“Have always dwelt there, looking on the same sky and the same mountains”
Courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum and Archives 2004.052.2870 Sepass Map Copy of Sepass Map portraying the Chilliwack River Watershed between the Fraser River and Chilliwack Lake. The map was drawn by Chief Billy Sepass with assistance from C.A. Wells, showing items of historic interest concerning the Chilliwack River and Indigenous peoples of Chilliwack, circa. 1918.
The words of K’hhalseten on the Ts’elxwéyeqw people living in the River Valley as related by Charles-Hill-Tout in 1902 (378). While Stó:lō people lived in so’lh temexw, for over fourteen-thousand years, and establishment of reserves in 1860s.
In Ts’elweyeqw Tribe’s book edited by David M. Schaepe, “Being Ts’elxweyeqw- First Peoples’ Voices and History from the Chilliwack-Fraser Valley, British Columbia offers reader insight on who the Ts’lweyeqw people are and their relationship to the land.
Schaepe on Sepass Map (1913),
Chief Sepass’s knowledge of the landscape and stars, with the assistance of E.A Wells, informed the mapping of the Chilliwack River Watershed between Chilliwack Lake and the Fraser River. The Map depicts the changing land use and provided an early record of settlers living in the Chilliwack area.
Not only did Chief Sepass have a great wealth of knowledge about the Sto:lo territories, but as a leader, he advocated on behalf of the people; specifically in 1864 where Governor Joseph Trutch reduces the size of Douglas reserves.
K’HHalseten, as he put it towards the Royal Commissioner Shaw in 1915:
There has been four posts set for me- This last fifty years what has become of it, or where the changes have been made I cannot get an understanding- The only people that I see is white settlers in this reserve which belongs to me. I haven’t got the slightest idea of how this is being changes or transacted. Sir Governor Douglas was the one that surveyed this property for us. The grievances which I am laying before you is what I have already said.
The boundaries between governance, especially that between the Canadian Government and Stó:lō Governance systems, became dramatically apparent in the late eighteenth and early nineteenth century. Stó:lō already had established governance systems, however, they were later introduced to governance, under the Indian Act.
Hereditary Siyam, Siyameches Frank Malloway shares, “…Billy Sepass was chosen by Indian Affairs Department to be a spokesperson.” (Carlson, pg.26). Sepass met on behalf of the Stó:lō people on several occasions, including trips across the River Valley, with one trip to Ottawa.
On January 14, 1915, there was a meeting between the Royal Commissioners and Indigenous leaders; including, Sí:yá:m William ‘K’hhalseten’ Sepass; where grieves on land claims were brought up.
Why is this important? The former Lieutenant Governor and Grand Chief, Steven Point explains, reserves “are our last piece of our traditional territory that existed prior to the coming of Europeans” (174). Thus, Sto:lo people, today work hard to goal of self-governance to reclaim the ancestral right to land, and control resources adhering to our Sto:lo values and beliefs.
References
Carlson, Keith Thor, 2000. You Are Asked To Witness. Stó:lō Heritage Trust. p.26.
Tout-Hill, Charles, 1902 Report. Sociology. p. 356.
Schaepe, David M. 2017. Being Ts’elxwéyeqw : First Peoples’ Voices and History from the
Chilliwack-Fraser Valley, British Columbia. Harbour Publishingp. p.174
Sepass, William. Testimony to the Royal Commission. on January 14, 1918.
Media Sources
Photograph Courtesy of the Chilliwack Museum and Archives. [2004.052.2870].