Timeline of the sovereign original ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ People
and
Siyam ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™
c. 9,000 - 8,000 BCE:
Evidence of established settlement
6th century CE:
Prominent villages along the Duwamish River estuary. These communities remained continuously inhabited until sometime in the later 18th century.) (1)
15th century:
Construction of boulder walls for defensive and other purposes along the Fraser River canyon (Kisha Supernant (2008), unpublished dissertation titled "Landscapes of Conflict: The rise of defensive sites among the Coast Salish").
1770-1850:
Smallpox, measles, influenza, and other diseases killed many villages and communities.
1778:
Captain James Cook arrived and was welcomed by a Nootka Leader Maquinna.
Approx late 1700:
Family ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ members welcome and escort Captain Vancouver into and inlet what is now named the Burrard Inlet after discoverer, Captain Burrard who was a captain to one of the ships in the Vancouver fleet.
1810:
Coastal fur trade with infrequent shipments extends south from farther north.
1827:
HBC Fort Langley established east of present-day Vancouver, B.C. Contact and trade began accelerating significantly, primarily with the northern and north-central Coast Salish.
1833:
Contact and trade began accelerating significantly with the southern coast. Significant social change and change in social structures accelerated with increasing contact.
1839-40:
Catholic missionaries arrive in Puget Sound country.
1840-42:
Methodist missionaries arrive with no success.
1841-43:
Interest diminishes for missionaries, new approach must be taken.
1845:
Government report to the legislative assembly of Upper Canada recommends that Indian boarding schools be set up. (2)
1847:
It is suggested that the schools be set up as a partnership with government and church and education be of a religious nature.
1860s:
First use of the word "Chief" is used in the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ area by the English to identify newly appointed individuals to manage reservations. The word “Chief” is a European word, not a true word of the original sovereign red race leaders who led Nations of peaceful people on Turtle Island. The correct word in ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ is Siyam and the correct description in other Nations for a hereditary leader is Pine Tree on Turtle Island.
1862:
A smallpox epidemic broke out among the Northwest tribes killing roughly half the affected native populations. Archive records and historical epidemiology demonstrates that governmental policies furthered the progress of this epidemic among the natives, and did little or nothing about the waves of other introduced epidemics. Mean population decline from 1774-1874 was about 66%. (3)
1876:
The Indian Act was enacted by the Parliament of Canada under the provisions of Section 91(24) of the Constitution Act, 1867, which provides Canada's federal government exclusive authority to legislate in relation to "Indians and Lands Reserved for Indians". The Indian Act is administered by the Minister of Indian Affairs and Northern Development.
1885:
Population is less than 2,000.
1885:
After legislation amending the Indian Act passed the previous year, the potlatch is banned in Canada, effective January 1, 1885.(4)
1892:
Federal Government and churches enter into a formal partnership to run a school system for "Indian" children.
1906:
A man named Sa7plek (Joe) who lived in "Kiapilanoq's country" traveled to England to speak with King Edward VII regarding access to the Indian Crown Trust Fund. He was not allowed to see him on the merit that he was not a chief; when Joe returned he called himself Chief Joe Capilano. Joe Mathias tried to take the Name Capilano family and even stole the Kiapialnoq family talking stick in order to sell it. Vancouver historian J.S. Mathews wrote in the Province newspaper on August 30th 1906, "Capilano Joe visits King Edward VII. He was "Capilano Joe" before he went, after he came back he was Chief Joe Capilano". Joe Mathias is not a true "Capilano" by hereditary blood line.
The traditional punishment for stealing a family’s name is to behead the individual who committed the crime and then toss his head on the beach to be eaten by the seaside scavengers. This Act sends a warning and powerful message to anyone else wishing to steal the family name. While Siyam ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ will not enforce this type of law, Siyam ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ has no problems with invoking the law of Permanent Eviction off the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ Lands for this same crime.
1920:
Under the direction of Duncan Campbell Scott, it becomes mandatory for "Indian" children between the ages of 7 and 15 to attend school.
1923:
July 23, the "©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ Amalgamation" is the merger of 16 ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™-speaking tribes to form one unit called the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ Indian Band under the Canadian Government's Department of Indian Affairs. The "©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ Amalgamation" document shows many signatures which appear to be of the same hand writing.
1934:
Official suppression of the potlatch ends. Some potlatches begin immediately and a renaissance follows.(5)
1938:
Siyam ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ born at St. Paul's hospital in Vancouver British Columbia on the 11th day of January.
