The Statimc (), also known as the Lillooet (), St̓át̓imc, Stl'atl'imx (), etc., are an

Interior Salish The Interior Salish languages are one of the two main branches of the Salishan languages, Salishan language family, the other being Coast Salish languages, Coast Salish. It can be further divided into Northern and Southern subbranches. The first S ...

people located in the southern

Coast Mountains The Coast Mountains (french: La chaîne Côtière) are a major mountain range in the Pacific Coast Ranges of western North America, extending from southwestern Yukon through the Alaska Panhandle and virtually all of the Coast of British Columbia ...

and

Fraser Canyon The Fraser Canyon is a major landform of the Fraser River where it descends rapidly through narrow rock gorges in the Coast Mountains en route from the Interior Plateau of British Columbia to the Fraser Valley. Colloquially, the term "Fraser Ca ...

region of the Interior of the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

Statimc culture displayed many features typical of Northwest Coast peoples: the potlatch, clan names, mythology, prestige afforded the wealthy and generous, and

totem pole Totem poles ( hai, gyáaʼaang) are monumental carvings found in western Canada and the northwestern United States. They are a type of Northwest Coast art, consisting of poles, posts or pillars, carved with symbols or figures. They are usually ...

s in some communities, especially in the Lil'wat First Nation (''Lil'wat7ul''), whose tribal lands and trade routes in the Whistler Valley and Green River Valley overlapped with those of the

Squamish First Nation The Squamish Nation, Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Úxwumixw () in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim (Squamish language), is an Indian Act government originally imposed on the Squamish (''Sḵwx̱wú7mesh'') by the Federal Government of Canada in the late 19th ce ...

, a

Coast Salish people The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coast ...

. Today they total about 6259.

Groups

The Statimc are divided linguistically, culturally and geographically into two main tribes or First Nations. * The Upper Statimc (Upper Lillooet or Fraser River Lillooet), living near the present city of

Lillooet Lillooet () is a district municipality in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The town is on the west shore of the Fraser River immediately north of the Seton River mouth. On BC Highway 99, the locality is by road abou ...

on 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 ...

. They refer to themselves as ''STLA'tlei-mu-wh-talk'' and speak ''Statimcets'' dialect. * The Lower Statimc (Lower Lillooet or Mount Currie Lillooet), living in the vicinity of today's Mount Currie in the Pemberton Valley and south to Skookumchuk. They refer to themselves as ''LEEL'-wat-OOL'' - 'The true People', 'The true Lillooet' (of which were the words 'Lillooet' and 'Lilwat' derived) and speak ''Ucwalmícwts'' dialect. * The Lakes Lillooet (''Lexalexamux'' or ''Tsala'lhmec'' - 'Lake People'), a group only sporadically recognized, living between the territories of Upper Statimc and Lower Statimc around Seton Lake and Anderson Lake - whose descendants are today's N'quatqua First Nation (also known as ''Anderson Lake Indian Band'') and Seton Lake First Nation (also known as ''Seton Lake Indian Band''), historically a group at the foot of Seton Lake, near Lillooet, known as the ''Skimka'imx'' were also included in this group.The Stl'atl'imx People (Lillooet, Nequatque & In-SHUCK-ch First Nations)

Lower Statimc

*the Lil'wat First Nation, their traditional territory extended south to

Rubble Creek Rubble Creek is a creek in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. It flows northwest from Garibaldi Lake into the Cheakamus River near the abandoned settlement of Garibaldi Giuseppe Maria Garibaldi ( , ;In his native Ligurian language, he ...

in the Cheakamus River drainage, near Garibaldi townsite, north to just below Anderson Lake, east to the Upper Stein Valley and west to the

Toba Inlet , image = Toba Inlet.jpg , image_size = 280px , alt = , caption = Looking southwest toward the mouth of Toba Inlet , image_bathymetry = Carte baies Desolation et Bute.svg , alt_bathymetry ...

of the Pacific Ocean, in total approximately 780,000 ha, the current community Mount Currie (or ''Lilwatul'') is the heart of the Lil’wat Nation territory *the

Xa'xtsa First Nation The Douglas First Nation, aka the Douglas Indian Band, Douglas Band, or Xa'xtsa First Nation, are a band government of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, a subgroup of the larger St'at'imc people, also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. The Douglas, Skatin a ...

