For thousands of years, we, the Syilx Okanagan people, including Sinixt, were self-reliant and well provided for through our own ingenuity and use of the land and resources. We lived united as a Nation with a whole economy, travelling the breadth and depth of our territory; hunting, fishing, growing, harvesting, and trading created a sustainable economy that met our needs.
From first contact the influx of settlers was slow and yet steady, with both the Syilx Okanagans and settlers worked towards a living arrangement. Through colonization we were divided from one another and from our way of life. At the same time we were dispossessed from the resources we relied upon, and our self-sufficient economy collapsed.
As settlement of the Okanagan increased, the establishment of an international border, and the colony of British Columbia joining confederation, put considerable pressure on the Provincial government in B.C. to designate reserves for Indians. This would allow for the settlers to formally own the lands they settled on. Reserves were finally established in the early 1900’s. The Syilx Okanagan people opposed the establishment of the reserves without first having negotiated a treaty.
Today, the Syilx Okanagan People continue to assert their jurisdiction and responsibility over the stewarding of their land, resources and quality of life of their citizens. Our nsyilxcən language and our Syilx Okanagan culture respectfully honour the natural laws of the tmixʷ – all things that live.
Unchanging stəɬtaɬt (the-truth-way or rights)
In 1846, the Territory and membership of the Syilx Nation were split when the Canada-United States border was drawn across our Territory without our consent. This had many impacts on our Nation, including the separation of our lands and the separation of families. Due to the tragedies of colonization, Syilx Okanagan/Sinixt people from the Eastern Parts of Syilx Okanagan Territory were dispersed. Some remained in what is now known as British Columbia, moving to sister communities in the Okanagan region of our Territory. Others moved within the Territory to what is now known as Washington State, settling at the Colville reservation. In 1956, the Arrow Lakes Band was declared extinct by the Government of Canada just prior to the flooding of ancestral village sites for hydroelectric projects under the Columbia River Treaty.
The Sinixt are still here: We were displaced from of our homes in the Eastern parts of our Territory. Some are in the US, but many are in Canada and live within the communities comprising the Syilx Okanagan Nation. Throughout all this time, we have continued to return to the Eastern parts of Syilx Okanagan Territory, including the Arrow Lakes area, to hunt, fish, pick berries, harvest, carry out ceremony and be present on the tmxʷulaxʷ (land), maintaining connection and responsibilities.
Despite the colonial border, longstanding kinship connections between members of the Syilx Okanagan Nation communities in what is now Canada, and the Colville Confederated Tribes continue to this day.
Tribal Council
The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) was formed in 1981 as the inaugural First Nations government in the Okanagan, operating as a tribal council bringing together a group of Indian Act Bands with common interests in order to provide advisory and program services to Members. Since then the ONA has grown into a well-recognized organization providing effective service delivery of a wide range of enhanced services for Syilx Okanagan communities within the context of federal government deficient funding.
Timeline:
- 1981: Okanagan Tribal Council is formed
- 1984: Okanagan Tribal Council is registered as a society under BC Society’s Act
- 1987: Okanagan Nation Declaration is signed
- 1996: Constitution and Bylaws are agreed upon
- 1997: Name is changed to Okanagan Nation Alliance
- 2020: Constitution and Bylaws are reviewed and updated