SENK’LIP NEWS JUNE - 2016 EDITION - OKANAGAN INDIAN BAND 12420 WESTSIDE ROAD VERNON, BC V1H 2A4 - FREE

SENK’LIP NEWS

Editor: Shaylen Smith

Chief: Byron Louis

Councillors: Homer Alexis, Lyle Brewer, Barbara (June)

Cole, Tim Isaac, Allan Louis, Coola Louis, Dan Wilson, Ray-

mond Marchand, Russell Williams and Leland Wilson

Ph: 250-542-4328

Fx: 250-542-4990

shaylen.smith@okanagan.org

Children’s book author makes false connections to Okanagan Indian Band

VERNON, British Columbia – May 13, 2016 – When au-

thor Dorothy Hawes approached the Okanagan Indian

Band about her new children’s book “Ogopogo Odyssey” it

had already been completed and fully illus-

trated.

Dorothy sidled around the request to

“endorse” her work, by asking permission to

acknowledge the OKIB in the dedication on

the inside cover. Her request was met with a

resounding “NO.”

The OKIB cultural representative advised

that there were a number of glaring inaccura-

cies with the book because of Dorothy

Hawes’ lack of research - including the use of

Coast Salish imagery not consistent with the

Okanagan culture, incorrect use of Okana-

gan language, and improper portrayal of oral

history.

During an interview on May 8, 2016 with

CBC Radio, Dorothy Hawes tried to make a

connection to the Okanagan Indian Band be-

cause it would help with the sale and promo-

tion of her new book.

In response to the CBC article and interview

with Dorothy Hawes and her false claims of

consultation and support by the OKIB, Chief

Byron Louis released the following state-

ment:

“The Okanagan Indian Band was not consulted during the

writing of this book; OKIB is not affiliated in any way with

Dorothy Hawes; and we do not support her exploitation of

our people, culture and knowledge. This is just another ex-

ample of a non-indigenous person seeking to profit from

our stories. Our stories are our own to tell and illustrate, as

such, books not written or approved by us infringe on our

own voice and are not authentic representations of Okana-

gan people.”

Community Page 2

Okanagan Indian Band Important Numbers CUT AND PLACE ON YOUR FRIDGE!

EMERGENCY NUMBERS: Emergency OKIB Volunteer Fire Dept. Water Buildings Main Band Office Toll Free Administration Education/Training Human Resources Membership Finance Health Social Development and Training Head of the Lake Hall New Horizons Snc’c’amalta?tn Daycare and School Cultural Immersion School Public Works and Housing/Lands Territorial Stewardship/Research

911 250-545-4111 250-308-8075 250-306-1363 250-542-4328 1-866-542-4328 250-542-5094 250-558-3706 250-558-1414 250-545-2402 250-545-3800 250-260-3616 250-542-3444 250-542-7132

Council Meetings Schedule

Regular Scheduled Meetings

First Tuesday of the Month: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Second Tuesday of the Month: 5:30pm to 9:30pm

Third Tuesday of the Month: 9:00am to 4:00pm

Changes to the schedule and community meetings/emergency

meetings will be communicated to the membership in the fol-

lowing ways:

www.okib.ca

www.facebook.com/OkanaganBand

www.twitter.com/OkanaganBand

Process

All requests to be added to the Chief and Council’s agenda must be sub-

mitted to the Executive Director by Wednesday at 4:30pm the week be-

fore the next meeting. Agenda items are reviewed and approved by the

Executive Director and Chief on Thursday afternoon. Contact Stacy Yow,

Executive Assistant to Council: 250-542-4328 ext. 210, or by email at

stacy.yow@okanagan.org

OKIB members, if you have moved, please update your address with the Band Office.

Members who sign up for the Senk’lip will receive the other important mail outs in-

cluding: community engagement information and annual/quarterly reports.

Call the band office, or email okibadmin@okanagan.org to sign up.

