Dozens gather at Spotted Lake to open annual ONA assembly: ‘This was like our hospital, this was like our church’

During a gathering at kłlilx’w (Spotted Lake) in late July, syilx Okanagan Nation members were reminded to never lose sense of who they are, where they’ve come from and where they’re going.

More than 100 people including community leaders and Youth were in attendance for the morning ceremony led by Elder cəqcqalx̌qn Arnie Baptist at the sacred medicine lake in sw̓iw̓s (Osoyoos).

The opening event kicked off this year’s Annual General Assembly and syilx Youth Leadership Summit hosted on July 24 and 25 by the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA). The yearly event brings together people from throughout the nation to celebrate accomplishments and delegate on key matters affecting communities.

Baptist, who spoke mostly in nsyilxcən, passionately expressed to the community to remember who they are as sqilxw (people of the land).

“We need to get a sense of ourselves … who we are, where we come from,” said Baptist, as he addressed chiefs from six member communities standing before him.

“Thank you all for being here, you leaders. I love you guys, otherwise I wouldn’t say a thing.”

Youth from across the nation lined the outer rim of the lake, where they listened to Elders and leaders salute their ancestors and history in between drum songs. They also praised the next generation in attendance for their efforts in honouring their culture and heritage.

“I’m very impressed with all the young people that are here. This is our land — our medicinal lake. It’s been said so many times that it is ours. We don’t need to ask,” said Hazel Squakin, an Elder and residential school survivor.

“They banned our language, and yet, our children are speaking their language again.”

The sacred medicine lake has been an important gathering site for the nation for thousands of years. After contact, settlers had tried to convert the site into a spa resort, but the nation reacquired possession of their land in 2001, after spending decades fighting to get it back.

“This was like our hospital, this was like our church, this spot here. And our grandparents, and our great-grandparents, they all came here,” said said ki law na Clarence Louie, y̓ilmixʷm (chief) of Osoyoos Indian Band and head of ONA’s chief executive council.

“I want to thank all of our people back in those days that opposed it and demonstrated against it, and stopped the non-Natives from developing this lake … But it only happened because of the Elders, our language people and the language Arnie spoke earlier.”

Louie said that it’s important to remember that part of the site’s history, highlighting that the nation doesn’t need permission to gather there anymore.

“Hearing the drums, hearing the songs here — wow. It brought a tear to my eye. And this lake can hear us,” he said.

“After Arnie was done talking, I could smell — it smells different. I can smell this lake. It’s opening up for us while we’re here.”

Greg Gabriel, the chief of Penticton Indian Band, described the ceremony and the July 20 cross-border horseback ride as two “powerful and significant” events.

“This is another such powerful message that we need to put out there, for our nation, and for the federal government and provincial government — that we are the ones that take care of this and will protect this,” said Gabriel.

Robert Louie, the chief of Westbank First Nation, said that the community has the responsibility of protecting the site, as well as passing this knowledge down to the younger generations.

“We need to have all this land transferred to our people — all this land within the vicinity of this beautiful heritage spot,” he said. “That’s something we must obtain.”

While the site is gated off and is intended for use by nation-members, only 56 acres of Spotted Lake lands were reacquired. Today, houses and other dwellings line the above hills and outside perimeter of the site.

“It’s not like we go in there and we build houses inside churches. We don’t go into their altars and desecrate that. But you look around, that’s what’s been done for the last 200 years,” said Byron Louis, the chief of the Okanagan Indian Band.

“This lake isn’t just for the healing of your physical self, it’s also for our spiritual self. And I think that is something that we all need to heal.”

Building on Baptist’s sentiment, Louis urged the community “not to become strangers to ourselves.” He encouraged Youth to make greater efforts to connect with their neighbours and relatives.

“Get out there and know your people. What (Baptist) said is so true – We gotta go back. We gotta go back and pick up what we lost,” he said.

Keith Crow, the chief of the Lower Similkameen Indian Band, said that he looks forward to the day when all members from across the nation gather for the Annual General Assembly.

“To show unity, to show us standing together, like we are here today — it brings warmth to my heart here,” said Crow.

94-year-old Elder qʷʕayxnmitkʷ xʷəstalk̓iyaʔ Jane Stelkia said that the only way to bring all the members together is by “becoming Indians again.”

“We’re all saying, ‘We gotta get back together.’ Let’s get back together to see how many there would be, all over in Canada and the States — we’re all one.”