History of the Squamish people facts for kids
The Squamish history is about the past events of the Squamish (Sḵwx̱wú7mesh). They are an Indigenous people from southwestern British Columbia, Canada. For a long time, they shared their history through oral tradition. This was how they passed down stories, laws, and knowledge. They didn't have a writing system until the 1970s, which was based on the Latin alphabet. Elders who knew these stories were highly respected for sharing them.
In more recent history, going back about 200 years, their story includes Europeans arriving in North America. After the Canadian Pacific Railway was built, many new settlers came to their lands. This greatly changed their way of life. The government also created Residential schools for Squamish children. The Squamish people have fought for their rights and land, and worked hard to bring back their culture.
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Oral History: Ancient Stories
Squamish oral history tells about the "founding fathers" of their people. An elder named Mel̓ḵw’s, who was over 100 years old, shared a story in 1897. He said that "water was everywhere" at first. Then, mountain tops appeared from the sea, and land was formed. The first man was named "X̱i7lánexw". He was given a wife, a tool called an adze, and a salmon trap. X̱i7lánexw and his wife had children, and the Squamish people came from them. Dominic Charlie told a similar story in 1965.
Their oral history also talks about the Great Flood. One story happened at Chʼiyáḵmesh, which is where the Cheakamus River gets its name. A man survived the flood and was walking down the river, feeling sad. The Thunderbird helped him and gave him food. The Thunderbird told him where to stay and that he would get a wife. This is how the people of Chʼiyáḵmesh began. Another story says the first two men appeared at Chekw’élhp and Sch’enḵ, now known as Gibsons, British Columbia. These men were Tseḵanchtn and Sx̱eláltn. They had large families, and many Squamish people today are related to them.
Important Stories
The Transformers
A big part of Sḵwx̱wú7mesh oral history is about special beings called The Transformers. These were three brothers sent by the Creator, or keke7nex siyam. They had amazing powers. They could "transform" people into animals, stone figures, or other magical beings.
The First One's Story
Dominic Charlie told a story in 1965 about the very first ancestor, X̱i7lánexw, which means The First One. He was born in a village near Squamish, British Columbia. X̱i7lánexw knew something important was coming because a bird told him. This bird was sent by the three Transformer brothers. X̱i7lánexw got his canoe ready and found a small bay near the mouth of the Cheakamus River. He used a long pole with moss to catch fish slime. He knew the Transformers were coming. He collected the slime in a wooden plate.
The Transformer brothers arrived in their canoe. They asked X̱i7lánexw what he was doing. He called them his "grandchildren" and offered them the fish slime as food. He invited them to his house in the bay. Inside, he had a hot fire and rocks. He put the hot rocks into a bowl of water to make it boil. Then he put the moss into the boiling water to make soup. He gave them a special hyu7kem plate and three Mountain Goat horn spoons. The three men ate the moss.
X̱i7lánexw's wife was in pain. The lead Transformer knew she was about to have a baby. He told his brothers to get tree bark. They boiled the willow tree bark and gave it to the woman to drink. The oldest Transformer stayed with the wife, while the others took X̱i7lánexw outside. Soon, they heard a baby cry. The Transformer helped with the baby and taught the woman how to care for it. The first baby was a boy, then a girl. These two grew up and married each other. More children were born, and this is how all the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people came to be.
The Defiant One's Story
A famous story is about Slhx̱i7lsh, also known as Siwash Rock. This man was very dedicated to his wife. He would swim in the water near Ambleside Park to prepare for his future child. One day, the Transformers blocked his way. They told him he couldn't pass, but he was determined to get back to his wife and child. The Transformers were amazed by his strong will. They decided to turn him into a rock for all future generations to remember his dedication to cleanliness and fatherhood. His wife was also turned into a rock nearby.
The Two Sisters' Story
This story is about two sisters who were daughters of a respected leader, a siyam. Their father was fighting a war with a northern people. But the two daughters convinced him to end the war. The Transformers saw their selfless act. They turned the sisters into two mountains, now known as the Lions of Vancouver. This was so people would always remember their good deed.
