Displacement (Gwen Point)

[Gwen Point]: So if you know anything when you hear, ‘specially the traditional names, my traditional name is Shóyshqwelwhet. That was given to me by my father’s grandfather - my father’s father. And, if you know that, you’ll know that I’m displaced. Because my name should come from my mother’s side of the family. It shouldn’t come from my father’s side of the family. My name should come through my mother’s mother’s mother’s line. But because we were displaced through government policies, where if you married you had to move to your husband’s reserve. In our tradition, if you married, the husband moved to the wife’s reserve. So, my mother was displaced at Ts'a'í:les, and when I was married I was displaced at Ts'elxwéyeqw, today known as Chilliwack. So when people hear my name though, they know that it comes from my father’s family, which is still wrong. But the way my grandmother put it is because she raised us. She claimed us, she raised us. As she would her daughter’s children. We’re matrilineal. So, my sister was named after her, my father’s mother. And she’s the one who raised us, and where we learned our history. Our local history plus, um, our history about our ceremonies. She was also fluent in all the surrounding languages. Not just Halkomelem, but she could speak Hul'q'umi'num', and she understood Hul'q'umi'num'. But she also spoke what she called the Thompson language, Nłeʔkepmx. She could speak all the surrounding languages. So I was fortunate, like some of my other siblings and cousins, to be raised with those stories. And I really want people to know that that’s where my knowledge comes from.As well as I’d like to encourage young people, to learn. To learn those stories, but more important to share them.