To launch my inquiry project into Victoria, I knew I first had to learn more about the Indigenous peoples that lived here. I am disappointed to say that this was not a part of my education growing up. Living in Toronto as an adult, I was fortunate enough to learn about the Anishinaabe and Haudenosaunee peoples and it felt weird returning to Victoria with almost zero knowledge of the traditional caretakers of this territory. I am happy to see that this discourse has changed and these conversations are being had more and more.

I believe it is part of my role as a settler educator to do a lot of research so that we can respectfully include local Indigenous perspectives, stories, and learning principles in the classroom. Indeed, not speaking to these issues, is itself perpetuating the long history of colonialism. But it can be hard given the new pronunciations, different worldviews, and the fact that colonists attempted to erase so much of the history.

I realized upon my research that I didn’t even understand the very basics about this region.

We acknowledge and respect the聽l蓹k虛史蓹艐蓹n聽peoples on whose traditional territory the university stands and the Songhees, Esquimalt and W瘫S脕NE膯 peoples whose historical relationships with the land continue to this day. (source here).

This is the UVIC Territory Acknowledgement and I was unclear the details of who they were referring to: who are the Songhees, the Esquimalt, the W瘫S脕NE膯聽, and the l蓹k虛史蓹艐蓹n聽, and how do they relate to each other? How do they relate to the Coast Salish? I found these seemingly simple question took a while for me to get straight. Below I’ve laid out what I’ve found as a way to cement my learning (and please let me know if I’ve made an error so I can correct it!)

The l蓹k虛史蓹艐蓹n 

Songhees and Esquimalt are nations that make up the l蓹k虛史蓹艐蓹n聽(pronounced lay-kwung-gen and often seen written as ‘Lekwungen’) peoples, which is a language group. The word l蓹k虛史蓹艐蓹n聽means ‘Place to Smoke Herring’, since herring was a critical aspect of the nations’ economy and culture. The herring used to run in the Gorge Waterway and helped supply the Lekwungen peoples with food and goods to trade with other nations.聽

A speaker in this video (published by Victoria SD 61) breaks down the some of the historical roots of the words:


I found the following quote particularly helpful: “from my understanding as ‘place to smoke herring people’, Lekwungen was our original name for this area, and Songhees and Esquimalt became acquired names through contact and negotiation. The meaning, as it’s been taught to me, our word ‘lekwung’, which means smoked herring, and l蓹k虛史蓹艐蓹n, means ‘place to smoke herring’, and then, Lekwungen often refers to the language of this land.”

The W瘫S脕NE膯 

Conversely, the W瘫S脕NE膯 (pronounced weh-say-nutch) are made up of the following Indigenous Nations:

Tsartlip (Sart-Lip), Pauquachin (Paw-Qua-Chin), Tsawout (Say-Out), Tseycum (Sigh-Come) and聽Malahat (Mal-a-hat) Nations (source here). The W瘫S脕NE膯聽share the language SEN膯O纽EN.

All of these nations fall within the larger group of the Coast Salish, a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples along the North West Coast (source here).

Resources

If you’re interested in learning more and deepening your understanding, I would encourage you to check out some of these resources that helped me as I was researching:

First People’s Map: a new, interactive map of Indigenous culture and territories in BC created by Indigenous people.

Vancouver Island Map of First Nations: a Vancouver Island Map with the 50 First Nations on the Island and where they’re located.

Reflections on the Inquiry

I found this information surprisingly confusing and difficult to wrap my head around. It made me wish I just had someone who understood it all and could explain it to me in a few minutes, rather than the hours I spent on my own. This speaks to me about the value of having a content expert in education, and the drawbacks of the free inquiry process: it can take a long time and be frustrating.

At the same time, I learned a lot more from the act of researching, that I wouldn’t have even known to look for. For instance, I learned about different cultural practices that I now plan to follow-up on to continue my learning in this area. I always thought teachers were a good way to introduce you to things you didn’t know you didn’t know, but now see how free inquiry is also very effective at this.

Technology of course, was hugely important for my research. Almost all of it came from the internet research, and a lot was aided by videos on Youtube (a few posted by Victoria SD 61, which was great to see!) The interactive maps helped clarify some questions for me, and it’s clear that many of these nations are utilizing this technology as a way to strengthen their cultures and communities.

Would love to hear any feedback or thoughts from others on my post.