The First Peoples’ Cultural Council is pleased to mark the 20th anniversary of its first CEO, Tracey Herbert. She has been a driving force behind our mandate to assist B.C. First Nations in their efforts to revitalize their languages, arts, cultures and heritage.
We are happy to celebrate Tracey’s 20-year journey with FPCC. Her guidance and leadership have created many opportunities for B.C. First Nations in the last two decades.
We recently sat down with Tracey to talk about her time with FPCC. Before joining FPCC, Tracey completed a degree in fine arts from the University of Victoria. As a student, she noticed there weren’t a lot of opportunities for Indigenous artists.
“I was really interested in creating opportunities for Indigenous people to participate in performing arts because I didn’t see a lot of representation in theatre. Our stories weren’t being told,” shares Tracey. “After becoming more familiar with FPCC, I discovered the incredible diversity of the languages we have in B.C. I then got to meet with some Elders who talked about their passion for their languages and their struggle to pass them on. I felt it was incredibly important to support them in community and make that happen.”
Supporting First Nations in B.C. is the focus of FPCC and knowledge and feedback from communities is at the heart of our planning. Tracey believes ongoing learning is an essential part of our process. She stresses, “the most important part of this work is being open to learning about what the specific needs of the communities are and to assess and evaluate our work to improve. Everything I know about language, arts and cultural revitalization I learned from the community. At FPCC, we engage with the community in reciprocal learning and sharing. What I brought to the table were skills in facilitation, planning and community development.”
“I am so inspired every day by the beauty and strength of all the cultural Knowledge Keepers working to pass on their knowledge. There are so many young people taking up their languages and accessing Indigenous knowledge. I feel our cultures from this land will live on and I am so proud to play a small, supporting role in this.”
Congratulations to Tracey on 20 years of leadership at FPCC. Thank you for your service and commitment to cultural revitalization for First Nations in B.C.
Learn More
Click here to learn more about Tracey’s advocacy.
Click here to view Tracey’s Order of B.C.
Explore more stories about other program areas here.
To learn more about FirstVoices click here.
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Do you have a story about the work your community is doing to revitalize First Nations languages, heritage and arts in B.C.? We want to hear from you! Please send your story to info@fpcc.ca and check back as we post more stories about the good work being done across the province.
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