Born in New Westminister, Karie Garnier started to appreciate indigenous elders in 1982 when his prolonged heart disease was completely cured, thanks to the time-honored wisdom of the Cherokee elder Rolling Thunder of Nevada. In gratitude, he premiered his photographic exhibit of the elders at Expo 86 and later self-published Our Elders Speak: A Tribute to Native Elders (1990 $32.50 ISBN 09695047-O-5), a collection of portraits and quotations of 36 elders. In 1990 he also incorporated the Our Elders Speak Wisdom Society in B.C. The UNESCO-endorsed photographer has since documented prehistoric burial jars at numerous locations on Fuga Island, his wife Violeta's ancestral home in the northern tip of the Philippines. Karie created an award-winning Fuga Island Web Site and has produced a series of films about Fuga and its people. In 2004 he founded Friends Of Fuga, an international organization dedicated to the 2000 Ilocanos on Fuga.

[BCBW 2004] "First Nations" "Photography"