General Band Meeting

June 15, 2016

Head of the Lake Hall

Dinner: 5:00 - 6:00pm

Open House: 6:00 - 8:00pm

Strategic Plan Updates by division

General Discussion: 8:00 - 9:00pm

Closing: 9:00pm

For more information contact:

Stacy Yow, Executive Assistant - C&C

250-542-4328

OKIB Aboriginal

Day Celebration

June 21, 2016

Komasket Park Agenda:

4:00 - 4:30 Run for the Drum Registration

4:30-5:30 Run for the Drum

5:30 - 6:30 BBQ

6:30-8:00 Entertainment: music, dance, story-

telling, kids activities

Open Stick Game Tournament (registration open from 5 -

6:30pm) 3-5 players per team. $50. per team. Double knock out. Tour-

nament starts right after dinner

Vendors welcome with a donated a door prize

For more information, contact:

Health Department at

250-542-5094

Culture & Language Page 3

E hee-a-thinaugh checkwook “tl” ap il skwook “tl” eelt I’ll “tl” ghugh “tl” hap.

The sun rising over the hill on the fawn and the older people.

Language Nest

Way ya ya t swit (Hello everyone)

The Language Nest Program has been granted funding for the next two years. This is awesome for

our little xixutems (little girls) and ttwits (little boys). It means that we can offer more language learning

opportunities for our children, so that they can absorb and increase their fluency of our language.

Our program will also be offering Traditional Parenting and Tupa’s Kitchen, and continuing with Lan-

guage Nights. Everyone is welcome, bring your slaxts!

Nest Hours:

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesdays

9am-Noon 0-4 years

Noon – 3pm – Preschool

Snc’c’amala?tn News From the Manager Lorraine Ladan Closures All programs at the Early Childhood Education Centre and School will be closed: Tuesday, June 21 Aboriginal Day Friday, July 1 Canada Day End of School Year Tuesday, June 28 Preschool Gradua-tion 10:00 am Wednesday, June 29 Last Day of School, Noon dismissal Term 3 Report Cards Kindergarten Graduation 10:30 am Last Day of Head Start Infant/Toddler Way from the Infant Toddler Room

Happy Birthday Teal, Brielle, Owen, Lincoln, Tucker

We have been very busy in the infant toddler room!

Tucker and Lincoln will be moving on to the 3-5 room this month and we will miss them here in the baby room but they are so excited to move into the other room!

We have been en-joying all the beau-tiful Oka-nagan weather and look forward to many trips to the park. Please ensure your children are ready for the day by being prepared for the weather and that you have signed the sunscreen permis-sion form at the centre as we apply before going outdoors! Also send a change of clothing for your children as we will begin water play and will be getting wet The children have been very interested in bugs so we have been doing big hunts and exploring all the places a bug may be. The children get so excited when we find one; we then ask Tupa what the Okanagan word is for the bugs found. It’s a great way to learn new words in the lan-guage. Lim Limpt Infant Toddler Staff 3 to 5 Year Old Daycare / Head Start Way’ / Hello from the Head Start Room! We would like to say goodbye to another great school year. Our year end Head Start dinner will be on June 23 at 5:00 pm. Please RSVP with the

Head Start class staff members Jordyn or Rae. We would like to wish Tucker, Lincoln and Denise a very Happy Birthday. We all miss Denise our Head Start Co-ordinator very much. The Head Start class would like to give parents a friendly reminder to bring hats and proper footwear for

Head Start as it is getting hot out. Summer is just around the corner. Have a happy summer from the Head Start Staff. Jordyn Alexis, Rae Cohen, Karen Herriot, Tupa (Virginia) Preschool Way! From the Speplina Room In May the Preschool were learning about bug, birds and Spring. We are going on a fieldtrip to Brewers Pond. We will walk from the barn to the pond, which is a short distance away. At the pond we usually see turtles, ducks and other birds. Thank you to Bar-ry Brewer for letting us visit the pond. June is coming upon us fast. Preschool gradua-tion will be on Tuesday, June 28 starting at 10:00 am. A lunch and cake will be served afterwards. Happy Birthday May 10 – Wacey and Kimora May 27 – Landon Happy Birthday June 2 – Owen