(also known as the

Douglas First Nation The Douglas First Nation, aka the Douglas Indian Band, Douglas Band, or Xa'xtsa First Nation, are a band government of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, a subgroup of the larger St'at'imc people, also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. The Douglas, Skatin a ...

), Xa’xtsa (pronounce: ''ha-htsa'') is made up of two communities:

Port Douglas Port Douglas is a coastal town and locality in the Shire of Douglas, Queensland, Australia, approximately 60 km north of Cairns. In the , Port Douglas had a population of 3,504 people. The town's population can often double, however, with the in ...

at the northern end of Little Harrison Lake, about 90 km northeast of Vancouver, and their main community

Tipella Tipella, also historically known as Tipella City, is a locality near the head of Harrison Lake in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. A real estate venture from the early 20th Century, the development of a "city" never came to fruition though ...

, on the west side of the Lillooet River, southernmost of the In-SHUCK-ch communities, and also of the entire St’atl’imx linguistic group () *the

Skatin First Nations The Skatin First Nations, aka the Skatin Nations, are a band government of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation, a small group of the larger St'at'imc people who are also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. The Town of Skatin - the St'at'imcets version of the Ch ...

(pron. ), at

Skookumchuck Hot Springs :''This page is about natural hot spring near the First Nations community of Skatin 50 kilometres south of Pemberton Pemberton, British Columbia. For the town and associated rapids in the East Kootenay see Skookumchuck, British Columbia; for t ...

on the

Lillooet River The Lillooet River is a major river of the southern Coast Mountains of British Columbia. It begins at Silt Lake, on the southern edge of the Lillooet Crown Icecap about 80 kilometres northwest of Pemberton and about 85 kilometres northwest of W ...

, the community is located on the east side of the Lillooet River, on the 19-Mile Post of the old Harrison-Lillooet wagon road (about 35 kilometres from the head of Harrison Lake), before the arrival of European settlers, this community was considered to be the largest on the lower Lillooet River, comparable in size to the pre-contact village of present-day Mount Currie of the Lil'wat First Nation *the

Samahquam First Nation Samahquam First Nation, the Semahquam First Nation are a band of the In-SHUCK-ch Nation The In-SHUCK-ch Nation, also known as Lower Lillooet people, are a small First Nations Tribal Council on the lower Lillooet River south of Pemberton- Mount Cu ...

() (‘warm place out of the cold’, pronounced: 'shah-MAH-kwum'), returned to their reservation lands in the early 1990s and constructed the Baptiste Smith community, at the southwest end of Little Lillooet Lake (aka ''Tenas Lake'', derived from the Chinook Jargon ''tenass'' - 'little') on the

system. They once occupied both sides of Little Lillooet Lake. The tiny and remote communities of Samahquam, Xa'xtsa and Ska'tin Bands collectively, including the Tenas Lake Band, seceded from the larger Lillooet Tribal Council (now called the Statimc Nation) at the same time to join the N'quatqua First Nation at ( D'Arcy) to form the

In-SHUCK-ch The In-SHUCK-ch Nation, also known as Lower Lillooet people, are a small First Nations Tribal Council on the lower Lillooet River south of Pemberton- Mount Currie in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The communities of the In-SHUCK-ch a ...

Nation. Since the 1980s these First Nations called themselves ''Nsvq’tsmc'' ('In-SHUCK-ch micw'), derived from ''Nsvq’ts'' - 'split like a crutch', the name of the holy mountain, now called In-SHUCK-ch Mountain (also called Gunsight Mountain).

Upper Statimc

The tribal territory of the different groups of the Upper Státimc extended west of the Fraser River from the mouth of the Pavilion Creek (′Sk'elpáqs′) to the Texas Creek in the mountains above the

Bridge River The Bridge River is an approximately long river in southern British Columbia. It flows south-east from the Coast Mountains. Until 1961, it was a major tributary of the Fraser River, entering that stream about six miles upstream from the town of ...

