Cody Matthias

“Being born under a long line of Chief’s can seem a bit intimidating but when my great grandfather, Chief Joe Capilano went to England to meet with Queen Elizabeth in 1906 and established rights for the Squamish People.

Living at the food of the Fraser River and the mouth of the Burrard inlet, we Squamish people were the first to meet visitors, for instance, Capt. George Vancouver. There were no natives in the school district of West Vancouver that is until my father. He would run approximately 5kms to school every day. My grandmother Mary Agnes Capilano used to paddle to Vancouver, because there were no bridges at that time to get across the water, to sell seafood such as oysters, clams, mussels and sometimes berries to the markets in town.

Being the 13^th child out of 17 was a bit challenging at times, living on the beach, sharing a room with my 4 brothers and being the youngest boy in the family, my blessed day came on a spring day back in 1962 April 17^th. With our household being so crowded I would sometimes have to push two chairs together in the kitchen for my bed. Most of my siblings were sent to boarding school and during our schooling, our mother, unfortunately, died of an aneurism when I was only 10 years old. No mother and my father was no longer a longshoreman, I sat and watched my grandfather and father carve totem poles and have the inspiration of a lifetime I started carving out of wood myself, selling carvings to my teachers until their walls were full and they no longer could buy. I eventually quit school in grade 9 just to support my father, sister and myself in the homestead, everyone else was on their own by then.

By the age of 19, I completed a couple of totem poles. One was sent to Hong Kong and another sent to Texas, and numerous plaques were sent to Germany. I was getting my name well established worldwide. Life was starting to look brighter, then I met my wife of 34 years now, had two wonderful children, a daughter aged 29 and a son aged 27. At the age of 45, I became a grandfather. For the first time, I feel a sense of living through my grandson.

In 2007 I became a college student. Who would have known a drop out could actually be a college student? Upon graduation in 2008, I received 15 college credits and became a teacher’s assistant and volunteered one day a week which eventually led to my being hired for three years as a teacher myself, teaching silver jewelry carving. Today I do both wood carvings and silver carved jewelry. That’s all folks.”