in with it.
I mentioned earlier, theROI and that gets down
to, I believe there were,

(14:35):
30 years that wasdevoted by my first boss.
Indigenous relations to BCIBand she's Brenda Ireland.
She's paramount tothe success for BCIB.
I strongly believe that,and it's because of that.
They, went full intosupporting, the ROI because

(14:56):
of the research that shedid over that 30 year span.
And there were actual factsbetween Canada and Indigenous
first Nations all across Canada.
And then seeing just the fullgravity that I really felt, wow,
I need to be a part of this.
I need to throw in withthis as much as I can.
'cause that's a huge,lesson for us all.

(15:19):
And there's nothing but positivethat can come from that.
And I believe that's probablywhen I, really believed it, so I
had to be a witness to the ROI.
And I can never shut up.
I started talking about itand next thing you know,
I'm, telling my story.
I'm kicking in my input wherethere was a position there,
knowledge share that, wassupposed to be doing that.

(15:40):
And I basically did itwithout realizing it.
I was doing that.
I was playing that role.
And here, I'm, just oneof the employees going
through the course.
And then they recognizethat, wow, maybe we
need this guy on board.
So that's kind howit started for me.
And those stories that you'resharing... we like to try and
keep things here very positiveand talk about the future, but

(16:03):
there it comes from a placelike everybody gets inspired.
Whether you're a writer or anactor, something motivates you
and sometimes it comes froma place that's not so great.
And I was noticing you, you'dshared a couple things that
I just wanted to talk about.
Racism was just such a big partof what's obviously fueling
you to talk about these things.

(16:23):
Now you were talking abouttimes where you weren't
allowed to go on the uppercar deck of BC Ferries.
You've talked about going tothe theater and, you'd have
to sit on the upper deck.
You weren't allowed tosit and where everybody
else was sitting.
And you worked at a golf course,you had to go through the
back and you weren't allowedto go through the front.

(16:45):
Yeah, that's right.
I don't think people realizehow much of it was out there.
Yeah, it was.
We were just young kidsgoing to the theater.
The old theater.
I think it was onStation Street and
I was probably too young torealize the full gravity of what

(17:06):
was going on there other thanwe were just directed to sit
up on the upper deck and it wasonly First Nations up there.
And it was later on.
And then I started torealize, wow, they were being
segregated at that time.
I think there were still signs,on the bar that if you were
allowed in there, you had totake the side entrance, at

(17:27):
the local pubs in that time.
And when we're on the ferries.
We were directed never tocome off of our vehicles and
go up, with everybody else.
Yeah.
yeah, those was, those are,things that, as a little
one you don't really realizethat was what was going on.
That was later on... youmentioned the golf course.

(17:50):
And, yeah, you start at sixo'clock in the morning, so your
breaks at 10 and I'd be mowingthe ninth green at that time.
With nine holes at theCowichan Golf Club.
And, Yes, I'd go do that,I'd drop in there and
order, my lunch, which isbreakfast at the time, right?
So order that and mowthe green and come in.

(18:10):
Figured, I got it set up.
I'm gonna have my lunch there.
And I was sitting downin, the common room where
everybody's coming in.
These guys came in, it's earlybird starting, came in at the
same time that I was in there.
And first thing they didwas ask me what the heck
I was doing in there.
And, I was directed to, onlyuse the servant's entrance.
And in sit in the back itwas just a little table,
like this two person table.

(18:32):
And, that's where I wasdirected to, sit if I
was gonna sit and eat.
I'm glad that thisdoesn't exists anywhere
for the most part.
but there's still a fightby the sounds of it.
What it did for me was, Hey,I'm not gonna work here.
And, I felt that Ihave to move forward.

(18:57):
Anytime that I ever moved on,it had to be something better.
I was a very young age, putout from home and it was one
month into grade nine and,found myself, outta school.
And, basically, tryingto live with my late
father and his mate.
And, that, that wasn'tworking out very well.

(19:18):
So I ended up going out andI'd already been familiar
with working on local farms.
Checking hay, diggingpost holes, irrigation,
everything like that wasjust a very young age.
I realized, hey, thisbenefits a worker there.
And then moving forward,These guys I'd see
on those work sites.

(19:39):
Saying, this isbackbreaking work.
You're showing up andyou're working hard
and you're not dumb.
Get yourself a trade.
And I was always too embarrassedto tell, these guys that I
didn't know what a trade was.
Look at you now.
I would distinctly recallthinking, I don't know what a
trade is, but I want one now.

(19:59):
So that was a goal for me.
These older guys that wereencouraging me that way.
I'd heard it several times.
That trade is, something that'screated some positivity in
your life and for other people.
We're gonna take a quick break.
We're gonna end off onthat positive note and
talk more about it.

(20:30):
Welcome back to Our Native Land.
I'm here with myguest,  Bubba Qwulshemut.
I want to end on talkingabout how you've managed to
self-educate yourself to getto where you are in your career
by pushing through so manybarriers, and then how that's
applying to your childrenand how that's inspired them.
To have the successthat they have today.

(20:51):
Yeah.
I was trying to be intothe trade, so this was a
driving force for me forso many years and realizing
that I had to have a minimumgrade 12 or equivalent.
Challenging the GEDdid that for me.
So it opened up the doorsfor getting into the trade
and once the opportunitycame up, I just jumped on it.

(21:13):
It is not just that, it's,up to that time I'd always
been fishing and not so muchhunting, but more fishing.
But, harvesting off theland was something I
wanted to teach the kids.
So they were all well versedin being self-sustainable
in the absence of a job.
And then, of course, with thejob thing, it was something
that always supported them.

(21:34):
They always accompaniedme to the work that I
did as a service plumber.
And, getting into the trade,It was very challenging there
because I was, limited on whatmy educational background.
So I, had to, educate myself onsome of the plumbing, go home
up till five in the morninggetting ready at five 30 to
come to Commo in college.
Yeah.
And then the, that fouryears of that was, very

(21:55):
challenging, but determined.
And the first two weeks ofthose first two years, I'd
be walking the halls withnot even an acknowledgement
walking through the halls.
But after they started toget to know me that, hey,
this guy knows some stuff.
'cause I'd been on handsworking the tools so many years.
I knew a lot of stuff, sothe theory behind it really,
it just went hand in hand.
I was to my success,I think that was very

(22:17):
paramount with the kids.
Now, both the boys havefollowed me into the trades.
my youngest boys,call him Baby Huey.
He's a pipe fitter now.
he's working lower mainland,doing fire suppression.
And his older brother's workingon the hospital site now, got
his hours in for plumbing.
He's doing some steam fittingand pipe fitting hours now.
He'll be racking those up todo the boiler rooms on that.

(22:39):
And of course, Adrianand my daughter.
And, all of them, each is,making their own names.
They absolutely are.
And it's, thanks to some hopeand some determination by you
to, get them there and, they'rehunters and fisher fishermen
and women too, which is amazing.
Yes, for sure.
Awesome.
Bubba, thank you so much fortaking the time to come here,

(22:59):
talk about your story, gettingthrough some of the rough
patches, but also ending up hereon a beautiful note about the
success that you're creatingfor not only your children,
but for people on the workforcethat, want that education too.
So thank you so much.
Appreciate it.
Thanks for having me.
It's an absolute pleasure.
Thank you so much,Bubba, and thank you.
The listener and viewer fortaking the time to watch another
episode of Our Native Land.

(23:19):
We'll see you next week.