and westward through the valleys of Seton Lake and Anderson Lake to Duffey Lake. The territory of the Upper Státimc east of the Fraser River included the Three Lake Valley (also known as ''Fountain Valley'') and the adjacent mountains and stretched towards the Hat Creek, a tributary of the Bonaparte River. The Upper Státimc settled in several main settlements on the banks above the Fraser River and on the banks of the Seton and Anderson Lake — probably the word 'Státimc' is derived from a former village ''Tatlh'' on Keatley Creek. Previous there were the following communities: ''Sk'ámqain'' on the shore of Seton Lake, ''Sat'' at the site of present-day city of Lillooet, ''Nxwísten'' at the mouth of the Bridge River, ''Xáxlip'' (′Fountain′), ''Slha7äs'' and ''Tsal'álh'' along Seton Lake and ''Nk'wátkwa'' on the western shore of Lake Anderson. Beside those significant settlements there have been several smaller villages. In

Pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

(Tsk'wáylacw), a mainly ethnically and linguistically Secwepemc settlement in the 19th century, since the beginning of the 20th century this community speaks usually Statimcets, but their particular dialect is a hybrid of Statimcets and

Secwepemctsin The Shuswap language (; shs, Secwepemctsín ) is the traditional language of the Shuswap people ( shs, Secwépemc ) of British Columbia. An endangered language, Shuswap is spoken mainly in the Central and Southern Interior of British Columbia b ...

, because there had been many mixed marriages between Secwepemc and Státimc, know forming the Tsk'weylecw'mc or Pavilion Indian Band. *

N'quatqua N'Quatqua, variously spelled Nequatque, N'quat'qua, is the proper historic name in the St'at'imcets language for the First Nations village of the Stl'atl'imx people of the community of D'Arcy, British Columbia, D'Arcy, which is at the upper end of ...

in D'Arcy. Also known as the Anderson Lake Band and one of the original members of the breakaway

Nation, although now on its own from that organization and from the Lillooet Tribal Council, despite close family ties to the various bands of that organization. Located at the head of Anderson Lake, northeast of Pemberton. Historically the N'Quatqua and Tsalalh bands were one group, the Lakes Lillooet or Lexalexamux, and included a group at the foot of Seton Lake, near Lillooet, known as the Skimka'imx. * Tsaľálh (

Shalalth Shalalth and South Shalalth are unincorporated communities on the northern shore near the western end of Seton Lake in the Squamish-Lillooet region of southwestern British Columbia. The localities are by road about northwest of Lillooet, but o ...

), Skeil, Ohin, Lh7us (Slosh) and Nquayt (Nkiat). Lh7us and Nquayt are at

Seton Portage Seton Portage () is a community located on a narrow strip of land between Anderson Lake and Seton Lake in Squamish-Lillooet Regional District, British Columbia. The community is home to two Seton Lake First Nation communities at either end of t ...

, Skeil, Ohin and Shalalth farther east along Seton Lake. All of these are collectively self-governed within the Lillooet Tribal Council as the Seton Lake First Nation. * Sekw'el'wás in

(Cayoose Creek/Pashilqua Reserves) * Títq'et in

, also spelled Tl'itl'kt (Lillooet Reserve) * Nxwísten in

( Bridge River Indian Band) * Cácl'ep near

(pron. and also spelled Xa'xlip)

Fountain Indian Band Xaxli'p, ( lil, xáxl̓ǝpamx) also known as the Fountain or the Fountain Indian Band, is a First Nations government located in the Central Interior-Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Lillooet ...

. * Tsk'weylecw (in an older spelling used in Statimcets called ''Tsk'waylaxw'', also known as the Pavilion Indian Band and located at

, which is between

and Cache Creek on the lip of the

and at the outlet of the

karst landscape Karst is a topography formed from the dissolution of soluble rocks such as limestone, dolomite, and gypsum. It is characterized by underground drainage systems with sinkholes and caves. It has also been documented for more weathering-resistant ro ...

forming

Marble Canyon Marble Canyon is the section of the Colorado River canyon in northern Arizona from Lee's Ferry to the confluence with the Little Colorado River, which marks the beginning of the Grand Canyon. Lee's Ferry is a common launching point for rive ...

, beyond which are the territories of the Bonaparte Band of the Secwepemc (Shuswap) peoples, who are part of the

Shuswap Nation Tribal Council The Shuswap Nation Tribal Council is a First Nations Tribal Council in the Canadian province of British Columbia. Based in the Thompson and Shuswap Districts of the Central Interior, although including one band on the upper Columbia River in ...

