Image Credit: CFJC Today

By Adam Donnelly

ACKNOWLEDGING ONE ANOTHER

Day of Sucwentwecw recognized across School District 73

Apr 6, 2023 | 4:12 PM

KAMLOOPS — Thursday (April 6th), all across School District 73 students, teachers and staff are celebrating the Day of Sucwentwecw, an event unique to the district. The day is an opportunity to celebrate the Secwepemc People and the unceded territory — Secwepemcúl’ecw — upon which the district exists.

The Welcome Song is a traditional greeting that the many bands from across Secwepemcúl’ecw would use to welcome visitors to their territory. As part of School District 73’s recognition of the Day of Sucwentwecw, it’s just one of the many traditional Secwepemc practices that are being shared with students across the district.

“We’re really trying to engage our students in connecting with their cultural identity,” explained SD73 Board Chair Heather Grieve. “Part of that is going beyond attending assemblies and actually having a chance to take a bit of a deeper look into what makes an individual who they are, and cultural identity is a huge part of it.”

At South Kamloops Secondary School, a group of Indigenous youth have taken a leadership role in teaching their peers about some traditional games and activities.

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“There are other names, such as stick games, but here we call it Lahal,” Mikey Friesen explains. “It’s a game played all over North America — down in the US, all over Canada. It’s a team game — pretty much just a guessing game

The SKSS Secwepemc Youth Council organized today’s Lahal games. They also help organize other activities throughout the school.

“Other events we do include drumming,” Friesen says. “Like singing for different days, like Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girls Day, or Truth and Reconciliation Day.”

Grieve remembers what her social studies textbooks did and did not include when she was in secondary school. She’s hopeful that this increased cultural awareness within the district will help this generation of students lead with empathy and increased knowledge on the topic of Canada’s indigenous people.

“I think our students, because they’re immersed in it every day, I think that it’s a very positive thing,” Grieve says. “I’m very optimistic with where we’ll be moving forward.”