COMMENCEMENT ANNUAL

PEEL PRS <P}

Foreword and Valedictory

CRO

The term ends, the school year ends also, examinations are over, a large class of
graduates have delivered their valedictory. Some students leave for their holidays with the
assurance that they will return in the fall. Others, the graduates, do not sever connections so
easily because of the knowledge that, as they say good-bye it is perhaps forever. There is a
reticence, a hesitancy to say “good-bye.” It is farewell to much thoughtful care, kindliness
of action, pleasant relationships, happy school associates, but it has to be.

I also, after 20 years residence make this foreword a valedictory. After all, my thought
is akin to that of the students, more mature because of accumulated experience: it is one
of gratitude and devotion to the members of the staff, present and past, who have loyally
supported the school in its educational, religious and character building ideals. During the
vests Coqualeetza has borne in mind several fundamental ends in the education of the Native
children.

Let me also express my thanks to the Department of Indian Affairs, both in the service
at Ottawa and outside service in British Columbia. Their unfailing courtesy and active
co-operation could not have been surpassed by any department in the service of the country.
I do not hesitate to say that rightly understood, the officers of the Department of Indian
Affairs are really “the friends of the Indians.” They have solved the problem of Indian
education. They have as far as possible, humanly speaking, gone a long distance towards
solving the complex problem of the health of the Native people. They are striving to solve
now what is essential for their welfare and contentment, the problem of today which is
essentially economic. We are proud of a Department which has tried to take care of the
Native people of Canada, probably in a more sympathetic and practical manner than any
other country which is responsible for the welfare of a dependent or primitive people.

Let me voice my appreciation of the officers of the United Church and the Woman's
Missionary Society whose interest has always been of a helpful character: their day and
residential schools and hospitals have been a great uplifting force in the lives of thousands
of “the real Canadians.” Their visits to Coqualeetza have been inspirational and are red
letter days in the school calendar.

Now, as this is my last foreword | am wondering what to say to the students. The con-
stituency from which you come is largely that of the North Pacific Coast, from the Straits
of San Juan to the border of Alaska. | have said that the Indian problem of today is essen-
tially economic and to my vision there is a possibility of solving that problem to a large
extent with Indian handicraft arts. If you and the Native people grasp the opportunity
there is a road that will lead to work and contentment. If you are indifferent, the chance
is lost forever.

How can this be accomplished? First, by reviving Indian Handicraft and Art designs
and applying them to modern commodities for which there is always a demand. Second, by
capturing the tourist trade of the country.

The first is possible through the training of the rising generation in the residential schools
in handicraft arts with Indian designs, thus finding a way to secure a sufficient quantity to
supply an increasing demand. The second can be effected and the market developed through
the assistance of the Department of Indain Affairs and a nation-wide campaign in which the
churches, the social service council of Canada, service clubs, tourist bureaus, transportation
lines, the radio, moving pictures and exhibitions would become interested and create an
Indian-minded atmosphere—favorable to solving for the native people their economic problem.

The attention of manufacturers throughout Canada, the United States and the continent
of Europe can be caught and held by unique and artistic designs with the unusual appeal of
strong symbolic Indian art not found anywhere in the world except on the Pacific Coast. In
many industries your designs are applicable, manufacturers want them.

Three