Wikipedia

Syilx

The Syilx (Salishan pronunciation: [sjilx]) 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.[1] They are part of the Interior Salish ethnological and linguistic grouping.[2][3] The Okanagan are closely related to the Spokan, Sinixt, Nez Perce, Pend Oreille, Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamux peoples of the same Northwest Plateau region.[1]

Okanagan
Okanagan (Syilx) members, c. 1918. Back Left: Marriette Gregoire. Back Center: Joe Abel. Back Right: Tommy Gregoire. Left: Celestine Lewis (child). Center: Millie Williams. Right: Mary Abel (toddler).
Regions with significant populations
Canada (British Columbia),
United States (Washington)
Languages
English, Okanagan (n̓səl̓xcin)
Related ethnic groups
Colville, Sanpoil, Nespelem, Sinixt, Wenatchi, Entiat, Methow, Palus, Sinkiuse-Columbia, and the Nez Perce of Chief Joseph's band

History

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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 kekulis, a type of pithouse.[4] In Nsyilxcn pit house is q̓ʷc̓iʔ.[5]

When the Oregon Treaty partitioned the Pacific Northwest in 1846, the portion of the tribe remaining in what became Washington Territory reorganized under Chief Tonasket as a separate group from the majority of the Syilx, whose communities remain in Canada.[1] The Okanagan Tribal Alliance, however, incorporates the American branch of the Syilx. The latter are part of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville, a multi-tribal government in Washington state.[6][7]

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 valley, 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.[8][1]

The Upper Nicola Indian Band, a Syilx group of the Nicola Valley, 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 Country, which is named after the 19th-century chief who founded the alliance, Nicola. This alliance today is manifested in the Nicola Tribal Association.[9]

Governments

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Language

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Main article: Okanagan 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.[11] When writing Nsyilxcn, no capital letters are used.[12] 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.[13] This language is currently endangered and has only 50 fluent speakers remaining.[13]

For learners in K-12 system, there are six band-operated schools and three community schools that teach the nsyilxcn language.[14]

  • sensisyustən School, Westbank First Nation[15]
  • ntamɬqən School, Lower Similkameen Indian Band[16]
  • sənpaqcin School, Osoyoos Indian Band[17]
  • outma sqilxʷ School, Penticton Indian Band[18]
  • nk̓mapəlqs iʔ snmaʔmayaʔtn k̓əl sqilxʷtət, Okanagan Indian Band[19]
  • nkʷala School, Upper Nicola Indian Band[20]
  • Waterfall School, Omak, non-profit organization in Colville[21]
  • Pascal Sherman Indian School, Omak, federally funded Indian school in Colville[22][23]
  • Salish School of Spokane, non-profit corporation in Colville[24]
  • snp̓aʔaxʷíltn Immersion School, Spokane, non-profit organization in Colville[25]

Population history

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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. [26]