History

They had several types of dwellings—long plank houses, winter earthlodges, and summer bark- or mat-covered lodges, not unlike those at the

Keatley Creek Archaeological Site Keatley Creek is a significant archaeological site in the interior of British Columbia and in the traditional territory of the St'at'imc peoples. Its location is in the Glen Fraser area of the Fraser Canyon ranchlands about 18 miles from the town ...

. Salmon and other fish were the basis of the economy, and numerous animals (bear, sheep, caribou, deer, and small mammals) were hunted and trapped, and berries and fruit were gathered. Warfare with other groups was unusual, with intensive intertribal trade the more typical state of affairs. The Tsilhqot’in-St’at’imc war was one brutal war for the St’at’imc and threatened their survival as a nation. The Tsilhqot’in raided all 11 bands of the Statimc and took women and children as slaves. Both nations met at many roots (Graveyard Valley) in the St’at’imc territory at which the Statimc were victorious. Chief In-Kick-Tee (Hunter Jack) was the warchief in that battle and made a peace treaty in 1845.

Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe

The

declaration of the Lillooet Tribe The Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe is an important document in the history of relations between First Nations and the governments of the Dominion of Canada and the Province of British Columbia. Signed in Spences Bridge on May 10, 1911 by a co ...

was made in 1911 in

Spences Bridge Spences Bridge is a community in the Canadian province of British Columbia, situated north east of Lytton and south of Ashcroft. At Spences Bridge the Trans-Canada Highway crosses the Thompson River. In 1892, Spences Bridge's population inc ...

and is the nation's declaration of ownership over lands that had been seized by non-native settlers at

at the onset of the 20th century, and is considered a general statement of principle regarding ownership of all traditional territories of the Statimcets-speaking peoples. The Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe is the Lillooet Tribe's first formal declaration to the world of the tribes status as a Country, in International terms, as they understood them at that time. The Declaration is mentioned as the foundation document of all the various organizations of the Lillooet Tribe in place today, such as the Statimc Chiefs Council, Lillooet Tribal Council and the

In-SHUCK-ch Nation The In-SHUCK-ch Nation, also known as Lower Lillooet people, are a small First Nations Tribal Council on the lower Lillooet River south of Pemberton- Mount Currie in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The communities of the In-SHUCK-ch a ...

. The Declaration brings the tribe together at the grassroots level as a Country.

Language

The ancestral language of the Státimc people is

(also known as Statimcets, also spelled ''St̓át̓imcets'' or sometimes even ''Sƛ̓áƛ̓imxəc'', pronounced �ʃtɬʼætɬʼɪmxətʃ, a member of the

group which includes the languages of the neighbouring Secwepemc (Shuswap) and

Nlaka'pamux The Nlaka'pamux or Nlakapamuk ( ; ), also previously known as the ''Thompson'', ''Thompson River Salish'', ''Thompson Salish'', ''Thompson River Indians'' or ''Thompson River people'', and historically as the ''Klackarpun'', ''Haukamaugh'', ''Kni ...

(Thompson) peoples.

References

Bibliography

* Joseph, Marie. (1979). ''Cuystwí malh Ucwalmícwts: Ucwalmícwts curriculum for beginners''. Mount Currie, B.C.: Ts’zil Publishing House. ISBN. * Larochell, Martina; van Eijk, Jan P.; & Williams, Lorna. (1981). ''Cuystwí malh Ucwalmícwts: Lillooet legends and stories''. Mount Currie, B.C.: Ts’zil Publishing House. ISBN. * Smith, Trefor. ''Our Stories Are Written on the Land A Brief History of the Upper Státimc 1800-1940''. Lillooet, BC: Upper Státimc Language, Culture and Education Society, 1998. * van Eijk, Jan P. (1991). ''Cuystwí malh Ucwalmíc^wts: Teach yourself Lillooet: Ucwalmícwts curriculum for advanced learners''. Mount Currie, B.C.: Ts’zil Publishing House. ISBN. * van Eijk, Jan P. (1997). ''The Lillooet language: Phonology, morphology, syntax''. Vancouver: UBC Press. ISBN. * Williams, Lorna; van Eijk, Jan P.; & Turner, Gordon. (1979). ''Cuystwí malh Ucwalmícwts: Ucwalmícwts curriculum for intermediates''. Mount Currie, B.C.: Ts’zil Publishing House. ISBN.