Ama sqit, e’ntsa s Kakwela. Lilwat7ulkan. 

Good day, I am Kakwella, I am Lil’wat. 

I am writing from an Indigenous point of view to inform those reading about the importance of acknowledging the land and acknowledging the Indigenous people who reside here. This is an important step on the path to reconciliation between settlers and Lil’wat7ul. 

I believe it’s important for those inhabiting our land to take a moment to reflect on where you are and whose homeland you are on. Due to colonization, residential schools, genocide, and prejudice, there has been an erasure and disappearance of Indigenous languages, and a loss of land and land rights across the world. This destruction has resulted in a loss of knowledge and a part of people’s identity. Acknowledging the people, language, and land are the best ways we can reconcile.

Some facts about my nation: 

The Lil’wat territory extends out to the Squamish area, east towards the Cayoosh, west towards Bute Inlet, and north near Monmouth Mountain. Lil’wat is part of the St’at’imc Tribal Group here in B.C., and there are three dialects within our tribal group. Lil’wat Nation speaks Ucwalmicts (or Lillooet, also known as Lil’wat). 

When writing Ucwalmicts, our language uses numerous letters from the English alphabet, along with several letter combinations, which include: ii, ao, ts, kw, cw, qw, xw, gw, and lh. Then there are the letters and letter combinations that have plosion sounds, shown as p’, t’, ts’, k’, k’w, q’, q’w, z’, l’, m’, n’, w’, y’, r’, g’, g’w. Weirdly enough, number 7 is also used in our alphabet. The 7 acts as a brief pause between syllables, also known as a “glottal stop.”

If you’re interested in going a step further to learn about our Nation and language, I’d suggest visiting firstvoices.com. It’s an amazing feeling to go to places and see signs in Ucwalmicts, hear others speak, and have my language spoken to me. Firstvoices.com is a great website and app to learn numerous Indigenous languages. It was created for Indigenous communities by Indigenous communities to share, help teach, and promote and strengthen language as a community. On this website and app, you can find many languages, definitions, audio recordings, songs, stories and games. 

I hope my language will be spoken more and will be around far into the future.

Kukstumckacw kalanwi. Thank you for listening.

This article was written by Kmyia Grandbois, and was published in the Pique newsmagazine issue 30.24 on June 16, 2023.

Image by Simon Bedford.