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Syilx

{{Short description|First Nations and Native American people}}

{{ethnic group

|group=Okanagan

|image=File:Okanagan Family Portrait.JPg

|caption= Okanagan (Syilx) members, c. 1918. Back Left: Marriette Gregoire. Back Center: Joe Abel. Back Right: Tommy Gregoire. Left: Celestine Lewis (child). Center: Millie Williams. Right: Mary Abel (toddler).

|poptime=

|popplace=Canada (British Columbia),
United States (Washington)

|rels=

|langs=English, Okanagan (n̓səl̓xcin)

|related=Colville, Sanpoil, Nespelem, Sinixt, Wenatchi, Entiat, Methow, Palus, Sinkiuse-Columbia, and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's band

}}

The Syilx ({{IPA|sal|sjilx}}) people, also known as the Okanagan, Suknaqinx, or Okinagan people, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the Canada–US boundary in Washington state and unceded British Columbia in the Okanagan Country region.{{Cite journal |last=Lozar |first=Patrick |date=2018-07-01 |title="My Home Is on Both Sides": Indigenous Communities and the US-Canadian Border on the Columbia Plateau, 1880s–1910s |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1215/00141801-4451374 |journal=Ethnohistory |volume=65 |issue=3 |pages=391–415 |doi=10.1215/00141801-4451374 |issn=0014-1801|url-access=subscription }} They are part of the Interior Salish ethnological and linguistic grouping.{{Cite journal |last1=Noonan |first1=Michael |last2=Mattina |first2=Anthony |date=June 1989 |title=Colville-Okanagan Dictionary |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/415365 |journal=Language |volume=65 |issue=2 |pages=433 |doi=10.2307/415365 |jstor=415365 |issn=0097-8507|url-access=subscription }}{{Cite journal |last=Peacock |first=Sandra L. |date=February 2008 |title=From complex to simple: balsamroot, inulin, and the chemistry of traditional Interior Salish pit-cooking technologyThis paper was submitted for the Special Issue on Ethnobotany, inspired by the Ethnobotany Symposium organized by Alain Cuerrier, Montréal Botanical Garden, and held in Montréal at the 2006 annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association/l'Association Botanique du Canada. |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1139/b07-111 |journal=Botany |volume=86 |issue=2 |pages=116–128 |doi=10.1139/b07-111 |issn=1916-2790|url-access=subscription }} The Okanagan are closely related to the Spokan, Sinixt, Nez Perce, Pend Oreille, Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamux peoples of the same Northwest Plateau region.

History

At the height of Okanagan Syilx culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The Syilx employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in the winter months, they lived in semi-permanent villages of kekulis, a type of pithouse.{{cite book

| title = Okanagan Geology

| editor-first = Murray A. Roed

| editor-last = John D. Greenough

| isbn = 0-9699795-2-5

| publisher = Kelowna Geology Committee

| date = 2004

| pages = 71–83

}} In Nsyilxcn pit house is q̓ʷc̓iʔ.{{Cite web |title=English - Cv-Ok |url=https://meltr.org/CvDict/index-english/index.htm |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=meltr.org}}

When the Oregon Treaty partitioned the Pacific Northwest in 1846, the portion of the tribe remaining in what became Washington Territory reorganized under Chief Tonasket as a separate group from the majority of the Syilx, whose communities remain in Canada. The Okanagan Tribal Alliance, however, incorporates the American branch of the Syilx. The latter are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville, a multi-tribal government in Washington state.{{Cite journal |last1=Dulic |first1=Aleksandra |last2=Thorogood |first2=Miles |last3=Sam |first3=Marlowe |last4=Correia |first4=Maria |last5=Alexis |first5=Sarah |last6=Armstrong |first6=Jeanette |date=2023-11-20 |title=Okanagan Waterways Past, Present and Future: Approaching Sustainability through Immersive Museum Exhibition |journal=Sustainability |volume=15 |issue=22 |pages=16109 |doi=10.3390/su152216109 |doi-access=free |bibcode=2023Sust...1516109D |issn=2071-1050|hdl=2429/86933 |hdl-access=free }}{{Cite journal |last=Gooding |first=Susan Staiger |date=1994 |title=Place, Race, and Names: Layered Identities in United States v. Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Plaintiff-Intervenor |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.2307/3054027 |journal=Law & Society Review |volume=28 |issue=5 |pages=1181–1229 |doi=10.2307/3054027 |jstor=3054027 |issn=0023-9216|url-access=subscription }}

