sin-ka-'lip and ntytyix

Welcome to the syilx/Okanagan captikwł of How Sin-ka-'lip Broke the Ntytyix Dam

This is the traditional syilx captikwł of the How Coyote brought Salmon to the Okanagan. This is a strong unit on protecting our earth and how we coexist with others. Salmon is a "Keystone" species in British Columbia, learning to protect all species of plants and animals including humans!

Before you start this Story Lesson with your students it is important to begin from a place of honour and respect for the syilx/Okanagan people and lands. These two videos are a great way to do that, if you are working over several days spread the videos out over each day's learning.

The suknaʔqín̓x Okanagan is Beautiful (3:06) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ky8ftLMyvXw

Youth Indigenous Leaders of the Okanagan (4:41) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ej8ndURJle4

CULTURE FIRST

ałi kwu_swiwi-numtax, ałi kwu_suknaqinx, ałi axa/ L/tmxwula/xw

We Are Beautiful, We Are Okanagan, Because Our Land is Beautiful

Since time immemorial, the syilx people live and thrive within the traditional unceded territory of the Okanagan. From what is now Jasper National Park in the north, the Columbia River basin in the east, the Nicola Valley in the west and across the border as far south as Grand Coulee. Although the syilx/Okanagan people have been deeply effected by colonization, the syilx/Okanagan people continue to persevere in protecting their land rights and in passing down their cultural way of knowing from one generation to the next, orally, through storytelling known as captíkʷɬ.

https://www.syilx.org/about-us/ https://okib.ca/about-us/our-history

Before we begin this captikwl, an introduction from BC Aboriginal Child Care Society helps set the stage: This story is an adaptation of the captikwł of How Coyote Broke the Ntytyix Dam. Such publications provide an opportunity for understanding the living land and teaching each generation how to become a “part of it” as the only way we, the Syilx, have survived. captikwł are a collection of teachings about Syilx laws, customs, values, governance structures and principles that, together, define and inform Syilx rights and responsibilities to the land and to our culture. These stories provide instruction on how to relate to and live on the land. captikwł stories serve as reminder of Syilx natural laws and protocols that need to be followed in order for future generations to survive in harmony with the tmixw. These stories are embedded in our culture and language and play a vital role in cultural renewal and revitalization. https://bcaccs.kohacatalog.com/cgi-bin/koha/opac-detail.pl?biblionumber=2015

Here is the story! - How Sin-ka'-lip Broke The Ntytyix Dam

The People were dying from starvation. The great Monster-deities of the warm-land (South) had built a mighty dam which closed the trail of the ntytyix (salmon) coming up the Swah-netk'-qha (Columbia River). This caused the people to dance the prayer-dance day after day, night after night. They wanted to find out how to open the salmon trail so that their main source of food might come back to the rivers again, might reproduce in the mountain streams. Although they prayed and danced, none obtained power to break the dam.

Sin-ka'-lip (Coyote)] heard and came to the rescue of the famished people. He volunteered to go to the warm-country and break the bridge of the Monsters. The people were glad. Sin-ka'-lip started on his long journey to the warm-land. After many sundowns, he drew near the dam, close to the Big Water (Ocean). Sin-ka'-lip now changed himself into a la-ah'-chin (cooking basket, or food retainer). He got out upon the water and floated down the Swah-netk'-qha.

There were two sisters, Snipe [Wil'-weela] and Little Snipe [Stur-ek'-kin] who watched the big dam for the Monster-deities. They killed many ntytyix as the fish came to the bridge or dam. The younger Snipe saw a la-ah'-chin, the small basket. She wanted to get it, but her sister refused. But Little Snipe begged all the more, and at last her sister let her swim out and get the la-ah'-chin, the small basket. This made Little Snipe very glad, and when they returned to their tepee, she used it as her eating dish. When she filled it with ntytyix, it would become empty before she knew it. Her sister scolded her for being so greedy. Little Snipe quit eating before she had had enough, setting the la-ah'-chin away with food in it. But when she went for it, the food was all gone. It was always so. It was Sin-ka'-lip who ate the ntytyix.

