The Syilx () people, also known as the Okanagan, Suknaqinx, or Okinagan people, are a First Nations and Native American people whose traditional territory spans the Canada–US boundary in Washington state and unceded British Columbia in the Okanagan Country region.
History
At the height of Okanagan Syilx culture, about 3000 years ago, it is estimated that 12,000 people lived in this valley and surrounding areas. The Syilx employed an adaptive strategy, moving within traditional areas throughout the year to fish, hunt, or collect food, while in the winter months, they lived in semi-permanent
villages of
Quiggly hole, a type of pithouse.
In Nsyilxcn pit house is q̓ʷc̓iʔ.
When the Oregon Treaty partitioned the Pacific Northwest in 1846, the portion of the tribe remaining in what became Washington Territory reorganized under Tonasket as a separate group from the majority of the Syilx, whose communities remain in Canada.
The bounds of Syilx territory are roughly the basin of Okanagan Lake and the Okanagan River, plus the basin of the Similkameen River to the west of the Okanagan, and some of the uppermost valley of the Nicola River. The various Syilx communities in British Columbia and Washington form the Okanagan Nation Alliance, a border-spanning organization which includes American-side Syilx residents in the Colville Indian Reservation, where the Syilx are sometimes known as Colvilles.
The Upper Nicola Indian Band, a Syilx group of the Nicola Country, which was at the northwestern perimeter of Okanagan territory, are known in their dialect as the Spaxomin, and are joint members in a historic alliance with neighbouring communities of the Nlaka'pamux in the region known as the Nicola River, which is named after the 19th-century chief who founded the alliance, Nicola. This alliance today is manifested in the Nicola Tribal Association.
Governments
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Okanagan Nation Alliance
[ Syilx (Okanagan) Language Names: Upper Nicola Band. "Syilx Place Names"
]
/ref>
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Westbank First Nation (Westbank) (t qłəníw̓t/sn̓qatqłəníw̓t)
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Lower Similkameen Indian Band (Keremeos) (n̓ iʔxʷín̓aʔ)
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Upper Similkameen Indian Band (Keremeos) (t k̓r̓miw̓s)
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Osoyoos Indian Band (s wiw̓s)
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Penticton Indian Band (s n̓pin̓tktn̓)
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Okanagan Indian Band (Vernon) (n̓ k̓maplqs)
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Upper Nicola Indian Band (Douglas Lake) - also part of the Nicola Tribal Association (s pax̌mn̓)
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Confederated Tribes of the Colville ( sx̌ʷy̓ʔiłpx sqlxʷúlaʔxʷ)
Language
The language of the Syilx people is Nsyilxcn. "Syilx" is at the root of the language name Nsyilxcn, surrounded by a circumfix indicating a language.
[Johnson, M. K. (2012). k^sup w^u_sq^sup w^a?q^sup w^a?álx (we begin to speak): Our journey within Nsyilxcn (Okanagan) language revitalization. Canadian Journal of Native Education, 35(1), 79.] When writing Nsyilxcn, no capital letters are used.
Nsyilxcn is an Interior Salish language that is spoken across the Canada–United States border in the regions of southern British Columbia and northern Washington.
This language is currently endangered and has only 50 fluent speakers remaining.
For learners in K-12 system, there are six band-operated schools and three community schools that teach the nsyilxcn language.[Baptiste, Maxine R. (2019). " When we talk: Okanagan Ways of Speaking of Elders/Fluent Speakers in Social Domains of Language-in-Use Implication For Okanagan Language Revitalization" (PhD thesis). University of Arizona.]
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sensisyustən School, Westbank First Nation
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ntamɬqən School, Lower Similkameen Indian Band
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sənpaqcin School, Osoyoos Indian Band
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outma sqilxʷ School, Penticton Indian Band
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nk̓mapəlqs iʔ snmaʔmayaʔtn k̓əl sqilxʷtət, Okanagan Indian Band
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nkʷala School, Upper Nicola Indian Band
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Waterfall School, Omak, non-profit organization in Colville
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Pascal Sherman Indian School, Omak, federally funded Indian school in Colville
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Salish School of Spokane, non-profit corporation in Colville
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snp̓aʔaxʷíltn Immersion School, Spokane, non-profit organization in Colville
Population history
According to
James Teit the "Okanagon Indians" included the "Okanagon", "Sanpoil", "Colville", and "Lake" peoples as they all spoke Nsyilxcn or Nsəlxcin. He estimated their historical population to be at least 8,500 though the likelihood of 10,000 or more is reasonable based on the information he received from tribal members. They estimated their population to have been at least four times what it was at the turn of the 20th century. A 1903 Canadian report and a 1905 American report collectively estimated the population at 2,579.
See also
Further reading
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Armstrong, Jeannette, and Lee Maracle, Okanagan Rights Committee; Delphine Derickson, Okanagan Indian Education Resource Society, We Get Our Living Like Milk from the Land, Theytus Books, 1994
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Available online through the Washington State Library's Classics in Washington History collection Includes: Okanagon tales by James A. Teit and Okanagon tales by Marian K. Gould.
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Carstens, Peter. The Queen's People: A Study of Hegemony, Coercion, and Accommodation Among the Okanagan of Canada. Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991.
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Robinson, Harry, and Wendy C. Wickwire. Nature Power: In the Spirit of an Okanagan Storyteller. Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1992.
External links