The bounds of Syilx territory are roughly the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Okanagan River, plus the basin of the Similkameen River to the west of the Okanagan valley, and some of the uppermost valley of the Nicola River. The various Syilx communities in British Columbia and Washington form the Okanagan Nation Alliance, a border-spanning organization which includes American-side Syilx residents in the Colville Indian Reservation, where the Syilx are sometimes known as Colvilles.{{Cite journal |last=Terbasket |first=Pauline |date=2019-08-25 |title=Syilx Perspective on Original Foods: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow |journal=Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development |pages=1–6 |doi=10.5304/jafscd.2019.091.016 |issn=2152-0801|doi-access=free }}

The Upper Nicola Indian Band, a Syilx group of the Nicola Valley, which was at the northwestern perimeter of Okanagan territory, are known in their dialect as the Spaxomin, and are joint members in a historic alliance with neighbouring communities of the Nlaka'pamux in the region known as the Nicola Country, which is named after the 19th-century chief who founded the alliance, Nicola. This alliance today is manifested in the Nicola Tribal Association.{{Cite journal |last=Nicholas |first=George P. |date=2006 |title=Decolonizing the Archaeological Landscape: The Practice and Politics of Archaeology in British Columbia |url=http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/aiq.2006.0031 |journal=The American Indian Quarterly |volume=30 |issue=3 |pages=350–380 |doi=10.1353/aiq.2006.0031 |issn=1534-1828|url-access=subscription }}

Governments

Language

{{Main|Okanagan language}}

The language of the Syilx people is Nsyilxcn. "Syilx" is at the root of the language name Nsyilxcn, surrounded by a circumfix indicating a language.Johnson, M. K. (2012). k^sup w^u_sq^sup w^a?q^sup w^a?álx (we begin to speak): Our journey within Nsyilxcn (Okanagan) language revitalization. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35(1), 79. When writing Nsyilxcn, no capital letters are used.{{Cite web |last=reporter |first=Athena Bonneau, Local Journalism Initiative |date=2021-07-24 |title=Penticton Museum's new exhibit honours four Syilx language keepers |url=https://indiginews.com/okanagan/penticton-museum-exhibit-honours-syilx-language-keepers |access-date=2024-04-02 |website=IndigiNews |language=en-US}} Nsyilxcn is an Interior Salish language that is spoken across the Canada–United States border in the regions of southern British Columbia and northern Washington.{{Cite journal |last=Johnson |first=Sʔímlaʔx Michele K. |date=November 2017 |title=Syilx Language House: How and Why We Are Delivering 2,000 Decolonizing Hours in Nsyilxcn |journal=Canadian Modern Language Review |volume=73 |issue=4 |pages=509–537 |doi=10.3138/cmlr.4040 |s2cid=149072885 |issn=0008-4506}} This language is currently endangered and has only 50 fluent speakers remaining.

For learners in K-12 system, there are six band-operated schools and three community schools that teach the nsyilxcn language.Baptiste, Maxine R. (2019). “When we talk: Okanagan Ways of Speaking of Elders/Fluent Speakers in Social Domains of Language-in-Use Implication For Okanagan Language Revitalization" (PhD thesis). University of Arizona.

  • sensisyustən School, Westbank First Nation{{Cite web |title=Discover WFN - Westbank First Nation |url=https://www.wfn.ca/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.wfn.ca}}
  • ntamɬqən School, Lower Similkameen Indian Band{{Cite web |title=ntamłqən snm’a?m’aya?tn |url=https://www.ntamtqen.ca/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.ntamtqen.ca}}
  • sənpaqcin School, Osoyoos Indian Band{{Cite web |title=Senpaq'cin School |url=https://senpokchin.ca/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Senpaq'cin School |language=en-CA}}
  • outma sqilxʷ School, Penticton Indian Band{{Cite web |title=Outma Sqilx’w Cultural School |url=https://pib.ca/programs-and-services/education/outma-sqilxw-cultural-school/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=snpink'tn Indian Band |language=en-US}}
  • nk̓mapəlqs iʔ snmaʔmayaʔtn k̓əl sqilxʷtət, Okanagan Indian Band{{Cite web |title=Nk̓maplqs Iʔ Snm̓am̓ay̓aʔtn Iʔ K̓l Sqilxʷtət {{!}} Cultural Immersion School |url=https://www.okib.ca/services/education-language-culture/cultural-immersion-school/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Okanagan Indian Band |language=en-US}}
  • nkʷala School, Upper Nicola Indian Band{{Cite web |title=HOME {{!}} N'Kwala School {{!}} Upper Nicola Band {{!}} 9410 N'Kwala Road. Douglas Lake, BC |url=https://www.nkwalaschool.com |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=N'Kwala School |language=en}}
  • Waterfall School, Omak, non-profit organization in Colville{{Cite web |title=Home |url=https://www.heartsgathered.org/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Heartsgathered2 |language=en}}
  • Pascal Sherman Indian School, Omak, federally funded Indian school in Colville{{Cite web |title=Homepage - Paschal Sherman Indian School |url=https://www.psischiefs.org/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.psischiefs.org}}{{Cite web |title=BIA, Colville Confederated Tribes to Celebrate May 27 Opening of Tribes' New Paschal Sherman Indian School {{!}} Indian Affairs |url=https://www.bia.gov/as-ia/opa/online-press-release/bia-colville-confederated-tribes-celebrate-may-27-opening-tribes-new |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=www.bia.gov}}
  • Salish School of Spokane, non-profit corporation in Colville{{Cite web |title=Salish School of Spokane |url=https://www.salishschoolofspokane.org/ |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=Salish School of Spokane |language=en-US}}
  • snp̓aʔaxʷíltn Immersion School, Spokane, non-profit organization in Colville{{Cite web |title=Upcoming Events {{!}} kʷu cnxiʔ (We Join In) |url=https://kwucnxi.wixsite.com/website/upcoming-events |access-date=2025-03-28 |website=kʷu cnxiʔ (We Join I |language=en}}

