The Seabird Island First Nation, or Seabird Island Band ( hur, Sq'éwqel), is a

band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...

of the Sto:lo people located on Sea Bird Island in the Upper Fraser Valley region, 3 km east of

Agassiz, British Columbia Agassiz ( ) is a small community located in the Eastern Fraser Valley region of British Columbia, Canada, about 97 kilometres east of Vancouver and 24 kilometres north-east of the city of Chilliwack. The only town within the jurisdiction of the ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

. They are a member government of the Stó:lō Tribal Council. The Seabird Island Band is a multi-faceted First Nations Band that includes government, business, service and non-profit services.

History

The story of the Seabird Indian Band began over 130 years ago in June 1879 with

Gilbert Malcolm Sproat Gilbert Malcolm Sproat (19 April 1834 – 4 June 1913) was a Scottish-born Canadian businessman, office holder, and author. Biography Born in Brighouse Farm Borgue near Kirkcudbright, Scotland, he arrived on Vancouver Island in 1860, where h ...

(19 April 1834 – 4 June 1913), a representative of the Indian Reserve Commission, would consult with First Nations people and later allocate the island known then as Skow-a-kull (correct spelling Sq'éwqel) as a reserve to be held in-common by the people from Popkum, Skw'átits, Ohamil, Ska-wah-look, Hope, Union Bar and Yale because the land they currently resided on could not sustain crops, and the land on Seabird Island would provide rich soil and provide a place for First Nations families to live their lives on. Seabird Island speaks a mix of

Halq'eméylem Halkomelem (; in the Upriver dialect, in the Island dialect, and in the Downriver dialect) is a language of various First Nations peoples of the British Columbia Coast. It is spoken in what is now British Columbia, ranging from southeastern ...

and

Thompson language The Thompson language, properly known as Nlaka'pamuctsin, also known as the Nlaka'pamux ('Nthlakampx') language, is an Interior Salishan language spoken in the Fraser Canyon, Thompson Canyon, Nicola Country of the Canadian province of British C ...

. The

name for the Seabird Island Band, Sq'éwqel, is translated to "Turn in the River", the English name Seabird Island would be taken from the June 1858 groundings of a transport paddle-wheeler, the SS ''Sea Bird'', on an island bar in the

Fraser River The Fraser River is the longest river within British Columbia, Canada, rising at Fraser Pass near Blackrock Mountain in the Rocky Mountains and flowing for , into the Strait of Georgia just south of the City of Vancouver. The river's annual d ...

across from Seabird Island.

Services

The Seabird Indian Band, through Health Transfer Agreements with various First Nations Bands, provides a number of services including: * Lalme' Iwesawtexw (House of Learning) Elementary and Secondary School (Also known as: Seabird Island Community School) * Lalme' Iwesawtexw (House of Learning) Adult Education (Also known as: Seabird Island Community School) * Seabird College (PCTIA registered, #3550) * Employment Centre * Doctor's Office * Dental Clinic * Fitness Centre * Mental Health & Wellness Centre * Housing, Construction and Capital Projects * Mobile Diabetes Project * Youth Home * Family Home * Recovery Home * Aboriginal Infant Development * Bus for Education and Aboriginal Resources * Daycare * Maternal and Child Health * Halq'emeylem Immersion Preschool * Speech and Language * Head Start * Supported Child Development * Seabird Wi-fi * Graphic Communications and Promotions * Fire Department * EcoStation Composting Facility

Government

The Seabird Island Band is governed by one Chief and a nine-person Council, recently reduced to an eight-person council (2017 Election) that share the responsibility of representing Seabird Island Band at all government levels as well as to other groups, ensuring a strong united voice for the Seabird Island Band locally, provincially and nationally, with specific emphasis and involvement with Stó:lō Tribal Council,

First Nation Summit First or 1st is the ordinal form of the number one (#1). First or 1st may also refer to: *World record, specifically the first instance of a particular achievement Arts and media Music * 1$T, American rapper, singer-songwriter, DJ, and rec ...

and the

Assembly of First Nations The Assembly of First Nations (AFN) is an assembly of Canadian First Nations (Indian bands) represented by their chiefs. Established in 1982 and modelled on the United Nations General Assembly, it emerged from the National Indian Brotherhood, wh ...

