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Project 57 Week 14: scəẃaθən (Tsawwassen First Nation)
scəẃaθən can be translated as “people facing the sea” (Declaration of Tsawwassen Identity & Nationhood) and their territory includes land in Delta, Richmond, Surrey, Langley, and the Gulf Islands, and the Nation has used the “watersheds that feed into Pitt Lake, down the Pitt River to the city of Pitt Meadows, where they empty into the Fraser River” since time immemorial (Our Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation). scəẃaθən village sites have been carbon dated to 2260 BCE (Tsawwassen First Nation Fact Book).
Living along the coast and riverbanks, scəẃaθən have relied on local fisheries for their resources, such as salmon, sturgeon, crab, and eulachon. Like their neighbours, the Nation’s language is hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm̓, the downriver dialect of Halq’eméylem.
In 2009 scəẃaθən signed the first modern treaty in B.C. after 14 years of negotiations. The Nation also became a member of the Metro Vancouver regional district. The Nation has partnered with Kwantlen Polytechnic University on the Tsawwassen First Nation Farm School.
To learn more about Tsawwassen First Nation, check out these resources:
- Timeline of history, Tswawwassen First Nation
- Tsawwassen First Nation Fact Book, BC Treaty Commission
- Tsawwassen First Nation Youth Centre: In Style with Coast Salish Tradition, Canadian Architect
The Decolonizing the Library Working Group invites everyone to learn alongside us with Project 57. This project is a response to the TRC Call to Action 57, which calls on "federal, provincial, territorial, and municipal governments to provide education to public servants on the history of Aboriginal peoples."
For more information visit Indigenous Initiatives.