Learn the history of the Lekwungen through water and sculptures in Victoria

The tour begins with a traditional welcome from Cecelia Dick, Tourism Manager for the Songhees. On foot, visitors can follow the seven signs of the Lekwungen, sculptures in the shape of spindle whorls which each tell the importance of these places.

Butch Dick, a Songhees lore keeper and cousin of Cecelia Dick, created these sculptures in 2008 in memory of her grandmother, who spun the hair of now extinct white dogs, Salish Wool Dogs.

Throughout the ride, another Victoria emerges. Little by little, Matoolia, the word in the Lekwungen language for this area, is revealed. You can imagine the forests of yesteryear, the canoes arriving en masse in this muddy area, called xwsзyq’әm, and the Aboriginal peoples who fed on the richness of nature at the time: crabs, mussels, oysters and clams.

On the water, the Songhees take visitors in their traditional canoe to Esquimalt, where their last traditional village stood until 1911, before the forced departure to a reserve. All that we [racontons pendant nos tours] comes from our heart and our mind. We speak for our ancestors because they had no voice back then to say what this land meant to usexplains Cecelia Dick.

Here at p’álәc’әs – or Songhees Point in English –, Melissa Barnhard, tourist guide for the Songhees, feels surrounded by the presence of her ancestors. It’s important to me culturally, because that’s where a lot of the sacred teachings were done. It is also there that the young thirty-year-old confides that she asked for her fiancé in marriage.

Matoolia, meeting place and exchange

When settlers arrived just under two centuries ago, they sometimes found empty areas, thinking no one lived there, says Cecelia Dick. We moved from region to region to […] ensuring variety in our diet, so when people saw we weren’t there they thought it was abandoned, but it wasn’t. We were in other areas during harvest time.

On the quay of the port, not far from the Legislative Assembly, photos from the end of the 19^e century and the beginning of the 20^e century show gatherings, traditional longhouses or dancers with sacred knowledge. What is now Victoria Harbor was once a major gathering place for different First Nations, including a place of food exchange. Lekwungen means the place where the herring is smoked.

Cecelia Dick talks about the importance of camas, these blue-purple flowers whose bulbs are eaten by Aboriginal people, one of the few traditional foods still available. She shares her knowledge on treaties, on the use of cedars, on potlatches, on the paddles that were used as weapons during wars, and she does not hesitate to offer her knowledge to tourists who stop, intrigued by the giant photos.

” I’m really grateful to my aunt [Cecelia]. […] She devotes her life to passing on what she knows to us so that we can share it with others. [Je suis consciente du fait] that we’re not just doing this for ourselves: we’re doing it for the next generation. »

healing through transmission

For Melissa Barnhard, reconnecting with her culture and sharing it is a healing balm. Before taking up this position in the field of tourism, this 30-year-old says she suffered discrimination in her previous job. She couldn’t use her traditional name, “Nawhe-mow-ha,” and her co-workers didn’t understand that she was absent due to cultural protocols.

Now, passers-by are curious when they see her getting out of the canoe, which was not the case even five years ago, she says.

” Before, I was ashamed of being native. I didn’t like carrying an aboriginal handbag because I didn’t like people thinking, “Oh, she’s an Indian, and oh, she’s dirty, she’s going to steal or [prendre de la] drugs.” I didn’t like being stereotyped. But now I’m proud! »

Besides a connection with history, Melissa Barnhard is also learning its language. She sometimes makes mistakes or forgets certain words, but she doesn’t give up. I feel very proud for the first time in my life and I am very grateful to work with my aunt [Cecelia].

Cecelia Dick is proud of the passion of her young guides. She hopes visitors will share their experiences and inspire others to come and experience the story. vast and rich of the Lekwungen.

Since Thursday, these tours are offered from Thursday to Sunday. Places can be reserved on the website or on the Explore Songhees Facebook page.