Virtual Museum of Canada (VMC)
Two black and white sturgeon fish are facing each other, mouth to mouth.

Sqwélqwel

A man is filleting fresh salmon, he wears gloves and is holding a knife is one hand, and a piece of fish in the other. On the right, there is a large pile of salmon skins, and on the left is a pile of fillets.

A man is filleting fresh salmon, he wears gloves and is holding a knife is one hand, and a piece of fish in the other. On the right, there is a large pile of salmon skins, and on the left is a pile of fillets.

“Celebration Song” composed by Gilbert Joe of Kwak Kwaw Apilt.

Stó:lo New Year and the Fall Run of Spring Salmon (Naxaxalhts'i "Sonny" McHalsie)

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[Naxaxalhts’i ‘Sonny’ McHalsie]: The name of this place here is called Qwíqwexem. It just means the small, uh, spring salmon. It comes from the word sqwéxem. Sqwéxem is the name of the - your guys’ campsite over there. A lot of people say sqwáxem, but it’s actually pronounced sqwéxem. Ok, sqwéxem is the Ts'a'í:les spring salmon, And it’s the arrival of that spring salmon that um, gives the Stó:lō New Year. Like when that spring salmon comes into the Ts'a'í:les River, that’s what we call the Stó:lō, the beginning of the Stó:lō New Year.

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Sqwélqwel

Sqwélqwel means "true news". It refers to the oral history of our ancestors and the places they fished, hunted, harvested, and spent time in our world. Every Stό:lō person has their own sqwelqwel. Just as sxwōxwiyám links us to things and places of long ago, sqwélqwel links us to the more recent past. Once we know our sqwélqwel, we have a responsibility to use the places our ancestors used. Once we use these places, it becomes our responsibility to take care of them. Taking care of the places in our sqwélqwel means protecting them so they can provide for our future generations.

Xwelmexw

Xwelmexw means ‘the people’ and comes from a connection between our people and our land. This section is about our Sq’éwlets people and places, including our leaders and families, maps of our important places, and the cultural activities we practice today.

Explore Xwelmexw

Archaeology

Archaeology is a Xwelítem (European settler) word that means the study of old things. This section talks about how our community became involved in archaeology. We describe what we’ve learned about our past from the belongings that archaeologists and our community members discovered at the Qithyil site, including the ancestral mounds, village, and wet site.

Explore Archaeology

Our Belongings

Belongings are the things that we excavated and collected from Qithyil and our other ancestral sites. Archaeologists call these things ‘artifacts’. We view them as belongings—they came from our ancestors who dwelled at this site and they tell us about how we once lived our lives. This section is an interactive exhibit of our ancient belongings.

View Our Belongings

Our Voices

In this section, our community members speak about their sqwélqwel—their personal histories and stories of the archaeology done at Qithyil, and what it means to be a Sq’éwlets person today. The videos presented here include mini-documentaries and personal interviews.

Hear Our Voices

Our Past is Our Future

Since the late 1700s, our Sq’éwlets people have been deeply affected by contact with Xwelítem (European settlers). These interactions have challenged our ability to take care of our community. It is important that we share our colonial history, our interactions with the Indian Act, and our work to bring back our belongings and ancestors through ‘repatriation’.

View Our Past is Our Future