This still was taken from a video filmed on June 11, 2017 when Jacko Lake (Pipsell) was named as a Secwepemc Nation cultural heritage site.
Image Credit: VIMEO/Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwépemc Nation (SSN)
June 20, 2017 - 4:30 PM
KAMLOOPS – An exhibition has opened at the Secwepemc Museum that reinforces the local First Nations intention to protect a unique cultural site and echoes opposition to the proposed Ajax mine.
In a private ceremony on June 11, leaders and allies of Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nation officially named Pipsell — the Jacko Lake area — as a Secwepemc Nation cultural heritage site, according to a media release.
“It was a special moment for our Nation as a whole," Shuswap Nation Tribal chair, Chief Wayne Christian says in the release. "The community-centred decision made by Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nation to say no to KGHM Ajax opened the door for us as Secwepemc to make a stand for our collective rights and mark Pipsell as a special part of Secwepemcúlecw (our homelands), worthy of preserving and protecting for our future generations.”
Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nation leaders and members met with allies at the Secwepemc Museum today, JUne 20, for the opening of the Pipsell exhibit and the screening of a video filmed on the the day the Jacko Lake area was named as a heritage site.
The designation states Pipsell may only be used in ways "to preserve and sustain the area, and which allow the culture of the Secwepemc people to be exercised and maintained."
The Stk’emlúpsemc te Secwepemc Nation wants to keep Pipsell as a place of sharing between First Nations and non-First Nations people, the release says.
“As Secwépemc, our connection to Pipsell, a sacred place, is irreplaceable and deeply grounded in one of our oral histories known as the Trout Children Stseptékwll," Skeetchestn Chief Ron Ignace says in the release. "We cannot transport our connection to Pipsell to another site. It does not make sense to permanently sacrifice all that we have in Pipsell to obtain limited monetary and other benefits which will last for only 25 years."
Federal Green Party leader Elizabeth May, Ugo Lapointe with Mining Watch Canada, and representatives from the Thompson Rivers University Faculty Association, Aberdeen Neighbourhood Association, Code Blue and Kamloops Physicians for a Healthy Environment Society were in attendance at the June 11 ceremony.
Pipsell - a Secwepemc Nation Cultural Heritage Site from Stk’emlúpsemcteSecwepemcNatio on Vimeo.
To get caught up on the proposed Ajax mine coverage, click here.
To contact a reporter for this story, email Kim Anderson or email the editor. You can also submit photos, videos or news tips to the newsroom and be entered to win a monthly prize draw.
We welcome your comments and opinions on our stories but play nice. We won't censor or delete comments unless they contain off-topic statements or links, unnecessary vulgarity, false facts, spam or obviously fake profiles. If you have any concerns about what you see in comments, email the editor in the link above.
News from © iNFOnews, 2017