As the sundowns passed, the sisters grew suspicious of the la-ah'-chin. The older sister threw it in the fire. As the basket struck the fire, it turned into a baby boy, crying. Little Snipe begged her sister to keep the baby as a little brother. Older sister Snipe refused; but after many times refusing, she agreed to keep the baby as a little brother. The sundowns continue to come and go, and the baby grew rapidly. He was bright in actions. The Snipe sisters found much pleasure in playing with the baby. When they went to the dam to catch ntytyix, they would tie him to the tepee pole with a string. They were afraid that their little brother might fall into the Swah-netk'-qha. They did not know that as soon as they were gone, the baby would turn into the Sin-ka'-lip that he was, and, running to the upper side of the dam, he dug with all his might. He would dig until he thought it time for his sisters to be going back to the lodge, when he would again be a baby tied to the tepee pole.

For many sundowns sin-ka'-lip thus worked in secret. One morning he saw that the breaking of the big bridge was near finishing. When his sisters went down to catch ntytyix, he took a la'-quah (wooden spoon), put it on his head, and set out to finish his work. As his paws scratched at the dirt, his sisters came back to the tepee. The string was there, but their little brother was gone. Little Sister cried. They began looking for the baby and found the tracks of sin-ka'-lip leading down to the dam. The sisters hurried to the dam only to find sin-ka'-lip breaking it away. Snipe and her little sister took sticks and began striking sin-ka'-lip over the head. But sin-ka'-lip worked all the harder. They could not hurt him for the la'quah. The sisters in their excitement forgot to call the Monsters, and before they knew it, the dam broke loose. The freed ntytyix started towards the snow-country, swarming up the Swah-netk'-qha.

Sin-ka'-lip took a staff and began the return journey back to his own people, bringing with him a great hoard of ntytyix. He traveled for many sundowns; coming to a branch of the Swah-netk'-qha, he stopped. Leaving part of his ntytyix there, he started up the Okanogan River with the rest of his herd. He traveled a long ways until he came to a branch of the Okanogan. There he divided his ntytyix herd, taking part of it up the Smilk'-a-meen River. Arriving in the Smilk'-a-meen (White Swan) country, sin-ka'-lip asked for a wife of the tribe, the women whom he asked laughed at him. They said to sin-ka'-lip, "We do not eat ntytyix which is ready to die. We are accustomed to eating only the back of the necks of the mountain goat."

This insulted sin-ka'-lip. He answered them, "You Smilk'-a-meen people! In the future you will go far to get the rotted ntytyix as you call it."

Sin-ka'-lip now turned back from the Smilk'-a-meen country, leaving it rough and rocky along the river. He left it so no trail could ever be made available for the people where he traveled. Leading his salmon back to the Okanogan, sin-ka'-lip built a falls in the Smilk'-a-meen above its mouth. The salmon have never passed these falls.

Sin-ka'-lip soon grew tired of his Se'-o-yos wife and, taking a part of his salmon, continued up the Okanogan. When he reached the Penticton tribe, he asked for a wife and was promised one later. He left a few large salmon and went on up the Okanogan Lake to the En-kemp'leks tribe (Vernon, BC). But the En-kemp'leks only laughed when Sin-ka'-lip asked for a wife. This angered Sen-ka'-lip. He said to them, "You will go far and sore-footed before you get your salmon."

Sin-ka'-lip turned back down the Okanogan, bringing his salmon with him. When he reached the Pentictons, his intended wife had another man. Sin-ka'-lip left only the salmon which strayed off, and came on down to the Dog Lake. There he made a falls (Okanogan Falls, B.C.). Leaving the rest of his part of his ntytyix herd there to breed for his Okanogan wife, sin-ka'-lip went back to the Swah-netk'-qha, where the largest of his ntytyix were. This is why no ntytyix reach the Smilkameen and En-kemp'leks people, while Pentictions have only a few strays to spawn for them.

Sin-ka'-lip now traveled up the Swah-netk'-qha, leading his herd of big ntytyix towards the snow-country. He came to the Sanpoil River. He traveled up this river for a ways when he found an encampment of people. He asked the people for a wife, and they gave him a young maiden. Sin-ka'-lip was pleased. He stopped the salmon, part of the big red kind, to spawn and hatch there. Thus, Sanpoil tribe still enjoy the best of ntytyix as food.

