The Skeena
The Cowichan sweater is an iconic staple in many a West Coaster’s wardrobe. Now, a new documentary is exploring the fascinating story behind this garment’s long history that originates from coastal Indigenous Nations.
“This documentary will teach people about (the weavers) and about the history of the sweaters. They each are very unique and no two sweaters are alike, and that’s the beauty of them. They’re genuinely works of art.”
The Cowichan Sweater, Our Knitted Legacy
The Cowichan Sweater, Our Knitted Legacy, now streaming on CBC Gem, looks at the artisanal tradition of knitting Cowichan sweaters in Cowichan (Quw’utsun) and Saanich (W̱SÁNEĆ) communities on Vancouver Island.
The film was directed by an up-and-coming Cowichan filmmaker, Mary Galloway, with an all-Indigenous crew. “We’ve always been weavers in the Salish territory, and it evolved into knitting,” said Galloway to the CBC, noting the tradition has been part of Cowichan culture for over a century.
“This documentary will teach people about (the weavers) and about the history of the sweaters. They each are very unique, and no two sweaters are alike, and that’s the beauty of them. They’re genuinely works of art.”
“These sweaters represent Salish women’s roles and responsibilities as knowledge carriers, as caretakers of their families and nations, and the strong economic contribution of women in Salish society today and since time immemorial.”
The Cowichan Sweater, Our Knitted Legacy
The Cowichan Knitted Legacy
“Our Salish knitters knit us together with our elders, with our ancestors,” film producer Rosie Johnnie-Mills says at the beginning of the film. “They’re so important, so innovative, so loving.”
The sweaters were originally made by weaving goat’s wool and Salish woolly dog wool, but after settlers arrived and introduced sheep and knitting needles to Salish peoples, they were knitted from sheep’s wool. Galloway interviews 20 contemporary Salish weavers in the documentary, like Cowichan elders May Sam and Sarah Modeste, who have been keeping the Cowichan knitting tradition alive.
“These sweaters represent Salish women’s roles and responsibilities as knowledge carriers, as caretakers of their families and nations, and the strong economic contribution of women in Salish society today and since time immemorial,” explains the text at the beginning of the documentary.
The filmmaker also has a special personal connection to the garment: her late grandfather, Chief Dennis Alphonse, always wore a Cowichan sweater. “He was on Chief and Council for over 40 years in our nation, and a lot of the photos I have, he’s wearing this Cowichan sweater,” she said to the CBC.
In the film, we see Galloway track down the original knitting pattern of her grandfather’s sweater. Cowichan elders recreate it, knitting her an identical garment and gifting it to her in an emotional exchange as she carries on the family tradition.
Tradition Under Threat
“Cowichan sweaters are our path forward, in so many ways,” says Cowichan community member Ron Rice in the documentary. Yet the Cowichan knitting tradition is struggling to survive in a world of corporate fast fashion.
“It’s a practice that has been dying out for quite a while, but hopefully this documentary will help bring more excitement back into the community and have our youth get more interest in creating the sweaters and making them learn the practice.”
Mary Galloway
Wool has become exorbitantly expensive and hard to access, especially after many Vancouver Island wool mills have gone out of business in recent years. The sweaters are also at risk of cultural appropriation because big retailers copy traditional Cowichan designs and sell them at wholesale prices.
Appropriation has become such a problem that there are standards set by the Cowichan Tribes for what constitutes a “Genuine Cowichan sweater.” The garment must be hand-knit on raw, unprocessed wool by a member of the Coast Salish Nation “in accordance with traditional tribal methods.”
Galloway hopes the public sees her film and is encouraged to purchase authentic Cowichan sweaters from the original Coast Salish knitters. “It’s a practice that has been dying out for quite a while, but hopefully, this documentary will help bring more excitement back into the community and have our youth get more interest in creating the sweaters and making them learn the practice,” she said in the article marking the release of the documentary on CBC’s platform.
The director is also doing a giveaway to celebrate the release of the film. Once you watch it, tag your friends on social media to enter via Mary Galloway’s Instagram, and you can win Cowichan knitted garments and more. The Cowichan Sweater, Our Knitted Legacy is available to stream for free now on CBC Gem.
