Sinixt Canoe Journey (Nelson Stop) runs rapids of City Hall in financial request
By Timothy Schafer Local Journalism Initiative Reporter
A decision to financially support the Nelson segment of the Sinixt Canoe Journey in June had to run through the rapids of policy, tradition and staff recommendation in order to paddle its way to calmer waters.
A local Sinixt Canoe Journey (Nelson Stop) working group request — formed in order to support the Sinixt Upper Columbia Canoe Journey, Salmon Ceremony and Language Camp — of a donation of $3,000 from the City to support coordination and implementation of the event did receive approval from council, but not without some resistance.
A city staff report noted that approving the request would result in the City incurring an unbudgeted expenditure, and that city council did not have a grant-in-aid policy and did not typically entertain one-off funding requests.
The report from the manager of Regulatory Services at City Hall recommended council “deny the request and suggest applying under the next CIP grant funding cycle for 2024 events.”
The scope of the event did not fall under “typical” council policy in regards to funding, said Coun. Leslie Payne.
“I feel that it is extremely important for us to emphasize the fact that this is not a one-off … but a foundational part of what we do,” she said.
She called for a line item to be added in the City’s operating budget for reconciliation, to adequately resource activities and events around those issues. If there is not such a line item, she iterated, it needed to become part of the coming strategic planning process and make it a budget line item.
“It is just a stronger commitment to this, as a municipality, that we need to be doing,” Payne said.
Coun. Jesse Peneiro spoke against the motion to approve the request.
In regards to reconciliation, the Province of B.C. has recognized the “representation of this body as a First Nation,” said Coun. Keith Page.
“We need to tread incredibly lightly … but not so as to we would do nothing in reinforcing those conversations that are happening,” he said. “The colonial adaptation that separated these people in the first place is not something we should be leaning on now to create additional separation and to perpetuate that separation.”
A look back
In June 2022 an event was held in Lakeside Park where over 100 Sinixt people gathered and celebrated the 2021 Supreme Court case which recognized that the Sinixt have inherent rights to hunt on their ancestral lands in Canada.
After the event, a 272-kilometre canoe journey began in Revelstoke and finished with a salmon ceremony at Kettle Falls, Wash. At the same time, a mural by Sinixt artist Ric Gendron was unveiled on the side of the Pharmasave building.
This year, the Sinixt are again holding an event in Nelson in June that will coincide with a canoe journey and salmon ceremony. Members of the community including the executive directors of The Capitol Theatre and Nelson and District Arts Council have come together to form a Working Group to support the event coordination and planning.
Supporting the journey
“The journey, which will take place in June 2023, is an assertion of the inherent belief that Indigenous peoples of the region are stewards of the river and of salmon — considered to be one of their first foods — and that their language and culture is a vital part of this connection.
“This event presents an opportunity for life-changing participation among the (Sinixt) Snayckstx/ Arrow Lakes and Colville people (Snʕayckstx and Sxwyʔiłp) to reconnect to their language and the traditional territories and waterways of their people.
“The Salmon Ceremony was a traditional and spiritual way of addressing the needs of the people and the natural environment. This may be one of the most important moments in history to give voice to the Indigenous community so that we can hear and be a part of a voice that speaks to the relationship with and responsibility to the land, waters and natural environment that we must share.
“Last year’s journey saw travel from both the head waters of the Columbia River at Revelstoke, and Two Rivers, Washington on the Spokane Indian Reservation, over a span 272 linear miles, with both legs of the journey meeting at Kettle Falls Fishery and Salmon Ceremony Site.
“The event included a traditional ‘giveaway’ and ‘community feast in honour and respect of the salmon and the prayer for their safe return up the Columbia River.
“The ceremony hosted roughly 300 people from tribes in both Canada and the United States and was generously supported by countless organizations in the community.”
Source: Sydney Black, Stephanie Fischer, Nelson Stop working group letter to council
