Sabrina Clifton grew up working on boats, even before women were accepted to fish on board a working vessel.
“I remember when we were younger, we used to have to hide away because women didn’t fish,” Clifton said with a laugh. “In the 1980’s my mom used to cook and I was the deckhand then. We’d have to run inside when boats would come around because we were the only girls, for seine fishing anyway.”
It wasn’t until she was 16 years old when Clifton started seeing other women on the decks, but she and her mother had always been there, working alongside her father and four older brothers.
“It’s why I’m so proud when I see women in trades and driving trucks. It’s been a long time to get there.”
Clifton was the youngest kid in her family, and everyone pitched in. She started working on their seiner as a child, the same boat her brothers still operate for their family business, Ocean Virtue Fishing Ltd. They worked year-round as there was always something to harvest every season, halibut, herring and salmon. Her dad would go shrimping, and Clifton would help clean them.
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“I always liked going out salmon fishing. I liked the adrenaline of salmon [fishing]. I wasn’t allowed to go herring fishing, back in the derby days. It was just too dangerous, my dad said,” Clifton said.
For everything else, she would work as the deckhand or the drum. It was up to her to keep the boat on the right side of the net, a challenge she loved when battling the wind. She kept the whole boat out of danger when she was aboard.
But one day five years ago, while she was releasing the chum, Clifton’s back gave out. She figured it was time for a job on land, and began helping the Nisga’a Hall with some filing. Clifton did the bookkeeping for Ocean Virtue Fishing Ltd, and she’d been volunteering with her mother, Camilla Haines, with the Gitmaxmak’ay Nisga’a Society for years. It wasn’t long before she became the programs manager for the society.
“It was a little bit of everything, the finance background, the harvesting background and doing all the arts and crafts,” she said. “It fit.”
The society has 1,500 registered members in Prince Rupert, and more than 170 elders live in the city. She works with seniors and youth alike, teaching them how to harvest and prepare food for the winter. The youth group does at least two trips a year, to the Gathering of Voices and a multi-day canoe journey to nearby communities, using the same method to travel as their ancestors. This year, 40 kids paddled in three canoes for a full week. While Clifton can’t go on the boats with them anymore, she helps fundraise and teach them everything she can on land.
There are language classes, workshops on how to make moccasins and how to pull and weave cedar. Clifton wants to show everyone there’s no reason to ever be bored. Beyond keeping active though, there’s more to her desire to share her knowledge. When she first learned how to weave, she was told a story about a weaver stuck in Seattle.
“They had the same kind of trees and it just happened to be harvesting time. She went out, weaved a basket, sold it to one of the museums and it was just enough money to get her back home,” Clifton said. “That just stuck to me. It’s good to have knowledge of all kinds of things, because you never know when you might be in a bind.”
In a way, it’s similar to how Clifton relied on her cultural knowledge when she could no longer fish. She’s continued to learn since becoming the program manager, too. They have a workshop coming up to weave a kind of strap called k‘aadakhl used for box drums, which Clifton herself has only made once before.
As much as Clifton likes the process of teaching and creating, it’s more than the physical outcome of their craft she loves. When they hand out their harvest, the elders get the first round, and are always appreciative of the food.
“I really enjoy working with the volunteers. There’s always laughter. During our workshops, it’s just a good time to enjoy people’s company while you’re working on something.”
And so, Clifton went from hiding from other vessels to sharing her knowledge across generations.
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