Culture and Language continued Page 4

June 11 - Luke Thank you, Karla, Ramona, Marnie and Tupa Kindergarten Wai from the P’qel qin room, We are nearing the end of the school year al-ready and the students are getting excited about summer holidays. June is always a busy time of the school year. In Okanagan Language Virginia has been teaching the children names for col-ours, clothing, foods and animals. For culture Mona helped the children loom bead their own belts with their names on them and we took a fieldtrip to the Armstrong Art Gallery to view the ‘School Crossing Exhibit’ which included artwork from our Kindergarten class. The students have worked hard all year and now

it’s time for some well-deserved fun. We will celebrate the end of the year by having a family day picnic and pirate day. June 29 is the date for our kindergarten graduation ceremony where we will acknowledge and celebrate the wonder-ful achievements of our students! Congratulations to Eric, Tajai and Katherine for finishing their 3rd home reading sheets this year and having read a total of 90 books, and to Avery for finishing his 2nd home reading sheet by read-ing a total of 60 books so far this year. Awesome reading! Happy Birthday to Eric who celebrates his 6th birthday in June. Mrs. Alexis and Trish Cultural Worker – Mona Tronson This year we will not be hosting out Annual Snc’c’amala?tn Mini Pow wow in respect to the

passing of the late Emery Robins Sr. He was the “Master of Ceremony “at all our mini powwows’ that his drum group Little Hawk per-formed at. He always had new students at his drum each year as he encouraged and shared his cultural knowledge the best way he knew through singing and drumming, laughter and sto-ries. Emery was one of our community members that I called upon to share his teachings of The Art of Drum Making, Hand drumming and Singing. Staff members along with the children and their fami-lies enjoyed Emery’s presence here at the day-care. We will miss him. Mona Tronson

Summer Day Camp for 6 to 12 Year Olds Session 1 Monday, July 11 to Thursday, July 28 Session 2 Tuesday, August 2 to Friday, August 19 The Summer Day Camp is a fun recreational program with a focus on out-door play and sports, a weekly field trip, arts and crafts and cultural activ-ities. A morning and afternoon snack is provided. Children bring their own lunch and any extra healthy snacks. We encourage everyone to drink lots of water and to wear sunscreen and a hat every day. The fees for each 14 day session are $84.00 for status children and $140.00 for non-status. Fees must be prepaid in full before children can attend any days. Registration forms may be picked up at Snc’c’amala?tn? If you would like your child to attend, please register by Friday, June 24. Call Nicole or Lor-raine for more information at 250-545-3800.

Chief and Council Page 5

Health Building - May 2, 2016 - Chief By-

ron Louis, Councillors Tim Isaac, June

Cole, Leland Wilson, Russell Williams

and Lyle Brewer welcomed three chiefs

from the North Peace Tribal Council.

The North Peace Tribal Council (NPTC)

traditional lands cover Northern British

Columbian and Northern Alberta. Tradi-

tional gifts were exchanged with OKIB of-

fering sage and NPTC offering a blanket.

The Chiefs from the NPTC came to find

out “how does Tolko deal with the Okana-

gan Indian Band in their own backyard?”

Tolko has been in the North Peace area

for 60 years and have tenure control over

82% of the NPTC’s traditional territory.

Issues that the NPTC face when negotiat-

ing with Tolko include conflict around tra-

ditional land management, declining cari-

bou herds, woodland buffalo (not endem-

ic to the region) pushing out the caribou,

trap lines not being respected.

The North Peace Tribal Council is in the

process of developing a new relationship

with Tolko and were in Vernon, BC to

meet with Tolko and sign a Letter of Un-

derstanding.

The visit was a great opportunity to sup-

port other First Nations and develop new

relationships. The discussion was engag-

ing and honest with OKIB providing a

background on the history of its relation-

ship with Tolko and how that relationship

has turned out.

North Peace Tribal Council visits OKIB Chief and Council Left to Right: Chief Trevor Mercredi (Beaver First Nation, Fred Didzena, Chief Byron Louis (OKIB), CEO Cameron

Alexis (NPTC) and Councillor Leland Wilson (OKIB)

New Horizons Building - May 25, 2016 -

The elders welcomed Chief Louis to their

weekly Wednesday lunch; the dinner fea-

tured baked chicken, mashed potatoes,

and mixed vegetables with Jello for des-

sert.

The elders shared updates , fundraising

events and concerns. The Elders are fund-

raising for a trip to Arlington, WA. They

had discussed the option of attending the

Elders Gathering in Williams Lake, but the cost and limited

availability of accommodation has deterred the group from

attending.

Current fundraising events include:

Okanagan Elders’ Raffle for $100 (only 100 tickets print-ed)

June 2 - Loonie Auction

June 4 - Garage Sale June 29 - Bingo Byron provided updates and answered questions on current

initiatives including UXO projects, the Round Lake Treat-

ment Centre Referendum, Traditional Territory claims, and

the Ogopogo book that was released (see front page for de-

tails).

