Road signs along the Sea to Sky Highway offer insight into the history of the Swxw7mesh people

If you've driven the Sea to Sky Highway, you may have wondered what theSwxw7mesh (Squamish) words on the road signs mean and how to say them.

The signs, installed in time for the 2010 Winter Olympics,are a reminder of the rich Indigenous history of the area and also the attempts to erase that history after Indigenous land was stolen.

Those names include K'emk'emely, one of manySwxw7mesh village sites that were destroyed by the B.C. government at the time of colonization, to make way for settlers and industrialization. The area would become the beginnings of Vancouver today.

As we near the end of Indigenous People's HistoryMonth, many are keen to learn about the peoples and cultures in their local communities.

Here are threeSwxw7mesh place names, their history and why they continue to be important toSwxw7mesh people.

K'emk'emely

K'emk'emelywas once a thrivingseasonal village forSwxw7mesh,Selilwitulh (Tsleil-Waututh) and xmkym (Musqueam) peoples for gathering and harvesting seafood.

Pronounced "KEM-kem-a-lie," the site was located at what isnow thefoot of Gore Street, at the Port of Vancouver's busy Main Street Dock on the south shore of the Burrard Inlet.

"Kemk'emelymeans 'the place of many maple trees' or a grove of maples," saysSenaqwila Wyss, who, as an adult, began retracing the steps of her ancestors, re-learning theSwxw7mesh language that was forbidden at St. Paul's Residential School, which her grandmother survived.

In 1865, backed by the colonial government, Edward Stamp builtthe Hastings Mill on the site.The sawmill would become a settlementthat expanded into what is considered the early makings of Vancouver.

Wyss says archives show that more than 100 of her Swxw7mesh people lived and worked near the Hastings Mill until the end of the 1800s, when further industrialization forced them out.

She saysvisiting the old villagesitesreminds her of the territoryshe belongs to, the land that was stolen, and why it is important to keep that history and her language alive.

"Within the last150 years, our people have seen such a change in the landscape. Now there are really only two maple trees left here today," she said.

WATCH | Senaqwila Wyssdescribes how to pronounce threeSwxw7meshplace names:

Swxw7mesh place names and how to say them

3 years ago

Duration 3:25

Senaqwilla Wyss shares the history and pronunciation of three Swxw7mesh village sites to help decolonize perspectives of land and place.

Le'le',

WithinSwxw7meshterritory is anotherseasonal village site nearKemk'emelycalledLe'le', loosely meaning "many leaves dropping" or"leaves falling on the ground."

Pronounced "LEK-Lek-eye,"it is in the areanow called CRAB Park and was once used by Wyss's people forfishing, clamming and hunting.

But she says the name of the area is not as clear as otherSwxw7mesh village sites.

"There are as many different time frames in which this place name was recorded before it was referred to as Le'le'," Wyss said.

She said some elders didn't have a wordfor the area that could easily be translated to English. It's a similar situation for the village that resembles her first name.

Senw

The village called Senw, pronounced "sen-OUK," wasin an area near Vanier Park on the False Creek waterfront, in Kitsilano.

The wordSenw, Wysssaid, refers tothe shape of the landscape andhow the water connectswith the land the head of the bay inside today'sFalse Creek and sometimes refersto the waterway itself.

Wyss said the village was mainly used in the summer months and was lined with long houses of many Swxw7mesh families.

But they were forcibly evicted from theirlandin 1913.

Under Conservative premier Richard McBride, the B.C. government gavethe Swxw7meshresidents ofSenwabouttwodays to pack upbefore they wereput on a bargeand sent over to North Vancouverso the city of Vancouver could expand.

The government then burneddown their homes and sheds.

"So, for us,it has a feeling of displacement," Wyss said.

Under the federal government's 1911 amendment to the Indian Act,it was legal to remove Indigenous people from reserves within an incorporated town or city, without their consent.

But in 2002, the SquamishNation regained a section of the land.

"There is a good feeling of pride that there will be a recognition of our landthat we have been using for so long," Wyss said.

"I definitely today feel like a strong connection to knowing that we had ancestors who lived atSenw."

She said learning her language and teaching her children gives her a sense of hope.

"Even though so much of our community lost so many things through residential school, we are still able to share these teachings and we still have ones who are going to carry the torch on for us in the future."

How to properly say 'Swxw7mesh'

If you are travelling north along the Sea to Sky Highway fromKemk'emely,you will see the wordSwxw7meshon road signs.

"Skwxw7mesh xwumixw"means "Squamish People" and "Swxw7mesh Snichim"refers to the Squamish language.

As Wyss explains below, the "7"symbolinSwxw7mesh representsa glottal stop, which acts as a pause in the word: