Remembering Elder Dr. Lillian Howard

Lillian Howard, a mother, grandmother, and great grandmother, came from the Mowachaht/Muchulaht First Nations in Nootka Sound on Vancouver Island. West Coast LEAF is forever grateful for and forever transformed by the gifts Elder Lillian Howard shared with us as a founding member of our Indigenous Advisory Circle. She was extraordinarily giving in offering her time, guidance, and knowledge. Her decades of transformative work for freedom from colonial and gender-based violence and injustice made her a wise teacher and leader. We were honoured to know such a fierce and unrelenting change-maker, one who modelled for us what love, honesty, whole-heartedness, and community connection could achieve. She offered us courageous honesty: willingness to cut through to painful truths and frankly name them rather talking around them.  

She connected with our predominantly settler-led organization with a generous spirit of bridge-building and hope for a transformed future. With profound compassion, she called on us to challenge ourselves and to assume accountability. She supported West Coast LEAF to clarify the stakes of our work and how we must move towards greater justice in our relationships and practices. We were struck by her exceptional way of connecting with others: deeply, authentically, wholistically. Our conversations with Elder Lillian engaged each of us to the core, transforming us as people and as an organization. Our hearts are filled with immense gratitude.