The Two-Headed Serpent and the Serpent Slayer
In the Squamish River valley, there lived a huge two-headed serpent called Sínulhḵay̓. It scared the people, ate them, and made loud screeching noises. In the village of Stá7mes, a young man named Xwechtáal had just gotten married. His father told him, "You must go kill that serpent." Xwechtáal didn't want to go because he wanted to enjoy time with his new wife. But the next morning, his father woke him with cold water and told him again. This time, Xwechtáal agreed. He told his wife he would be gone for only four days.
Xwechtáal followed the serpent's trail, which was hard because of its strong energy. He saw where it went straight up the Stawamus Chief Mountain. He continued through the mountains, following the serpent from lake to lake. As he followed, Xwechtáal trained himself. He took morning baths in cold creeks and lakes to become stronger. Each day, he ate less and slept with fewer blankets. This was all part of his training to defeat the serpent.
Finally, he found the serpent in a mountain lake. He noticed that one head slept during the day, and the other slept at night. Xwechtáal kept training and praying for a way to defeat it. One night, he had a vision. A woman told him, "Make four sharp spears. Put pitch on each one. Make a raft and go across the lake. Spear one head with two spears. As it falls, the other will wake up. Quickly paddle across and spear the other head with the remaining two spears. That is how you will kill the serpent."
When he woke up, Xwechtáal followed the instructions. He made the spears and the raft. He paddled onto the lake and attacked the daytime head with two spears. As it died, the other head woke up, angry. Xwechtáal quickly paddled to the other head and speared it. The serpent tried to escape into an underwater tunnel, but Xwechtáal used his last spear to stop it.
The serpent's body blocked the tunnel, and the water began to rise. Xwechtáal passed out. When he woke, he was on top of a mountain, surrounded by water. He waited for the water to go down, then climbed down. He found the serpent's bones. Xwechtáal took one of the vertebrae (backbones) and gained magical powers from it.
On his way home, Xwechtáal met some mountain goats. He waved his serpent bone and said magical words. The goats all fell dead. He took what he needed for food and skins. Then he waved the bone the other way, and the goats came back to life.
Xwechtáal continued his journey, visiting many villages in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh territory. In each village, he showed his magical powers. The leader of each village was impressed and gave him a daughter as a wife. Xwechtáal received wives from all the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh villages until he finally returned home to Stá7mes. The village came to see him. Xwechtáal realized his first wife had remarried. He also found out he had been gone for 10 years, not four days. He showed his powers, but he did not revive his ex-wife and her new husband.
The name Xwechtáal was passed down through generations, including to Andy Paull.
Before European Contact: The 1700s
In the 1770s, a terrible disease called smallpox hit the Northwest Coast. It killed at least 30% of the Indigenous people, including the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh. This was one of the deadliest diseases to strike the area. Over the next 80 to 100 years, smallpox, measles, influenza, and other diseases killed many people.
Squamish oral histories describe the 1770s epidemic. An elder told a story in the 1890s about a terrible sickness. One salmon season, the fish were covered in sores. People had to eat them anyway because they had no other food. Then, a dreadful skin disease spread to everyone. Many people died in agony. When spring came, there were hardly any people left to gather fresh food. Many villages were left empty. The elder said that the remains of these villages can still be found today. Slowly, the few people who survived grew into a strong nation again. When the first white men sailed up the Squamish River, the tribe was strong and numerous once more. This 1770s epidemic was the first and most damaging. Other outbreaks followed, like smallpox in 1800–1801, influenza in 1836–1837, measles in 1847–1848, and smallpox again in 1862.
First Contact with Europeans: 1791-1820
The Sḵwx̱wú7mesh were the first Indigenous people on the mainland of British Columbia to meet Europeans. This happened in 1792 at the head of Howe Sound, near the village of Stá7mes (now near the town of Squamish). In 1791, Spanish Captain Jose Maria Narvaez explored the Burrard Inlet, where many Squamish villages were located. The next year, in 1792, British Captain George Vancouver met the Spanish there.