But sin-ka'-lip grew tired of his Sanpoil wife and, taking part of his salmon, continued snow-ward, up the Swah-netk'-qha. He came to the Arrow Lakes, where he found the Arrow tribe. Sin-ka'-lip asked for a wife, but the Arrow people laughed at him. They said, "We do not care for ntytyix. Our food is the good porcupine, which only the great mountains give us."

Sin-ka'-lip spoke angrily, "After this your tribe will tip many canoes in reaching where you can eat ntytyix." Sin-ka'-lip made the trails mountains, rough and rocky, leaving only a way for canoes to travel down the vicious, many rapids of the river whose channel he formed.

Sin-ka'-lip turned back down the Swah-netk'-qha till he came to the mouth of the Spokane. He went up this river to the Kalispel tribe where he asked for a wife. The Kalispels laughed. They said, "We do not eat ntytyix. Our food is the good camas."

Sin-ka'-lip became angry. He answered the Kalispels, "You will travel far and wear out many moccasins in trading your prized camas for ntytyix." Turning back down the river with his ntytyix, sin-ka'-lip made a trap, or falls in the river, so the ntytyix could not pass (Spokane Falls, Wash.).

Sin-ka'-lip continued back to the Swah-netk'-qha; he traveled till he came to the En-qha'-pet'kqu (Kettle River). Sin-ka'-lip went up this river in search of a new wife. When he reached Insis'-k-chin (Canyon Gulch, Curlew, Wash.) he found a village of people. He asked for a wife. The people laughed at him. They said, "We do not eat the rotted ntytyix which is ready to die from making eggs. We eat the fish of the river which is white."

Sin-ka'-lip answered them, "All right. Your fish will always be white. But after this they will have many bones (Pikeminnow), and you will travel far to get the ntytyix. Sin-ka'-lip turned back down the river with his herd of ntytyix. He built the high falls on the En-qha'-pet'kqu (Cascades, BC). No ntytyix has ever passed these falls.

Sin-ka'-lip reached Swah-netk'-qha, where he made a great waterfall (Kettle Falls) for his ntytyix. He did this after the people there had given him a handsome maiden as a wife. A large encampment, a big village, was built at the falls. Sin-ka'-lip said to these friends, "After this, people will come from the different tribes to beg salmon of you. They will bring many kinds of food to trade for your ntytyix."

Soon sin-ka'-lip forgot his charges, the ntytyix, and went on his way in search of more adventures. He left his ntytyix at the great Swah-netk'-qha falls to come and make eggs there each year, left them there where the people traveled from distance places to catch ntytyix as they come up from the Big Water. It has been so since sin-ka'-lip broke the great dam of the Monster-deities.

Story Questions

Important Understanding of Indigenous stories - It is important to know that Indigenous stories do not always follow the same pattern and rhythm of European stories. Often stories start and stop in different ways, often because they exist as a set of stories and understandings rather than as a single entity. The stories are often set up to teach not just about relationships but also set up an understanding of the history and formation of physical places.

Pre-reading thoughts and questions

Just from the name of the story what do you think is going to happen in this story? What kinds of dams might have been built? Who would have built them and why? Why would they need to be broken down?

What do you know about sin-ka'-lip? What do you know about ntytyix?

This story geographically centers around the Columbia River Basin. It is important for students to understand what a watershed or drainage basin is. If a drop of rain lands on the ground, trickles down to a stream, flows into various rivers and lakes and eventually makes it to an ocean, that is a drainage basin. There are small watershed systems that make up bigger drainage basins. We are in the Columbia River Basin, but a 1 hour drive west has you in the Fraser River Drainage Basin. The following video is a bit long, American and Eurocentric but does describe the basin, the website has a great map. What you will realize quickly is that the Columbia River Basin has lost it's natural flow and is very controlled by dams and reservoirs.

