Power comes from letting go - writer

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Wi'woman - women who walk in spirit - is a tale of finding power and healing within, written by a woman who struggled to overcome abuse at the hands of trusted community members.

Francis Dick's play, staged last Friday night at Victoria's Newcombe theatre, was performed for the second year to a full house, Dick, along with Kwalgulth Youth Dance Group, shared her message of finding power and healing within.

There was a feeling of enchantment as Dick drummed, the Kwalgulth Dance Group performed traditional dances, and the smell of sweetgrass floated through the audience.

It was a far cry from the contradictions Dick experienced in her childhood. Born at the Kingcome outlet in the Kwakwaka'wakw Nation and raised in the Nimpkish Band in Alert Bay, Dick quickly learned that the truths spoken in the bighouse were not followed in practice.

"I can remember being in the bighouse and feeling the magic and power of the ceremony from the same people I experienced as abusers of power - physically, sexually, and spiritually. That is a confusing, horrific message for a kid," said Dick.

At 15, she fell into a world of alcohol, drugs and suicide attempts. Then her younger brother Jesse shot himself.

"When he died, it was like I could see for the first time. I saw and felt the hatred within my community. I felt the animosity people had towards each other and themselves. I was living in a community of lost souls."

Dick didn't realize that what was happening in her community was common to many other Native communities.

"What is happening in our communities is not the desperation to recapture the culture. It's a desperate struggle to find power from somewhere outside of ourselves. And the culture is being hurt and used because of that.

"But true success is letting go of the things you get power from and going inside."

Dick also applauds the moves women are making to become included in many of the traditionally all male ceremonies. She drums and sings, the first woman to join her tribe's bastion of all male singers.

"These issues are not strictly cultural issues," she says. "They are people issues. That's where Wi'woman comes in. I believe we are all here to share the goodness within our cultures and from that collective pot we can heal ourselves and our communities."