Chief Louis Visits with

Elders

Education Page 6

“Stepping Forward”

Program Graduation

Okanagan College – Continuing Studies 22-week Stepping For-ward Program offered in partnership with Okanagan Indian Band, was a significant success with 12 students completing the program. Since November 23, 2015 students have worked to overcome barriers; increased Math and English skills; gained useful workplace certificates; reconnected more deeply with their culture and language; and identified the next steps in their lives.

In the words of Mekaila John, graduate of the Stepping Forward

program, "I am not the same timid person who started this pro-gram 22 weeks ago. I have grown and moved forward in so many ways!"

The students rose to the occasion, drumming and singing the Okanagan Nation song for the 50 plus guests attending their graduation ceremony on Friday, May 6. This was a proud mo-ment for all involved and in attendance. After completing the program, students are now planning to continue their education and/or find employment.

As a group we came up with the following descriptions of the members of the group: Jaime: rock star, shiny, poet, lover of all things, activist for cute stuff, in-ternet pioneer, kickboxer, designer, photographer. Jerry: wise, old soul, smiling, never mad or sad (in public), polite, a joy to be around, good writer. DJ: internet addict, pool player renowned, good cook, smart, funny, in his own world, introvert, good ideas, good looking.

Jonnie: comic, friendly, encouraging, good friend, like a team captain. Mekaila: poet, writer, creative, happy, outgoing, deep (not a surface per-son). Lisa: is the law, kind, generous, Mom, funny, resilient. Ken: comedian, knitter, business entrepreneur, got license, sense of hu-mor. Colton: gamer, hard-working, people person, expressive, funny. Cassidy: traveler, creative, humorous, sassy, knows who she is, confident.

Youth & Education Page 7

YO

UTH

PR

OG

RA

M C

ALE

ND

AR

Here is what’s happening in June:

Canoe Journey

Mural project

Ball hockey until the end of June

Taekwondo belt exam Wednesday

22nd

of June

Youth PALS (firearms licence)

who’s interested? (14- 18 years old)

Youth Hunting Training 4 youth to

participate starts August 15th. Must

have PALS.

Anybody wants to do Food Safe or

Babysitting course?

If you need more information on the

Youth Programs, contact:

Mario Richard, Youth Worker

Office: 250-542-5094

Cell: 250-306-1300

Email: Mario.richard@okanagan.org

Snc’c’amala?tn Photos

TOP: Preschool

class enjoying

themselves at

Komasket

LEFT: Abilynn and

Gabriel making

art.

BOTTOM: Kinder-

garten class at

the Armstrong

Art Gallery

Health & Community Page 8

Patient travel hours

Monday – Friday 9am- noon, 1- 3pm

Due to it being high season anyone requiring accommo-

dations for appointments should try to have their ap-

pointments submitted as early as possible as many hotels

get book to full capacity during the summer months.

Laurie Peters

250-542-5094, extension 206

Hearing Clinic- Connect

Hearing WHAT: Hearing health WHERE: Community Service & Development Department (Health) WHEN: June 23, 2016 from 1:00 – 4:00 Drop-ins are most welcome! WHY: Connect Hearing visits the CS & D Department (Health) and provides a free service to the OKIB Community. If you are experiencing hearing loss, or if you have not had a hearing test, or even repairs to an existing hearing unit, please call us to book an appointment. As an added bonus, if you know of anyone that would attend this free clinic and has not had a test with Connect Hearing mention that you gave your guest a referral and Connect Hearing will mail you a Tim Hortons gift card.

Are you looking for a new doctor?

If you have access to the Internet, type this in:

BC College of Physicians

Or

http://www.cpsbc.ca/physician_search

follow the prompts and not only type in Vernon, also type in Enderby, Arm-

strong or Lumby, etc. Try other communities.

Something to remember though, patient travel does not cover costs to fami-

ly doctors or general practitioners.

There is also the Downtown Primary Care Centre, though if you have a doc-

tor, they would encourage you to make an appointment for a medical visit

with the doctor.

The Nurse Practitioner is at this office from Monday to Friday. A doctor is

available on Thursdays for patients who do not have a doctor. Please call

250.541.1097 for further information.

Contact: Rosalie Saddleman, Community Outreach Worker 250.542.5094 (ext.214) e-mail: rosalie.saddleman@okanagan.org