Columbia: River of the West (19:34) - *a bit long but you can cherry pick which parts are best for your group! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1DnpriLa1e8

Columbia River Basin website - https://fwee.org/environment/resources/what-makes-the-columbia-river-basin-unique-and-how-we-benefit/

Another Columbia Basin website - http://www.waterencyclopedia.com/Ce-Cr/Columbia-River-Basin.html

During the story

As you listen to the story being read by the student, imagine you have a television inside your head. What images are created on your brain's tv screen?

See if students can either image the map of the Columbia River Basin or follow a map on the screen as sin-ka'-lip travels the basin.

After the story questions

We see how the actions of nations living downstream effect the nations up river, but, how do the actions of those living up river effect those living downstream?

Like many Indigenous stories there is transformation, a being transforms from one type of existence to another. Sen ka' lip transforms into a basket and then a baby many times. Think of as many examples as possible that you know of where transformation happens!

Our understanding of the environment is very human centric. How do the actions of people that control the water and in turn the distribution of salmon effect the rest of the ecosystem?

Getting to know sin ka' lip

By learning more about snk'lip students will connect with not just this animal but it's habitat around them. It is likely that this will be one of the most common "wildlife sightings" that students have had and will have. Coyote has a bit of a bad "rep" in urban areas and needs to be seen for what an amazing animal it is. There is no preset lesson for this section, just good old fashioned learning! Feel free to build in whatever might suite your learners.

Here is a excerpt from the Okanagan Nation Alliance regarding snk'lip: In our histories we are told that kʷuləncutn (Creator) sent sənk̓lip (Coyote) to help our people survive on this land. sen’k’lip’s travels are a record of the natural laws necessary for our Syilx Okanagan people to survive and carry on. We weren’t born with the instincts to know how to live in nature’s laws. Instead, we were given memory to remind us of what we can and cannot be doing. Understanding and teaching our young generations about the land and how to become a “part of it” is the way that we, the Syilx Okanagan, have survived.

There is different styles of knowledge represented in these video, from stories to biology, from visual art to music. As well, the importance of snk'lip, much like with raven, stretches beyond sylix culture to many nations!

snk'lip the Trickster story read by Bill Cohen - (6:12) - https://www.okanagan.bc.ca/story/coyote-the-trickster

Aboriginal Tourism BC, Meet Coyote, Shuswap Nation - (2:34) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PJ0_WEBnZgs

American natural history and information on coyotes - (13:24) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kjkq_ex0zmw

Basic info on Coyotes for kids - (1:27) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vOvrk54ftMM

Zuni Legend, "How Coyote and Eagle Stole the Sun and Moon" by Erica Pretty Eagle - (2:55) -

- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cGXRSfdObag

Joni Mitchell's song Coyote - (2:57) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zeaO5UZ5OcI

Robbie Robertson's Coyote Dance - (4:07) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JoDYyzqz8m8

Robert Bateman talks about his Coyote painting - (2:39) *caution with ads before this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=holgf7_WSVI

Getting to know ntytyix

It is important to start with what ntytyix means to the syilx/Okanagan people. The following is from the Okanagan Nation Alliance.

ntytyix Chief Salmon

ntytyix (Chief Salmon) is a primary food mainstay of the Syilx Okanagan peoples and central to our culture and trade traditions. A myriad of Syilx Okanagan cultural practices demonstrate snxa?l’iwlem (honouring the sacredness of the river) while reinforcing strong cultural-spiritual ties between Syilx Okanagan communities and the salmon. As one of our Four Food Chiefs, and central to many of our captíkwł, salmon are not only a form of sustenance, they are our relative, and an essential part of the continued resilience of the timix^w. As such, these salmon are central to a wide range of connections between generations, communities, humans & non-humans, terrestrial and aquatic species and transboundary watersheds within Canadian and American sovereigns including Indigenous Tribes along the Columbia River systems.

For generations salmon fed our people, yet when European settlers arrived everything changed. Upon contact, and the century that followed, colonization was as tough on our salmon as it was on our people. Overfishing was already an issue by the late-1800s. Logging and farming destroyed the gravel bars and clear streams where salmon lay their eggs. In the early thirties, International Water Agreements launched the building and expanse of hydro-electric developments on the Columbia River, making it impossible for fish passage, devastating the annual salmon runs to near extinction. This also led to agricultural and urban sprawl, while greatly undermining Indigenous food systems.

kł cp̓əlk̓ stim̓ is an nsyilxcen term that roughly translates to “to cause to come back”.

