Submitted by Orca Network
At exactly 1:04 p.m. on Sunday, Aug. 18, Lummi Elder Raynell Morris will begin drumming at Lime Kiln State Park on San Juan Island. Her drumming will mark one year since the moment when Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut, the captive Southern Resident Orca held at Miami Seaquarium for 53 years and known also as Tokitae or Lolita, passed away.
“It was the moment she joined her family, the moment she went home,” said Coast Salish Elder Rosie Cayou James. Elders Rosie and Raynell, Orca Network, Toki TV, Friends of Lime Kiln Society and others, will host Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut: A Gathering of Hearts on Sunday afternoon, at the place where nearly all of the Southern Resident Orca population gathered the day before and the day of Sk’aliCh’elh-tenaut/Tokitae’s death. The event, which will include ceremony, community, and healing to observe the anniversary, is also meant to be a family reunion. The Samish and Lummi peoples, among other indigenous peoples of the Salish Sea, recognize the orcas as their “relatives beneath the waves.” James and Morris will lead the ceremonies, including a sacred salmon ceremony led by Rosie James, after which participants are invited to share their own words.
Toki, as she is affectionately remembered by many, was captured in Penn Cove on Whidbey Island on August 8, 1970. She died just as significant progress had been made in the decades-long efforts to return her to her home waters in the Salish Sea. Orca Network’s Toki’s Legacy Program celebrates her courageous spirit, her keen intelligence, her engaging personality, and her gentle nature as seen by her willingness to build trusting, insightful and playful friendships with her human companions while enduring decades of stressful, heartbreaking conditions. The program seeks also to promote actions to support Tokitae’s remaining family, the endangered Southern Resident Orcas, who are threatened by lack of Chinook salmon, pollution, and vessel impacts.
“Toki was always a Southern Resident orca, and part of their unique cultural tradition,” said Howard Garrett, co-founder and board chair of Orca Network.
The event is scheduled from 1 – 4 p.m., Sunday, Aug. 18, and the public is welcome. Participants are asked to bring camp chairs, water bottles, talents to share (singing, poetry, music, etc.), and good intentions for this year’s Gathering of Hearts. Due to limited available parking, arriving via carpool or transit is highly encouraged. San Juan Transit is offering a special charter bus for a discounted rate of $10 for the round trip between Friday Harbor and Lime Kiln State Park. The bus will depart from the Memorial Park traffic circle on Front Street in Friday Harbor at 11:00 am and 12:00 pm, with a stop at the public parking lot on Spring Street. Return trips from Lime Kiln will run at 3:00 pm and 5:00 pm. TokiTV will be live-streaming the event at https://www.youtube.com/@TokiTV2022.to the global community that Toki has connected. Please direct any questions to info@orcanetwork.org. More information can be found on our website at OrcaNetwork.org.
