Nimh Bell

Nimh was born in Appin, Scotland, where her mother’s family had lived for centuries. Her grandmother was an avid culture warrior, working to revive Scottish Highlands culture, and languages. Much to her dismay, her granddaughter was given her father’s surname, Bell. Nimh lived in Scotland for the first part of her life, under the careful eye of her grandmother, who insisted on speaking only Scots Gaelic with Nimh, teaching her the songs and history and culture of the Highland Scots, and the history of their clan, the Stewarts. When Nimh was 8, her dad got a job on Vancouver Island, British Columbia, and the family moved there. Nimh continued to go and live with her grandmother every summer until she was 13.

Nimh’s father was a professional photographer before anything else and sold much of his photography to National Geographic, and released a photo book surrounding climate change and its effects on earth. But photography only paid so well, and he often worked other small jobs, like landscaping and contracting, to keep the family going. Nimh’s mom was a grocery market manager in Scotland, and took a job as a regional manager for a health food chain when they moved to Canada. The family was very middle class and her parents worked to give them a warm home and full bellies.

In Nimh’s first few months at a Canadian school, she witnessed a racist incident when they techer asked who were immigrants. Nimh, having only just arrived, raised her hand. A Chinese-Canadian boy did not and the class yelled at them both for it, seeing him as the immigrant despite his family being in Canada for seven generations. The boy, Daniel, and Nimh became best friends, and stayed friends throughout their life.

When Nimh was 9, her little sister Avalon was born, and Nimh stepped in to be the loving big sister, imparting much of the stories and songs her grandmother had taught her onto her sister. Nimh trained hard as a competitive Highland Dancer, winning competition on the provincial, national, and international levels, working up to the senior category by the time she was 12.

When Nimh was 12, the family officially became Canadian citizens.

Nimh got her first job when she was 13. She was hired as a busser at a small restaurant. The employer specialized in hiring young people by working with a provincial program to give them jobs where they can build skills and a resume. She worked her way up through that restaurant until she graduated high school. In that time she worked as a busser, a hostess, a dish washer, an expeditor, and in the kitchens. When she was 17, in her last year of high school, she trained as support staff manager to work with her boss and the new young employees coming up in the restaurant. When she was 14, she started picking up second jobs here and there, and worked three jobs most summers. When she was 14, she was a cashier at Tim Horton’s, fifteen and sixteen she worked as a reception desk agent at a hotel, and when she was 17 she got a job as an administrator in an office. For the office job, she worked with her high school to make it a co-op credit and was able to pick up two extra shifts there during the week. During her summers, she also worked for her Highland dance studio’s summer camps, arranging her shifts around it.

When Nimh was sixteen, she met Isaiah Beddow, who transferred to her high school when his family moved down island. The two instantly had a connection, and started dating only a couple months after meeting. Isaiah loved how hard working Nimh was. They were both avid outdoorsmen and learned to rock climb and white river kayak together.

In Nimh’s last year of High School, Avalon was accepted into an elite sports training academy, on partial scholarship. The tuition was extremely high and their parents were going to break the news that Avalon wouldn’t be able to go because they wanted Nimh to go to university. Nimh stepped in and told them she had been working for so long and had money saved up, and would keep working and put herself through her degree. She wanted to see her little sister flourish and wanted Avalon to be able to take that opportunity. Her parents moved up island to be closer to Avalon and Avalon’s new school, and Nimh moved into the least expensive of the university residences. There, she met Brina, who became one of her best friends. Together, they started a plant collection, slowly growing to nearly fill their dorm, and later their apartment.

Nimh went into a joint honours degree in Politics and Social Work, with a focus on education policy and children’s’ rights.

Nimh and Isaiah continued their relationship long-distance, since he got an athletic scholarship to the University of Washington. Because Nimh worked two jobs full time, on top of school, Isaiah would come back and stay with her every two weeks. They kept on this way through most of their university, Nimh and Brina getting an apartment together near campus. Eventually Nimh went down to one job for a few months, and was able to go down and visit Isaiah a few times in their third year as well. On one of the weekend Isaiah was supposed to come visit, he called and told her he didn’t want to be in a long distance relationship anymore and ended their nearly six-year relationship.

Brina helped Nimh survive the heartbreak as they navigated their final year of undergrad, and they had to decide what to do from there. Both of them applied and were accepted to the one year master’s program of Public Administration. When that was finished, the girls, with broken hearts, parted ways, Brina leaving for Ottawa to work in national policy, and Amir wanted to look at the provincial legislature.

Working up all her courage and clutching a copy of her impressive resume, Nimh walked into the office of Oliver Hamilton, the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly’s and applied for the opening of Chief of Staff he had been advertising. After a nearly two-hour long interview, she was hired right on the spot. She celebrated on FaceTime with Brina and a mini bottle of champagne. She loved the job, and became good friends with her boss.

A year into her job as Chief of Staff of the Speaker of the Legislative Assembly’s office, Nimh realized she was making really good money and invested in a house for herself. Her love of plants followed her into the house, filling almost every corner of her home with greenery and flowers. She also made the decision to get her Foster Care license, something that for two years had felt like something she was meant to do. When she finished her courses, she put down that she was willing to take boys and girls over the age of ten. Six weeks later, her first placement came into her home. (first placement)

Parker was her second placement. He was fourteen when he was placed with her, which she found so strange since she was only nine years older than him. But they got along really well, and Parker started to heal. Nine months into living with her, he was sent back to be with his mom. While it was mostly happy, he stayed closer to Nimh than he was his birth mom, and she kept calling her son.

Her third placement was a twelve-year-old boy named Jackson. She felt a special connection to Jackson, since he was just a couple years younger than Avalon. Just under a year after he was placed with her, the courts made a special case allowance for her to adopt Jackson, and he officially became her son. Nimh made sure to find black role models she could include in Jackson’s life, starting with her boss Oliver, and the network grew, making sure her son was loved by many people. Her parents were surprised that she adopted him when she was so young, but he became a fast staple in their family and they loved being his grandparents.

Jackson loved to hike

A few months after he was adopted, Nimh and Jackson got involved in the case of a missing First Nations girl,, who had been friends with Jackson in the home he was in before Nimh. had aged out but called Jackson every week to say hello. When she stopped calling, Nimh went out of her way to try and find her, filing a police report. When a search went out for, Nimh went, and Jackson insisted on going with her. After a few hours of searching, they found her, dead near the highway, and it broke Nimh’s heart. She had to take a few days off from work for both herself and to comfort her son.