Jacob Beaton Brings the Story of Tea Creek Farm to SMUS

For thousands of years, Indigenous peoples across the Americas were among the world's most sophisticated farmers, cultivating the crops that now feed much of the planet. More than 80 per cent of the world's crops today were originally domesticated by Indigenous farmers. That history, and what was deliberately taken from it, was at the centre of a May 4 assembly that brought Tsimshian entrepreneur and food sovereignty advocate Jacob Beaton to St. Michaels University School.

The visit was organized in recognition of National Indigenous Peoples Day, celebrated annually on June 21 to honour the cultures, traditions and contributions of First Nations, Inuit and Métis peoples. Because that date falls outside the school year, SMUS marked the occasion with a special assembly and classroom instruction.

Beaton, founder of Tea Creek, an award-winning Indigenous-led farm and training centre in northern BC, was accompanied by his wife and co-owner Jessica Ouellette-Beaton and their sons Noah and Ezra. Also present were honoured guests: Elder and Guide Bill White of the Snuneymuxw Nation; Kim Recalma-Clutesi, Ogwi'low'gwa, of the Qualicum First Nation; Métis Elder Jo-Ina Young; and Coast Salish artist Doug LaFortune and his wife Kathy, both of whom offered a welcome message before Beaton spoke.

Middle School students watched the Tea Creek documentary during class time in the days before the visit, while Senior School students were invited to an evening screening on Earth Day, organized by Elisha Gardiner, Service-Learning and Community Engagement Lead. The evening included a concession, with proceeds going directly to Tea Creek.

Beaton was generous with his time throughout the day, meeting with faculty and addressing students in assembly, where he took questions from the audience at the close. Afterward, he and his family gathered with Middle School students in the Chapel, where Jessica and their sons Noah and Ezra joined him in answering questions and sharing their story in what became a warm, informal exchange.

Beaton spoke honestly about growing up between two worlds, the privilege that came with being able to pass as white, and the cost of it. Indigenous food sovereignty, he explained, was thriving until it was systematically dismantled, and the effects are still felt today. When his family bought a farm in Gitxsan Territory in 2018, he had no idea he was committing an act of resistance. Elders who had grown up on seized farms began arriving at the property, sometimes in tears.

"They were so excited that a First Nations person was farming again," he said. "I didn't know I was an activist."

Tea Creek grew from that moment into an accredited training centre recognized by SkilledTradesBC, where participants learn farming, trades, construction, land-based skills and cultural knowledge in an environment where they feel they truly belong. In its first full year of operation in 2021, it introduced more Indigenous people to the trades than all public and private institutions in British Columbia combined.

"The goal," Beaton said, "is to go from being invited to the table, to owning the table."

For SMUS, the visit was one expression of an ongoing commitment to authentic relationships with Indigenous peoples, a journey guided in part by Elder Bill White, who had his own quiet history with Beaton: the two had not seen each other since White supported Beaton as a struggling Indigenous student at UVic in the late 1990s. At the assembly, they embraced.

It was a small but telling reflection of what Tea Creek itself represents: the possibility of return, of restoration, and of what becomes possible when people are given a place where they are always valued and always respected.