Home / News Releases / Media Advisory: Splatsin Members to complete five-day ‘Walking Our Spirits Home’ Journey
Secwepemcúl’ecw (Secwepemc Territory) – On September 6, Splatsin members embarked on a five-day walking journey starting at the former Kamloops Indian Residential School and ending at Splatsin. This historic event is following the discovery of the bodies of 215+ children in unmarked graves this spring. Participants are honouring their lost children by walking their spirits home to Splatsin where many children who attended the school were from.
WHAT: Walkers will be starting the final leg of their five-day journey from Hullcar to Splatsin.
WHEN: Friday, September 10 at 9:30 a.m.
WHERE: Hullcar & Deep Creek Community Hall, 4194 Hullcar Road.
WHO: Kukpi7 (Chief) Wayne Christian, Tkwamipla7 (Councillor) Edna Felix, Splatsin community members, and local dignitaries.
WHY: There will be an opportunity for interviews, photos, and videos with Kukpi7 Christian, Tkwamipla7 George William, and Tkwamipla7 Theresa William.
Please RSVP by 4:30 p.m. on September 9 to Dudley Coulter, Director of Communications at [email protected].
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The Splatsin people reside on reserve lands adjacent to the City of Enderby to the south and across the Shuswap River to the east, within the traditional and unceded territory of the Secwépemc, the largest Interior Salish-speaking First Nation in Canada. Their traditional territory stretches from the B.C./Alberta border near the Yellowhead Pass to the plateau west of the Fraser River, southeast to the Arrow Lakes, and the upper reaches of the Columbia River encompassing 180,000 square kilometres, 32 communities, and a population of 15,000 people. The Splatsin and Secwépemc has total jurisdiction and title to all of their people, lands, and resources and have not surrendered, ceded, or released them to the government.
See the official route of the Walking Our Spirits Home Journey here.