See also

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References

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  1. ^ a b c d Lozar, Patrick (2018-07-01). ""My Home Is on Both Sides": Indigenous Communities and the US-Canadian Border on the Columbia Plateau, 1880s–1910s". Ethnohistory. 65 (3): 391–415. doi:10.1215/00141801-4451374. ISSN 0014-1801.
  2. ^ Noonan, Michael; Mattina, Anthony (June 1989). "Colville-Okanagan Dictionary". Language. 65 (2): 433. doi:10.2307/415365. ISSN 0097-8507. JSTOR 415365.
  3. ^ Peacock, Sandra L. (February 2008). "From complex to simple: balsamroot, inulin, and the chemistry of traditional Interior Salish pit-cooking technologyThis paper was submitted for the Special Issue on Ethnobotany, inspired by the Ethnobotany Symposium organized by Alain Cuerrier, Montréal Botanical Garden, and held in Montréal at the 2006 annual meeting of the Canadian Botanical Association/l'Association Botanique du Canada". Botany. 86 (2): 116–128. doi:10.1139/b07-111. ISSN 1916-2790.
  4. ^ John D. Greenough, Murray A. Roed, ed. (2004). Okanagan Geology. Kelowna Geology Committee. pp. 71–83. ISBN 0-9699795-2-5.
  5. ^ "English - Cv-Ok". meltr.org. Retrieved 2024-04-02.
  6. ^ Dulic, Aleksandra; Thorogood, Miles; Sam, Marlowe; Correia, Maria; Alexis, Sarah; Armstrong, Jeanette (2023-11-20). "Okanagan Waterways Past, Present and Future: Approaching Sustainability through Immersive Museum Exhibition". Sustainability. 15 (22): 16109. Bibcode:2023Sust...1516109D. doi:10.3390/su152216109. hdl:2429/86933. ISSN 2071-1050.
  7. ^ Gooding, Susan Staiger (1994). "Place, Race, and Names: Layered Identities in United States v. Oregon, Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation, Plaintiff-Intervenor". Law & Society Review. 28 (5): 1181–1229. doi:10.2307/3054027. ISSN 0023-9216. JSTOR 3054027.
  8. ^ Terbasket, Pauline (2019-08-25). "Syilx Perspective on Original Foods: Yesterday, Today, and Tomorrow". Journal of Agriculture, Food Systems, and Community Development: 1–6. doi:10.5304/jafscd.2019.091.016. ISSN 2152-0801.
  9. ^ Nicholas, George P. (2006). "Decolonizing the Archaeological Landscape: The Practice and Politics of Archaeology in British Columbia". The American Indian Quarterly. 30 (3): 350–380. doi:10.1353/aiq.2006.0031. ISSN 1534-1828.
  10. ^ Syilx (Okanagan) Language Names: Upper Nicola Band. "Syilx Place Names". Facebook, October 5, 2020. https://www.facebook.com/watch/?v=1057161971367609.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ reporter, Athena Bonneau, Local Journalism Initiative (2021-07-24). "Penticton Museum's new exhibit honours four Syilx language keepers". IndigiNews. Retrieved 2024-04-02.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
  13. ^ a b Johnson, Sʔímlaʔx Michele K. (November 2017). "Syilx Language House: How and Why We Are Delivering 2,000 Decolonizing Hours in Nsyilxcn". Canadian Modern Language Review. 73 (4): 509–537. doi:10.3138/cmlr.4040. ISSN 0008-4506. S2CID 149072885.
  14. ^ 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.
  15. ^ "Discover WFN - Westbank First Nation". www.wfn.ca. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  16. ^ "ntamłqən snm'a?m'aya?tn". www.ntamtqen.ca. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  17. ^ "Senpaq'cin School". Senpaq'cin School. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  18. ^ "Outma Sqilx'w Cultural School". snpink'tn Indian Band. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  19. ^ "Nk̓maplqs Iʔ Snm̓am̓ay̓aʔtn Iʔ K̓l Sqilxʷtət | Cultural Immersion School". Okanagan Indian Band. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  20. ^ "HOME | N'Kwala School | Upper Nicola Band | 9410 N'Kwala Road. Douglas Lake, BC". N'Kwala School. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  21. ^ "Home". Heartsgathered2. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  22. ^ "Homepage - Paschal Sherman Indian School". www.psischiefs.org. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  23. ^ "BIA, Colville Confederated Tribes to Celebrate May 27 Opening of Tribes' New Paschal Sherman Indian School | Indian Affairs". www.bia.gov. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  24. ^ "Salish School of Spokane". Salish School of Spokane. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  25. ^ "Upcoming Events | kʷu cnxiʔ (We Join In)". kʷu cnxiʔ (We Join I. Retrieved 2025-03-28.
  26. ^ Boas, Franz; Teit, James Alexander (1985). Coeur d'Alene, Flathead, and Okanogan Indians. Fairfield, Wash: Ye Galleon Press. ISBN 978-0-87770-370-9.

Further reading

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Wikimedia Commons has media related to Okanagan people.
 
Wikisource has the text of the 1905 New International Encyclopedia article "Okinagan".
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