I want to give thanks and recognition and acknowledge to my Squamish dad James Nahanee, (sxaaltwx), and my Cowichan mother freda (menathelwet) for all their teachings and for telling me this story when i was a young adult. And for making sure that we know who we are and were we come from
For millennia the Skwxwú7mesh people have lived in deep connection to the sea, the rivers, forests, and mountains of our traditional territory, with place names often reflecting the importance of the land. These two placenames are from our Skwxwú7mesh language, called sníchim, which is a distinct language from our neighboring 1st Nations.
Last Skwxwu7mesh residents of Chekwelhp
– Circa ?
Residents in the middle are aunt sally and her husband how sound Jim?
Said to have left in around 1920
The man on the far right is my great grand father William Nahanee ( Nahinu?) half hawaiian and was skwxwu7meslh to; also known to be an english interpreter back in the day .
The Skwxwú7mesh village site of Ch’kw’elhp is located at Gibsons Harbour (Armour Beach) and the village site of Scheṅk is located next to Gibsons Creek. (See Skwxwú7mesh Land Use Map attached.)
The meaning of the name of the ancient village of Ch’kw’elhp relates to the story of a salt water hunter and his final resting place. And according to our late Skwxwú7mesh Elder, Chief Louis Miranda (Sxaaltxw t) Scheṅk refers to ‘ a rock that was situated in the middle of the village’. From another highly respected late Elder, Chief August Jack (Xatsalánexw t) the rock is ‘a fellow standing up and watching-out, leaning against a big rock.’
Traditionally an oral culture, with stories and ceremonies passed down through the generations, an origin story related to these village sites contains important heritage references and information. These two sentinal villages were major sea lion harvesting areas and the story relates to that. This story is of two brothers, Ts’ekánchtn t and Sxeľáltn t and the highly respected traditions of the spiritual ceremony Sxwáyxwey. With the use of one of the brother’s supernatural ritualist power his brother and family are drawn away to make the historic connection between the Skwxwú7mesh, the South Vancouver Island territories. This story of ‘first ancestors’ is well known amongst our people, most especially to those of direct descent from the original two brothers. There are descendants to this day and over time number in the thousands.
This is a very old story, how old is not particularly known but physical evidence of stone artifacts and clam middens give us an idea of how long the Skwxwú7mesh have occupied this area. Stone tools belonging and found in and around Ch’kw’elhp and Scheṅk been dated upwards of 8,000 – 10,000 years before present day, representing a continuous and long-term occupation of the region. As well, established shell middens at a Hopkins landing site measure 700 meters by 20 meters and apporoximatly 2 meters deep. This evidences that both village sites are important heritage sites to this day.
The following is a shortened version of the creation story:
A Skwxwú7mesh story is told of two brothers who descended from the sky, one after the other, to a place called Ch’kw’elhp (Gibsons Landing). One of these brothers brought with him a sxwáyxwey ceremonial mask and danced on the roof of his brother’s house. A disagreement ensued and it was suggested that the second brother move to the other side of what is now called Gibsons Creek and so the brothers separated, obtained wives, and produced large families. This increased the population of Ch’kw’elhp (Gibsons Landing) and created a drain on the sea lion resource there, which was a major and an important part of the people’s diet. So the brother who descended first schemed how to rid himself of his brother. To do so he imbued a carved wooden sea lion with special powers and instructed it to tow his brother out into the strait (Strait of Georgia). Sure enough when the brother harpooned the wooden animal it towed him and his family away across the Strait to Vancouver Island’s Helkomelem speaking people; So this is how the ceremonial mask traveled across to the ‘Island’. Our Helkomelem speaking relatives as mentioned in the story include the descendants of Sxeláltn t at Nanoose Bay, and the Penelekuts at Kuper Island.
(abridged from the story told by Louis Miranda (Sxaaltxw t) in the unpublished Squamish Land Use and Occupancy)
picture above depicts the journey of the supernatural sea lion as it dragged away the residents of the villiage of schenk
Physical Heritage Sites
Even though they don’t exist now, our story of creation starts with the longhouse. These were the permenant homes of our people and indicators of long term residence. In this creation story, the first brother Tsekánchtn t at Ch’kw’elhp (Gibsons Landing) was in his tl’áktaxn laṁ when he became aware of someone dancing on his roof. He then tells his brother to build his home on the other side of the creek. Sxeláltn t does so which becomes Scheṅk the locale of which is the opposite side of Gibson’s Creek. Other physical heritage sites to consider include the archeologically recorded clam midden, the ancient artifacts found and recorded in and around Gibsons Landing. Along with the rock landmarks, creeks, lakes, and mountains; all of this plays and important part in the history of and the spiritual significance of the privileged ceremonial life of the Skwxwú7mesh still being carried in memory and lifeways today.