With the support of our elders and sacred teachings, all 7 Okanagan Nation’s member communities and the Colville Confederated Tribes remained with great conviction to get the salmon back. In 1996-1997, the ONA under the long standing leadership of the Chiefs and Councils of our member communities, and the Colville Confederated Tribe Business Council (CCTBC), formally undertook their responsibilities and obligations to their lands, waters and peoples to restore the Okanagan Sockeye Salmon back to the Columbia River systems. Our Tribal Government negotiations, assertions, and advocacy and lobby efforts continue.

There is an ongoing systematic effort to research, document and transmit the traditional knowledge that the communities still hold, while documenting Traditional Ecological Knowledge with new scientific methods and understandings. The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) has begun to receive regional and national recognition for their efforts of rehabilitating sockeye salmon stocks. As such, they are poised to play an integral role in contributing to various public dialogues including, but not limited to, indigenous food sovereignty, food security, sustainable fisheries, and indigenous grassroots development.

More information on ntytyix

National Geographic, Scottish Salmon (3:07) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aPf4qtCDRtE

Life Cycle of the Pacific Salmon - (5:37) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2xG6waimZnI

Dummies Guide to Salmon - (4:38 ) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rERhulNpbYs

Looking at artwork about coyote and about salmon

Susan Point - (3:48) - Salmon Spawning Run - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nYFXdOLMJIQ

Robert Bateman talks about his Coyote painting - (2:39) *caution with ads before this video! https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=holgf7_WSVI

Drawing Lessons using snk'lip and ntytyix

Intermediates are the perfect age for some simple and basic how to draw stuff better type lessons! The lessons must be chosen carefully. When looking for How To Draw A Coyote videos I found many that should have been called how NOT to draw videos. You can identify those videos easily as they start by drawing detail, when you see a video like the ones below where they start with simple basic shapes to get the proportions and "gesture" first, those are the winners!

How To Draw a Coyote - (8:50) - a near perfect video, the only stumble is a very tiny detail, the angle on the coyote's nose is tipping to the left instead of to the right a little bit. A good idea to stop this video while the kids are catching up, if they have a tablet or phone with them you can also get them to work at their own rate individually - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKaD_Zr3HJY

How To Draw a Salmon - (51:00) - this video is slightly different than the coyote drawing video. It uses another drawing system that I would say is a cousin system of the coyote drawing. Coyote using basic shapes and this salmon drawing video uses what I call connect the dots. The artist sets out "points" to set the specific salmon shape in place. I think this is an amazing video. As well, the artist talks about salmon as he teaches the drawing skills! It is a long video so you can skip where you need to. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D6NqVVSFYP0

How To Draw a Salish Salmon - (18:39) - The second half of the video has the Salish Salmon Drawing section, the bonus here is there is an incredible telling of a Salish Story Called "Salmon Boy". My only issue with the finished product of this drawing lesson is the shapes that are drawn in should have an interior of black or a colour and the "background" shape of the salmon should be either black or a different colour. Here is a link to a stronger final images (https://www.pngegg.com/en/png-kcauv ). When you are looking at Coast Salish art don't mix it up with it's cousin art form the Northwest Coast. Refer back to my grade three Coast Salish Feather lesson in the Indigenous Art Lessons further back on this website. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g2FTrPUpXNQ

Protecting Salmon - a group classroom event to connect ourselves to the land through this incredible keystone species

It is important for students to gain ownership over their role in the environment. When they can be set on a path, learn from that path and then share and connect their learnings to others life long understandings are hard wired into who they are. This project resembles a science fair that ends up building into a giant interconnected learning event. The students can be set into natural groupings and sign up for a section of the Salmon Learning Web. This can be done in the classic science fair poster stations or as power points! Always best if they can connect their learning to their own stories and as local as possible!

Here are possible sections. For each section I have included links to videos to hopefully set them on the path! The over arching theme should be environmental stewardship! If you or your students find other sections dive in! Don't limit where the learning can go!

