Now You Know Me tells of a journey of understanding between two old friends who grew up in different worlds in the same small town of Powell River, BC, on traditional Tla’amin land. Joe Gallagher, who is Tla’amin, and John Matterson, who is white, were friends as teenagers but went their separate ways before reconnecting 35 years later and truly getting to know each other.
As John began to listen more deeply to Joe’s history, they journeyed together through the historic events and attitudes that deeply wounded the Tla’amin and their way of life. With each conversation, John’s understanding of Joe’s life and recognition of his own unearned advantages and blind participation in racism became clearer.
In their illuminating dialogue in Now You Know Me, we learn what it took for Joe to straddle two worlds while battling racism, a traumatic childhood, and his father’s warning that he couldn’t succeed in a white world without working twice as hard. Despite ongoing suffering from multigenerational harms, Joe garnered broad respect on his way to becoming CEO of a groundbreaking Indigenous-led health organization, bringing hope and a collaborative spirit to a revolution in health and wellness for BC First Nations.
Today, John is committed to ongoing learning and allyship, while Joe is called on by First Nations leaders as well as senior leaders in health and government as an able navigator of the movement toward Truth and Reconciliation.