Sylvia Olsen


Sylvia Olsen is a Canadian writer and public speaker.

Biography

Olsen was born and raised in a middle-class family in Victoria, British Columbia.
In 1972, Olsen married Carl, who is Coast Salish, and moved to Tsartlip First Nation, where she lived for 35 years. During her time in Tsartlip, she raised her three children, began a few small businesses, and began working in the Tsartlip housing department, a passion that led to a number of career developments later on. Also during this time, she began questioning the differences between her privileged upbringing at those of First Nation Canadians. These questions and life experiences have greatly shaped her art and academic endeavours. In 1996 Sylvia achieved a PHd from the University of Victoria. Her dissertation was on the history of on-reserve housing programs in Canada.
Later, Olsen's family adopted another son from Brazil, and her children have bore her eight grandchildren, most of whom live in Tsarlip.
Olsen married her current husband, Tex McLeod, when she was 63. They live in North Saanich on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, just north of Tsartlip.

Career

Olsen has been a founding member at a number of housing organizations for Canadian First Nations communities, including the First Nations Housing & Infrastructure Council for British Columbia. She was also a member of the Assembly of First Nations Chiefs Committee on Housing & Infrastructure.
She also "helped develop the curriculum for and teaches the First Nations Housing Management Certificate Program at Vancouver Island University."

Publications

Children's books

No Time to Say Goodbye: Children's Stories of Kuper Island Residential School, with Rita Morris and Ann Sam Catching Spring Murphy and Mousetrap Yetsa's Sweater Which Way Should I Go?, with Ron Martin, illustrated by Kasia Charko A Different Game Sebastian Sasquatch, illustrated by Kasia Charko Son Who Returns, with Gary Robinson Neekah's Knitting Needles, with Odelia Smith, illustrated by Sheena Lott

Young adult novels

The Girl with a Baby White Girl Just Ask Us Yellow Line Middle Row Counting on Hope Molly's Promise Breathing Fire, with Sarah Yi-Mei Tsiang

Nonfiction

Working with Wool: A Coast Salish Legacy and the Cowichan Sweater knitting stories life cycle of a LIE Growing Up Elizabeth May: The Making of an Activist, with Cate May Burton
  • ''Unravelling Canada: A Knitting Odyssey''