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By Aaron Schulze

Secwépemc Landmarks

Secwépemc Landmarks celebrates installation of first trailhead post in Shuswap Lakes region

Jun 7, 2021 | 3:39 PM

SALMON ARM — The Secwépemc Landmarks project partners announced the installation of the first of nearly 100 trailhead posts on trail systems throughout the Shuswap Lakes region.

Shuswap Middle School hosted an unveiling ceremony for their trailhead post on June 1 to mark the beginning of Indigenous Peoples History Month.

The trailhead posts were carved by youth from Chief Atahm School (Adams Lake Band), Shihiya school (Splatsín), and four schools in SD83 (Shuswap Middle School, Jackson, Sullivan, and South Canoe Outdoor School), under the instruction of Secwépemc storyteller Kenthen Thomas and Secwépemc carvers Hop You and Vern Clemah.

Secwépemc Knowledge Keeper and carving instructor Hop You with Shuswap Middle School students Jeremiah Vergera and Darah Thurston (Submitted photo/Shuswap Trail Alliance).

The students’ carvings tell the stsptékwle (oral history) of “Coyote and the Salmon”, which Secwépemc storyteller Kenthen Thomas described as telling the story of how Seklep (Coyote) brought salmon to the Sxwesméllp (also known as Sxwetsméllp or Salmon Arm) area. The trailhead posts are a reminder of the presence and significance of past, present, and future generations of Secwépemc communities, and their relationship to lands and waters in the Pespeséllkwe caretaker area of Secwepemcúlecw.

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Indigenous Education Workers Theresa Johnson and Kaeli Hawrys, and wood shop teacher Brian Gerbrandt, organized the event in partnership with the Secwépemc Landmarks Project partners. Speakers also honoured the survivors of the Kamloops Residential School present at the event and gave a recognition of the collective heaviness from the remains of the 215 children recently found at the Kamloops Residential School in Tkemlúps te Secwépemc.

The first stage of the trailhead post project was funded and led by Adams Lake Band, Neskonlith Band, and Splatsín, with funding and capacity support from the B.C. Rural Dividend Program, Heritage B.C., the City of Salmon Arm, the Shuswap Trail Alliance and Shuswap Tourism.