Population history

According to James Teit the "Okanagon Indians" included the "Okanagon", "Sanpoil", "Colville", and "Lake" peoples as they all spoke Nsyilxcn or Nsəlxcin. He estimated their historical population to be at least 8,500 though the likelihood of 10,000 or more is reasonable based on the information he received from tribal members. They estimated their population to have been at least four times what it was at the turn of the 20th century. A 1903 Canadian report and a 1905 American report collectively estimated the population at 2,579. {{Cite book |last=Boas |first=Franz |title=Coeur d'Alene, Flathead, and Okanogan Indians |last2=Teit |first2=James Alexander |date=1985 |publisher=Ye Galleon Press |isbn=978-0-87770-370-9 |location=Fairfield, Wash}}

See also

References

{{reflist}}

Further reading

  • Armstrong, Jeannette, and Lee Maracle, Okanagan Rights Committee; Delphine Derickson, Okanagan Indian Education Resource Society, We Get Our Living Like Milk from the Land, Theytus Books, 1994
  • {{cite book|author=Boas, Franz|title=Folk-tales of Salishan and Sahaptin tribes|url=https://archive.org/details/cihm_90327|publisher=Published for the American Folk-Lore Society by G.E. Stechert & Co.|year=1917|isbn=9780659903273|author-link=Franz Boaz}}[http://www.secstate.wa.gov/history/publications_detail.aspx?p=42 Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection] Includes: Okanagon tales by James A. Teit and Okanagon tales by Marian K. Gould.
  • Carstens, Peter. The Queen's People: A Study of Hegemony, Coercion, and Accommodation Among the Okanagan of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991. {{ISBN|0-8020-5893-0}}
  • Robinson, Harry, and Wendy C. Wickwire. Nature Power: In the Spirit of an Okanagan Storyteller. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992. {{ISBN|1-55054-060-2}}

External links

{{Commons category|Okanagan people}}

{{NIE Poster|Okinagan}}

  • [http://www.syilx.org/wordpress/wp-content/themes/ONA/images/ON_Territory.pdf Map of Okanagan territory]
  • [http://www.syilx.org Okanagan Tribal Alliance Homepage] (Syilx.org)
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20060924030247/http://www.syilx.org/history-origin.php "Original People", a Syilx account of their history]
  • [http://wfn.ca Westbank First Nation homepage]
  • [http://www.okib.ca Okanagan Indian Band homepage]
  • [http://www.pib.ca Penticton Indian Band homepage]
  • [http://www.oib.ca Osoyoos Indian Band homepage]
  • [http://www.lsib.org Lower Similkameen Indian Band homepage]
  • [https://web.archive.org/web/20011022184916/http://www.uppernicolaband.com/ Upper Nicola Indian Band homepage]
  • [http://www.pitt.edu/~dash/animalindian.html#bearwoman The bear woman: Okanagan legend about a woman kidnapped by a grizzly bear]
  • [http://www.firstpeople.us/FP-Html-Legends/DirtyBoy-Okanagon.html Dirty boy: Okanagan legend about a woman who married the sun]

{{authority control}}

Category:Interior Salish

Category:Native American history of Washington (state)

Category:History of British Columbia

Category:Native American tribes in Washington (state)