SHARED LEGACY
A Canadian Signature Experience
Through
the millennia, during which the Salish Peoples have made the ocean, lakes, rivers, mountains and forests of south-western British Columbia home, the Squamish and Lil’wat Peoples have contended over the Garibaldi region: the former claiming from the Lower Mainland through Squamish and northward as their traditional territory; the latter, southward and north of Mt. Currie. The two Peoples traded peacefully and respected each other’s territory, except in the overlapping area where their mutually exclusive self-interests intersected. Here, each asserted claim by occupation and settlement, each periodically displacing the other as insurgencies were mounted and repelled, and mounted again. We know this area today as “Whistler”. In 2001, the Squamish and Lil’wat First Nations recognized their shared lands and overlapping interests as signatories to an historic Protocol Agreement, which identified issues of mutual concern and committed them to a process of joint decision-making in the furtherance opportunities, of while mutual preserving economic the Rights cultural of heritage both. andIn AboriginalNovember of 2002, they separately and together entered into partnership with the Vancouver 2010 Bid Corporation and the Province of British Columbia to co-host the 2010 Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games within their shared traditional territory. The crowning expression of the shared legacy and unprecedented partnership of the two First Nations is the Skuwxwu7mesh Lil’wat7ul, Squamish Lil’wat Cultural Centre (SLCC). Opened in June of 2008, the arching glass face of this dramatic, three-storey, 30,400- sq. ft. museum complex which overlooks Whistler from the corner of Lorimer Road and Blackcomb Way located in the Upper Village. Over 150,000 visitors have since been introduced to the living cultures of the Squamish and Lil’wat Peoples by specially trained Aboriginal Youth Ambassadors from both nations. Offering a unique guided tour program and hands-on activities, the centre was recently honoured by the Canadian Tourism Commission as one of only 28 “Canadian Signature Experiences” recently recognized across the country.
“This is the only centre in the world designed to present the cultures of two distinct First Nations; demonstrating how we share territory, knowledge, and cultural practices in a way that acknowledges the uniqueness of each,” observes Josh Anderson (Sik Sik), Lil’wat Councillor and SLCC’s Guide Supervisor.
Youth Ambassadors begin each tour with traditional drumming and welcome songs, as well as a showing of the evocative film, Where Rivers, Mountains and
People Meet, before taking their guests on a highly personalized journey through the exhibits, canoes, carvings and artifacts – which include spiritually significant objects never shared publically before - that fill the Great Hall. Ambassadors share the legends and stories of their respective ancestral cultures, spicing them with anecdotes of their growing up within those living cultures. Each tour ends in the Longhouse, where guests can craft keepsake traditional bracelets from sacred inner cedar bark.
“I am very proud to share my knowledge of our culture with those who visit us,” says Roxy Lewis, Squamish Nation, and SLCC Ambassador. “People are intrigued to meet a local First Nations person, and I’m always pleased to answer their questions, and to help them learn about our Peoples, our teachings and traditions, as I deepen in my own understanding and appreciation.”
Guests are also encouraged to explore others facets of the Museum at their own leisure, including taking in the many Native artworks and handcrafts in SLCC’s Gallery and Gift Shop, which is the recipient of Aboriginal Tourism BC’s Retail Company of the Year Award for its support of First Nations’ artists and cultural revitalization.