. The current Chief is James Harris.

Elections

Any member of the band who is 18 years of age and a registered Band Member of the Seabird Island Band is entitled to vote. The Chief can be elected by a majority of votes of the electors. The Chief and Councilors each serve a term of two years. The next scheduled election will be in 2017.

Seabird Island First Nations Festival

The Seabird Island First Nations Festival was first established in May 1969 by Grand Chief Archie Charles and his wife Mary Charles. Today, the Seabird Island First Nations Festival is a celebration of

First Nations First Nations or first peoples may refer to: * Indigenous peoples, for ethnic groups who are the earliest known inhabitants of an area. Indigenous groups *First Nations is commonly used to describe some Indigenous groups including: **First Natio ...

diversity, culture, growth and

sport talent. Each year the Seabird Island First Nations Festival hosts 9,000 visitors, entertainers, players,

War Canoe A war canoe is a watercraft of the canoe type designed and outfitted for warfare, and which is found in various forms in many world cultures. In modern times, such designs have become adapted as a sport, and "war canoe" can mean a type of flatwat ...

-pullers, volunteers and sponsors. The tournaments include:

Ball Hockey Ball hockey is a team sport and an off-ice variant of the sport of ice hockey. The sport is also a variant of one of several floor hockey game codes but more specifically a variant of street hockey. Ball hockey is patterned after and closely r ...

Soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

racing and

Slahal Slahal (or Lahal) is a gambling game of the indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, also known as stickgame, bonegame, bloodless war game, handgame, or a name specific to each language.Hill-tout, Charles. "Salish People: Volume II: t ...

. The Seabird Island First Nations Festival occurs the last full weekend in May each year.

Technology

In 2007, the Seabird Island Band, in partnership with

Siemens Siemens AG ( ) is a German multinational conglomerate corporation and the largest industrial manufacturing company in Europe headquartered in Munich with branch offices abroad. The principal divisions of the corporation are ''Industry'', '' ...

and

BelAir Networks Belair or Bélair may refer to: People *Sanité Bélair (1781–1802), Haitian freedom fighter Places Historic locations * Belair (Nashville, Tennessee), United States * Belair Development, Maryland, United States *Belair Mansion (Bowie, Marylan ...

launched a

wireless mesh network A wireless mesh network (WMN) is a communications network made up of radio nodes organized in a mesh topology. It can also be a form of wireless ad hoc network.Chai Keong Toh Ad Hoc Mobile Wireless Networks, Prentice Hall Publishers, 2002. A m ...

throughout the Seabird Island Band community. Seabird Island Band would become the first First Nations community in

to achieve this feat. The wireless mesh network would be used to offer Seabird Island Band with ubiquitous, high-speed broadband wireless access supporting residential, educational and business communication requirements. Prior to 2007, most Seabird Island Band community members could only access dial-up internet – only the community core had access to high-speed internet.

Sustainable Housing

In 2004, Seabird Island Band began an innovative, cutting edge, sustainable community housing that uses renewable technologies, and includes first-in-the-world features. Sustainable Housing project provided band members with improved quality, energy efficient housing by integrating renewable energy sources, and it is affordable. Plus, it has other remarkable features, such as reduced maintenance and lower heating and electricity cost, because of the advanced technology. This unique development is part of the Seabird Island Band's "Sustainable Community Plan". The idea behind sustainable community planning is to use land and design neighbourhoods in a way that reduces costs and minimizes environmental impacts, while creating a livable community - both now and well into the future.

References

{{reflist

External links

Seabird Island Band website
* Indigenous Adult Higher Learning Associatio
Record Breaking Success in First Nations Adult Education Announced
Sto:lo governments First Nations governments in the Lower Mainland