To better reflect being situated on traditional Secw茅pemc land, the North Okanagan-Shuswap School District 83 (SD83) is pursuing a name change to include a meaningful Indigenous word.
In a report to the May 21 school board meeting, director of Indigenous education Chelsea Prince said that since the current name was first adopted in 1997 when the Armstrong-Spallumcheen and Shuswap school districts amalgamated, the Quelm煤cw Education Council has been disappointed with it for a couple of reasons. She explained that though the Armstrong area is on territory jointly claimed by the Syilx Okanagan and Secw茅pemc peoples, the district as a whole is in the latter.
鈥淧ositioning 鈥楴orth Okanagan鈥� before 鈥楽huswap鈥� may not have been intended as prioritizing one area over the other, but that is how it can be perceived,鈥� Prince pointed out in the report. 鈥淚n addition, the word 鈥楽huswap鈥� is an outdated and historically incorrect term invented by settlers, which is really the word 鈥楽ecw茅pemc鈥�.鈥�
She added, however, that the district has come a long way since then and have developed meaningful relationships with local First Nations, which includes Splatsin, Neskonlith, Skwl膩x and Adams Lake, and identified reconciliation as a value in the strategic plan.
Splatsin education director Darrell Jones, who presented Prince鈥檚 report, agreed that progress has been made, though it hasn鈥檛 always been easy.
鈥淚鈥檝e been working for our band for a very long time, like 38 years, and鈥� I was here when the amalgamation happened鈥�,鈥� he told the board. 鈥淚 mean, I do recall where there was never a land acknowledgement at that time to where we are today.
鈥淭here鈥檚 many other things that the district has worked on, I鈥檓 not saying that it hasn鈥檛, but it was also a bit of a grind.鈥�
For the name change, Prince said the Quelm煤cw Education Council has compiled a list of potential Secw茅pemcts铆n words to consider, and will narrow that down to a short list to be presented to elders and communities to 鈥渕ake sure that we鈥檙e capturing the right idea.鈥�
鈥淥ne consideration that we discussed at length was that whatever word that鈥檚 chosen, it doesn鈥檛 have to mean school, it doesn鈥檛 have to mean learning,鈥� Prince explained. 鈥淚t should have something to do with the partnership between the communities and school district and should be a word that people can learn to pronounce so that we adopt it and use it and feel comfortable using it.鈥�
Trustee Tennile Lachmuth said she鈥檇 be happy to support the name change and made a motion that the board pursue a partnership with the four bands to change the district鈥檚 name to include a Secw茅pemcts铆n word or phrase, with that carried unanimously.
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