The face of Mt. Cheam known as “Lhilheqey” to the Stó:lō people was hidden by clouds as a chartered bus zoomed by on National Indigenous Peoples Day 2023.
A busload of people were listening to Stó:lō historian Sonny McHalsie’s voice over the microphone.
“I’ll be telling you some of our Sxwōxwiyám today.”
McHalsie was recounting the story of Lhilheqey, a woman transformed into the mountain by Xexa:ls, along with her daughters, and given the responsibility for watching over her people in the valley.
“The Sxwōxwiyám are stories from long ago, as the elders explain it, a time when the world was mixed up, when animals and people could talk to one another, and transform into one another.”
McHalsie was leading a Stó:lō place-name tour, organized by the Chilliwack Chamber of Commerce for the ‘Indigenous Education’ program with Ch’illiwack Tourism, and presenting partner Prospera Credit Union.
The 732 place names he’s documented carry the knowledge that has been passed from generation to generation, for thousands of years. For non-Sto:lo, these tours across the territories open up a window into the holistic world view of the Sto:lo.
One of the elements of it is the belief that ancestors’ spirits dwell in the rocks, rivers, mountains and creatures.
The Stó:lō people’s unique relationship with the land comes into sharp focus with tales of supernatural beings with glowing eyes, of sacred bathing areas, wind-dry salmon sites, transformation lore, and so much more.
McHalsie is asked at one point what he hopes the hundreds of people who’ve taken his tours will retain from all the incredibly detailed stories, facts, and place names he reels off in Halq’eméylem, as taught to him by several elders and knowledge keepers.
In response he points out how Indigenous people “weren’t even considered people” back when the colony of British Columbia was being established in 1858, and how long after that the terrible, dehumanizing stigma has remained.
”So they actually felt this was terra nullius,” McHalsie said, as he stood on the site of his great-great-grandfather’s pit house at the Tel Tiyt campsite, near Hope.
The legal doctrine of terra nullius means ‘empty or vacant land’ in Latin and was used along with Doctrine of Discovery by colonial powers to justify taking over possession of First Nations lands.
“They didn’t even consider us to be people. We were actually viewed as wild, like animals of the forest,” said McHalsie.
The information he shares comes from his work as a historian and cultural advisor with the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre. In recognition of his efforts and contributions, he received an honorary Doctor of Laws degree from the University of the Fraser Valley on June 14.
“Because the actual first word they had for us was ‘savage’, from the French word sauvage, that means wild of the forest, right? So we were considered animals and that stigma was still there during the time of the residential schools.”
The desire to undo that damage, and support reconciliation with Indigenous peoples is part of why it is so important to understand something about the culture and history of the land from a Stó:lō lens.
The tour was an engaging way for chamber members and business leaders to spend National Indigenous Peoples Day, as tour organizers were cognizant of the fact that “education is one of the many paths to reconciliation,” as the invitation noted.
McHalsie mentioned a documentary film he saw about 20 years ago on the American residential school system.
“They talked about bringing the kids to school in the back of a cattle truck, not on a bus, but in a cattle truck. So treated like animals, right?”
McHalsie said “being patriotic” at that time, he figured something so horrendous could only have happened in the U.S. and not here.
“But it did happen here,” McHalsie said, remembering how Grand Chief Clarence Pennier, who hired him to work as a researchers for the Stó:lō Tribal Council 38 years ago, told him how the cattle truck had been driven into the communities of Scowlitz and Chehalis to transport kids to St. Mary’s Residential School.
“So still being treated like treated like animals,” he noted.
Denise Praill, CEO of Canuck Place Children’s Hospice, said the entire cultural tour experience was “really impactful.”’
Praill said she decided it was really important for herself and two members of her team to take the tour learn about the communities they serve, as they have two hospice locations in Vancouver, and Abbotsford.
From the Abbotsford location of Canuck Place, they serve about 46 per cent of the children in the province that live in the Fraser Valley region.
“So Chilliwack is part of that generous community that allows us to operate,” Praill said.
“When I think about what I learned today, I was born in Vancouver, I was raised here, I’ve driven these highways and not really understood the significance of the landmarks and the villages. And so that’s what they really filled in for me in terms of the unknown.
“So I think as a settler, I’m learning about the land. So it’s been really impactful just to understand where the village is located, how much wisdom is in these stories and the traditions that are shared with us.
“So I’m incredibly grateful for the opportunity and like I said, it’s just been a terrific way to spend the day.”
RELATED: Bad Rock tours from a Stó:lō lens
Angela Ostrikoff of Prospera Credit Union said she found the place-names tour to be “mind blowing on so many levels.”
“The level of knowledge that Sonny has is so deep. I don’t think I have that level of knowledge on anything to talk on that level that deeply with that much reverence, respect and connectivity to how it all connects.
”It was incredible,” said Ostrikoff. “And I would recommend the tour to anyone who wants to deepen their knowledge of what’s happened here on this land, and continues to happen. It was amazing.”
RELATED: Sonny McHalsie earns honorary degree from UFV
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