Squamish oral history tells a story about the first meeting with Captain Vancouver. In a game where two people would pull each other's arms, a Squamish warrior accidentally dislocated Captain Vancouver's shoulder. George Vancouver had thought they were just shaking hands.
Some Squamish prophets had predicted that something big would happen in the future. Andy Paull noted that Indigenous people believed a disaster would happen every seven years. Sometimes it was a flood, or a disease, or a snowstorm. Wise men had long said that a powerful group of people would visit. Captain Vancouver arrived in 1792, which was a "seventh year" when a disaster was expected. So, when strange white men arrived in their odd boats, the wise men wondered if this was the predicted event.
Captain Vancouver wrote about the people in Burrard Inlet:
Here we met about fifty Indian's, in their canoes, who conducted themselves with the greatest decorum and civility, presenting us with many cooked fish, and undressed, of the sort already mentioned as resembling the smelt. These good, people, finding we were inclined to make some return for their hospitality, shewed much understanding in preferring copper to iron.
During this first meeting, people from the Burrard Inlet villages circled the British ships. They threw swan down into the air, which was a custom to show peace. After trading, many goods were left on the beach. As Captain Vancouver sailed away, Squamish families began to pick up the traded goods. This was a custom after potlatches, where many gifts were given away. It showed the wealth being shared among the village families.
Westward Expansion: 1821-1885
During this time, the Hudson's Bay Company was involved in the fur trade. Later, the gold rush brought many changes to the area.
Indian Act and Land Changes: 1885-1923
Around the early 1900s, reserve lands that had been set aside for Indigenous people began to be sold to the government. This happened both legally and illegally. For example, parts of the Kitsilano Indian Reserve, where the village of Senakw was located, were taken in 1886 and again in 1902. Families living there were forced to leave. They were promised money for the "sale." These families were put on a barge and sent out to sea, meant to move to the Squamish River area. It wasn't until 1923 that the different reserve chiefs joined together to form the single Squamish Band. This was done to manage all the reserves.
Assimilation and Discrimination
Like many Indigenous peoples, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh suffered greatly from foreign diseases like influenza and smallpox. These diseases continued to affect the community in waves during the 18th and 19th centuries. Early trade with the Hudson's Bay Company was mostly controlled by Indigenous people. However, the Fraser River Gold Rush brought many more immigrants and new waves of disease. Also, when the Colony of British Columbia was formed, the British tried harder to control the land.
With more settlers coming from the east, repeated diseases, and sometimes violent conflicts, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people became a minority in their own lands. By the early 1900s, there were more European and Asian settlers than Squamish people. Racist policies by the Canadian government limited opportunities for Indigenous people. Children were forced to leave their homes and go to residential schools. These schools were often far away to stop children from running home. People who finished higher education could be "enfranchised" and lose their Indigenous status. Most of the population had to live on government-assigned reserve lands. The largest reserve was around the village of Chiyakmesh. People were not allowed to move without permission from agents of the Department of Indian Affairs.
Later, in the 1970s, the Child and Family Ministry of British Columbia took many Indigenous children from their homes. They were placed in mostly non-Indigenous homes, far from their families. This caused many problems for people trying to return to their communities later. It also greatly harmed the cultural practices of the Indigenous people.
Residential Schools
Like many Indigenous communities in Canada, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh also have a history with residential schools. The main residential school for them was St. Paul’s Indian Residential School in North Vancouver. Some children were also forced to attend school in Sechelt. Some children stayed at these schools for 10 years at a time. They would be at school for 10 out of 12 months, only seeing their parents or grandparents during the summer. Today, many elders are receiving support from the Federal government for their experiences at residential schools.
Today's Squamish Nation
Today, the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh people are under the Indian Act. They are governed by band councils. The Squamish Nation works on partnerships and economic development. In many Indigenous communities across Canada, these government systems have caused some people to feel that they don't truly represent the people.
Currently, the Squamish people and the Squamish Nation are working on many cultural revival projects. Their native language is almost gone, with only about 12-15 fluent speakers left. A few dozen others have learned the language well later in life. Recently, a language immersion school was created, with plans to grow the program. The Squamish Nation also offers programs and services in health, land, and education that include strong cultural parts.
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