Image: Kent Simmonds / CFJC Today

By Dylana Kneeshaw

OPEN FOR VISITORS

Renovated and revamped Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park reopens to public

Jul 25, 2025 | 5:02 PM

TK’EMLÚPS TE SECWÉPEMC — The Secwépemc Museum and Heritage Park held its grand reopening Thursday evening (July 24), after a five-year closure during the height of the COVID-19 pandemic when renovations took place for the building and to enhance the historical and cultural exhibits.

The revamped museum is a showcase of how Secwépemc people lived, what influenced their culture and how it has looked in recent decades. There are three galleries in the main museum space, an educational theatre, as well as a tribute garden and nature park.

Lachlan Gonzales is the supervisor for museum staff and the registrar. Since its soft opening in May, Gonzales says the museum has been steadily welcoming visitors from around the world.

“A lot of people coming in from Germany, France, a few people from Britain, some people from Australia,” he notes. “People from all over the world are coming here and learning about First Nations, learning about the Secwépemc, Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc, and getting knowledge that they never had. It’s definitely doing our part with the Secwepemc declaration to perpetuate, restore and enhance the Secwépemc language, history and culture.”

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It took years for the dedicated museum teams, and Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc Knowledge Keepers to put it all together. The descriptions surrounding the displays feature Secwepemctsin, the Secwépemc language, alongside English. While the exhibits themselves show the Secwépemc knowledge of the area’s history, paired with the Western archaeological information.

“It’s covering a lot of the logistical history, like how they lived on the land, what food they ate… Over there we have our botany exhibit, how they travelled,” explains Gonzales. “But also in our third gallery, we talked about the residential school and the history therein, obviously a very important subject. But on the other side of the third gallery we have modern, contemporary Secwépemc culture, artwork from students upwards from the 90s.”

The Secwépemc Museum is open to the public, Monday through Fridays, located beside the band administration building at 330 Chief Alex Thomas Way.