Salmon Spawning - Questions: how long away from their home stream, how do they find their home stream, stream beds for spawning, human impact, climate change.................?

Adams River spawning - (4:14) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZR4_LhPCgbo

Kokanee Spawning at Hardy Falls - (2:46) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Peaokli0mOI

Stages of Development - Questions - What are the different stages, what are the threats to survival along the way........?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nkXthUsnRz4

Why are ocean pen fish farms a danger to Pacific Salmon - Questions: Why were they used, what are the risks, what are the alternatives to them..............? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n-gezXqq13M

Commercial Salmon Fishing - Questions: What are the different types of ways commercial fishers catch fish, why must there be limits, how do the limits work..................? https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fioEFcqgQgc

Traditional Salmon fishing methods - Questions: How did different nations catch salmon, how can these techniques guide the future.......? https://shuswappassion.ca/history/the-first-nation-traditional-salmon-fishery-was-sustainable/

How sacred is water - Questions: what influences the health of water, from daily use to climate change, how do we protect our water systems from our home use, industrial, fresh water to salt water. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4pLQxz-EeQ8 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1fk77tjLpZI

Animals that rely on Salmon for survival - Questions: Which ocean animals, which land animals.........?

Bears - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TSSPDwAQLXs

Orcas - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4a2GRhh7iYM

Seals - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BwjBYAOd2IM

animal list that rely on salmon - https://pacificwild.org/salmon-a-keystone-species/#:~:text=Salmon%20support%20populations%20of%20eagles,(Field%20and%20Reynolds%202012).

Types of Salmon - Questions (how are they different beyond looks) - https://www.bcsalmon.ca/five-species

Why is salmon so good for you - Questions: What are the nutritional facts and what do they actually mean, how is it better than a burger............? https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/salmon-nutrition-and-health-benefits#5

Salmon - a food for humans too!

Salmon is one of the most nutritious and delicious fish to eat. There are many different ways to eat salmon from traditional smoking to RAW! Research your family and see if you can find out what recipes they use to prepare salmon. If they don't eat salmon then maybe there is another fish recipe. If their family does not have a salmon recipe this is the perfect time to find one! Maybe the student knows about their cultural back ground and they can research salmon (or any fish) recipes from their cultural background.

These could be assembled in a class wide recipe book, students could even practice their drawing skills and draw the dish, practice their hand or computer graphics and turn it into a design project!

Traditional smoked salmon (6:49) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M0oEXdDM5tk

Sashimi (2:59) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TgoN7bsTFmU

Scottish Salmon - good luck with the accent (7:14) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3-ElJDOvbvw

Traditional Games

Traditional stick games –Video - Stick Game in the Okanagan - A Closer Look https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YEYU758MztE

How to play the stick game - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dHyOHhgdCS8

Learning Extensions/Resources

Slow Fish (3:30)- video on Okanagan Nation Alliance fisheries - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MgiH5nfWXB0

Salmon Ceremony 2020 (2:42) https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lQF4GEWwsdQ

syilx song - Our First Voices - (1:47) https://www.youtub.com/watch?v=Wweqaj8VhSI

Syilx Flute Music Herman Edward "Mountain Lion Flute" (1:23) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EdtjSFJyRzQ

Local artist unveils new syilx exhibition at airport, Sheldon Louis (1:36) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=r60Qgh-bUaU

Syilx Language House | Learning By Teaching (5:45) - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ctW-1TvvRu8

Sncewips Heritage Museum - website - https://www.sncewips.com/

Okanagan Nation Alliance - website - https://www.syilx.org/

limləmt -

This lesson was curated on the traditional and unceded territory of the syilx/Okanagan people. I wish to extend my sincere gratitude to the elders and cultural leaders at Westbank First Nation and the Indigenous Education Department with School District 23. A special thank you to Coralee Miller for her guidance and inspiration.

I consider this a living document that will grow and change. If you see any content that needs to be re-evaluated, if you have any teaching ideas to add please email me at james.elwood@sd23.bc.ca . I would also love to hear how this learning experience was for you and your students!

I would also like to create a photo album of classes working on these lessons. Send me some of your photos and I will post them in the photo album!

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