Kat Norris dedicated her life to helping those who needed to hear that they were ‘seen, recognized and loved’

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Kat Zu’comulwat Norris was a fearless activist, even as a child.

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At the notorious Kuper Island residential school, which Norris and her siblings were forced to attend on the tiny Gulf island of Penelakut, she risked punishment to send messages of support to her siblings.

“I first saw his courage there, in residential school,” he said. Sam Bet. The boys and girls were kept apart on the grounds, but when Norris saw her brother, she would run to the fence and shout words of encouragement to Sam and Jeff, even though it meant she would be punished. “She would let it be known that we were seen, recognized and loved,” said Sam Bob.

The Lyackson First Nation elder, who died July 8 at the age of 67, dedicated her life to helping others who needed to hear that message.

Norris’s mother, Sally, took the children out of school, hid them from Indian agents, and moved them to California in 1969. There, Norris “observed and learned” of the civil rights movement, anti-Vietnam War protests , the occupation of Alcatraz by Native Americans. and leaders like Angela Davis, Sam Bob said.

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“My sister, coming out of residential school, had a very definite sense of right and wrong, a very definite sense of justice, of oppression, and she understood the experience of being oppressed,” Sam Bob said.

When Norris was 19, the family moved back to Vancouver, where he quickly rose to the forefront of fighting for indigenous rights, speaking out for a variety of causes, including AIM, the American Indian Movement.

She became a regular at the original Aboriginal Friendship Center on Vine Street, where it was not unusual for her to be up all night making signs and playing drums. In 2012, Norris became a leader of the Idle No More movement on the West Coast. She also helped create the inaugural Indigenous Day in Vancouver, the Trout Lake powwow, and the Valentine’s Day Women’s March for Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls (MMIWG).

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“She was adamant about getting behind the issues and getting organized,” said Sam Bob.

He remembers how delighted his sister was when she bought her own small, rolling, rechargeable speaker with a megaphone; actually, she didn’t want to scream.

“She always spoke from her heart and was in tune and aware of traditional teachings, being respectful and also saying what needed to be said, and she was able to solidify all groups of people at every event,” said Sam Bob.

Every New Year’s Eve, Norris cooked up a large batch of fry bread for giveaways in the Downtown Eastside, and she was the elderly resident of the Downtown Eastside’s Heart of the City Festival.

His sister, Lorna Bob, slept by his side for two weeks in the hospital after Norris suffered a stroke following routine surgery.

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Although the stroke had taken away his ability to speak, it did not take away Norris’s voice.

In the hospital, Lorna Bob said, her sister began to sing, a few bars of a Whitney Houston song. The words she sang were: “I believe that children are our future, teach them well and let them lead the way, show them all the beauty they possess within, give them a sense of pride.”

“She wanted that to continue for the children of our nations,” said Lorna Bob. “She blossomed as a child, through all the different struggles, including residential school. By sharing that little bit of the song, she was showing us the way.”

Sam Bob said: “He had a fierce and beautiful heart for radicalism, for family, for culture. She would want all of us to continue with that.”

Kat Norris is survived by her children Anthony Jack and Skye Norris, her granddaughters Emma and Serenity, and her siblings Lorna, Sam and Jeff Bob and Melany Gleeson-Lyall. the family has a GoFundMe to raise funds for funeral and medical expenses.

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