Cultural and Spiritual Heritage
The sxwáyxwey ceremonial mask came to the Skwxwú7mesh at Ch’kw’elhp through Sxeláltn t. These masks with strict rules of usage applied only to the line of descent play an integral role in Coast Salish culture. The ceremony marks right of passage events, weddings, funeral rites, memorial gatherings and the handing down of ancestral names. It is important to note that the ancestral names are personal names handed down for generations and so are being carried by descedants of the two brothers named here even today. The Chieftainship of the Gibsons area is still being carried today. These roles and names tie us to land of our ancestors.
Other Cultural and Spiritual Heritage Connections
The spiritual life of burial sites, sites for the ceremony of prayer and feeding our ancestors, the ways to the knowledge of supernatural power and healing practices are all embedded in our relationship to this land. Sxaaltxw known now as Shelter Island (sited on the map below) is the burial site of (S)iyínkwu, in the historical record the head-man of Ch’kw’elhp 1846, and his infant daughter.
Information from the Sunshine Coast Museum and Archives documents mentions that an outbreak of smallpox in 1862 had greatly reduced the local Indigenous population to less than 200 people who were either immune or vaccinated. It is therefore not surprising that this led to the desertion of the village of Ch’kw’elhp. The excerpt following is from the Archive records:
According to Lester Peterson, as written in The Gibsons Landing Story:
‘At Gibsons the last outbreak of smallpox led to the desertion of Ch’kw’elhp village. The late Fred Soames said that as a child he witnessed from the family home the departure of the entire village. Years later Fred Soames related, ‘A canoe with a single paddler made its way down the Sound. As it passed by the Soames property, this lone traveler called out, asking if the epidemic was over. A few families made use of the site until about 1925.’
In the 1876 Census the Skwxwú7mesh Nation residents at Ch’kw’elhp and Scheṅk were:
Xachálh t, well known to early European settlers as Dr Johnson: Dr Johson was an Indian doctor and medicine man who knew plant remedies. He was known to offer them to locals in need. There may have been remains that were relocated during the times when land was being claimed by the Crown. The Skwxwú7mesh were directed to collect the remains. His relatives were laid to rest of the Twin Islands though be brought the bones back and buried them at the mouth of Soames Creek and surrounded the area with a fence. He was observed by settlers in ceremony providing food through fire and prayer to his ancestors in the area believed to be the burial site.
(S)iyínkwu t also known as Sxaaltxw t and his wife
↑his brother Tiyáxaltxw t known as Howe Sound Jim and his wife Syexwáliya t known as Aunt Sally
Télsntsut t and his wife Xelímilh t
Ts’tsimchtn t known as Jim Dick and his wife, Tselíxwelut t
Ch’eskínxn known as Harry Disken and his wife Mariah (daughter of Syexwáliya).
In 1914/5, Louis Miranda and Andy Natrall took Howe Sound Jim, by then an old man, to Stá7mes to live, where he later died. Howe Sound Jim was the last to reside at the old village site of Ch’kw’elhp.
Louis Miranda was a descendant of (S)iyínkwu. Louis’ mother Yiks was his neice. He was chosen to carry the Chieftainship of Ch’kw’elhp which he did into old age. He had passed that responsibility to his grandnephew the late Chief Philip Joe who then passed it down to his daughter Chief Leanne Lacket Joe.
Though there is no current resident Skwxwú7mesh population today at the Ch’kw’elhp and Scheṅk village sites our people remain strong in our connection through the knowledge, history and ancestry that binds us to this home since time immemorial.
above is a picture of my great great grandmother haxten, aka. harriet george, she was married to Sxalltxw my great great grandfather, and how my family are descendants of the ancestors and the first men of chekwelhp.
References
Phd Thesis – R. Reimer/Yumks McMaster – Anthropology
THE MOUTAINS AND ROCKS ARE FOREVER: LITHICS AND LANDSCAPES OF SKWXWU7MESH UXWUMIXW
The Skwxwú7mesh Nation Land Use and Occupancy study accumulated for the purpose of the protection of lands occupied and spiritual and cultural practices used by Skwxwú7mesh people for millennia. Accumulated information from personal recollections of Elders, past and present, oral and written. 1986. Unpublished.
Lester Peterson Story of Gibsons Landing
Sunshine Museum and Archives.
Information accumulated for the Gibsons Heritage Society by Frances Nahanee (Katxamat) 11/2024, and revised cultural information and spelling of traditional place and ancestral names by our respected elder Vanessa Campbell (lyal)