1944:
Siyam Kiapilanoq and his sister Georgina are taken by the RCMP and "Indian" agents and nurse Garry to go to residential school. Six year old ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ was grabbed by his hair and lifted by his head, then thrown in the back of a vehicle where his sister was already sitting. Siyam ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ was given a new name by the school and branded as #25; his sister Georgina became #52, Joan #36 and Deanna #30. All four of us were ripped away from our family by the Catholic church.
1945:
Siyam Kiapilanoq's brother Tommy (#32) was finally taken to residential school. Tom stood up for Siyam Kiapilanoq and saved him from some pain and torture.
1945:
9,149 students are enrolled in residential school, with only about 100 students enrolled over grade eight. There is no record of any student beyond grade nine.
1950:
Over 40% of the teaching staff in residential schools have no professional training.
1955:
After 11 years of residential school abuse; sodomize, torture, near death experiences, sexual abuse by both nuns and priests, Siyam Kiapilanoq is released from residential school at the age 17 of and goes to live with his sister at 818 Semlin Drive. For more details on the residential school, please refer to Affidavit #2 (insert pdf) for more accurate description of Siyam Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™’s experiences.
1969:
The partnership between government and churches is formally ended with the federal government taking full control of the schools. Total enrollment is 7,704 with 60% of Indian children enrolled in the public school system.
1979:
12 residential schools still remain in operation; enrollment is 1,189.
1983:
The last residential school closes in Tofino, BC.
1992-93:
A research study is conducted in British Columbia to examine the effects of residential schools. Identification of physical, sexual and psychological abuses are confirmed.
1994:
A Native Residential School Task Force is created by the RCMP as a result of the research findings. Their mandate is to examine all residential schools in operation from 1890-1984.
1994:
The AFN releases its report on residential schools called "Breaking the Silence".
1996:
The Royal Commission on Aboriginal Peoples' final report is released containing a call for a public inquiry into the effects of residential schools upon generations of First Nations people. It also recommends a national repository of records related to residential schools be set up.
1997:
John Watson, the highest ranking Indian Affairs official in BC, is the first Government of Canada representative to admit that residential schools were part of an assimilation policy of the Canadian government.
1997:
National Chief Phil Fontaine outlines the elements the AFN would seek as part of a healing strategy on residential schools. This includes a full apology, endowment fund, language revival program, counseling for survivors and community healing.
1998:
January 7th, Jane Stewart, Minister of Indian Affairs, makes a statement of reconciliation in which she apologizes to those individuals that experienced the tragedy of sexual and physical abuse at residential schools.
The supreme Siyam (the closest English word that can be used to describe this word is Royalty, but it only describes a title similar to English royalty) of the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ was known as TE Kiapilanoq; this was Siyam Kiapilanoq's great grandfather and the land headquarters of their family was at the mouth of the Homulcison Creek, now called Capilano River, for centuries. (6)
"Capilano" is an adaptation of a Salish word meaning "the people of Kiap", the true name of the supreme Siyam of the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ who governed and owned the land. (7) ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ people are an indigenous group known to the area as southwestern British Columbia, a part of the Salishan-speaking people. They speak the Skwxwú7mesh language, which is a part of what has been classified by Europeans as the "Coast Salish" linguistic grouping. When translated, Skwxwú7mesh renders into "the people of the sacred water", referring to the sacred water and its healing properties throughout the Sovereign ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ Nation Lands.
©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ history, literature, law, and other knowledge were transmitted by oral tradition across generations with no writing records. Today the oral tradition forms the fundamental source for most of their history. Stories of sacred medicines, healing techniques, events and great spirits of the ancestors were passed on through oral tradition. This continued until after contact with Europeans in 1790s, when drastic changes began to occur for the people and culture. Much of the remaining oral tradition was collected by anthropologists and ethnographers, however it was easily manipulated by those with an interest in exploiting the lands.
Siyam ©Kiapilanoq/CAPILANO™ is extremely interested in recovering the wisdom of the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ language and wants to create a dictionary along with a comprehensive History book on ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™. Anyone who is able to contribute this information has found an automatic position with the ©Squamish / Skwxwú7mesh™ government. Please contact us at info@sovsquamishgov.org and submit your business plan, salary expectations, benefits and qualifications. Refer to the Employment tab of our website for more contact details.
Sources: (1) Dailey, map icon 33, Dailey reference 2, 9, 10. (2) Arlene Vrtar (3) Lange, Essay 5171 (4) Confiscation An Incident in History (5) Cole & Chaikin (1990) (6) Nelson, Denys; Place Names of the Delta of the Fraser River; 1927, unpublished manuscript held in the Provincial Archives. (7) BC place name cards, or correspondence to/from BC's Chief Geographer or BC Geographical Names Office History Some research was obtained from the internet, errors and omissions apply.
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