Stʼatʼimc


The Statimc, also known as the Lillooet, are an Interior Salish people located in the southern Whale Mountains and Fraser Canyon region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia.
Statimc culture displayed many features typical of Northwest Coast peoples: the potlatch, clan names, mythology, prestige afforded the wealthy and generous, and totem poles in some communities, especially in the Lilwat First Nation, whose tribal lands and trade routes in the Whistler Valley and Green River Valley overlapped with those of the Squamish First Nation, a Coast Salish people. Today they total about 6259.

Groups

The Statimc are divided linguistically, culturally and geographically into two main tribes or First Nations.
The tiny and remote communities of Samahquam, Xa'xtsa and Ska'tin Bands collectively, including the Tenas Lake Band, seceded from the larger Lillooet Tribal Council at the same time to join the N'quatqua First Nation at to form the In-SHUCK-ch Nation. Since the 1980s these First Nations called themselves Nsvq’tsmc, derived from Nsvq’ts – 'split like a crutch', the name of the holy mountain, now called In-SHUCK-ch Mountain.

Upper Statimc

The tribal territory of the different groups of the Upper Státimc extended west of the Fraser River from the mouth of the Pavilion Creek to the Texas Creek in the mountains above the Bridge River and westward through the valleys of Seton Lake and Anderson Lake to Duffey Lake. The territory of the Upper Státimc east of the Fraser River included the Three Lake Valley and the adjacent mountains and stretched towards the Hat Creek, a tributary of the Bonaparte River.
The Upper Státimc settled in several main settlements on the banks above the Fraser River and on the banks of the Seton and Anderson Lake — probably the word 'Státimc' is derived from a former village Tatlh on Keatley Creek. Previous there were the following communities: Sk'ámqain on the shore of Seton Lake, Sat at the site of present-day city of Lillooet, Nxwísten at the mouth of the Bridge River, Xáxlip, Slha7äs and Tsal'álh along Seton Lake and Nk'wátkwa on the western shore of Lake Anderson. Beside those significant settlements there have been several smaller villages. In Pavilion, a mainly ethnically and linguistically Secwepemc settlement in the 19th century, since the beginning of the 20th century this community speaks usually Statimcets, but their particular dialect is a hybrid of Statimcets and Secwepemctsin, because there had been many mixed marriages between Secwepemc and Státimc, know forming the Tsk'weylecw'mc or Pavilion Indian Band.
  • N'quatqua in D'Arcy. Also known as the Anderson Lake Band and one of the original members of the breakaway In-SHUCK-ch Nation, although now on its own from that organization and from the Lillooet Tribal Council, despite close family ties to the various bands of that organization. Located at the head of Anderson Lake, northeast of Pemberton. Historically the N'Quatqua and Tsalalh bands were one group, the Lakes Lillooet or Lexalexamux, and included a group at the foot of Seton Lake, near Lillooet, known as the Skimka'imx.
  • Tsaľálh, Skeil, Ohin, Lh7us and Nquayt. Lh7us and Nquayt are at Seton Portage, Skeil, Ohin and Shalalth farther east along Seton Lake. All of these are collectively self-governed within the Lillooet Tribal Council as the Seton Lake First Nation.
  • Sekw'el'wás in Lillooet
  • Títq'et in Lillooet, also spelled Tl'itl'kt
  • Nxwísten in Lillooet
  • Cácl'ep near Lillooet Fountain Indian Band.
  • Tsk'weylecw peoples, who are part of the Shuswap Nation Tribal Council.

    History

They had several types of dwellings—long plank houses, winter earthlodges, and summer bark- or mat-covered lodges, not unlike those at the Keatley Creek Archaeological Site. Salmon and other fish were the basis of the economy, and numerous animals were hunted and trapped, and berries and fruit were gathered. Warfare with other groups was unusual, with intensive intertribal trade the more typical state of affairs. The Tsilhqot’in-St’at’imc war was one brutal war for the St’at’imc and threatened their survival as a nation. The Tsilhqot’in raided all 11 bands of the Statimc and took women and children as slaves. Both nations met at many roots in the St’at’imc territory at which the Statimc were victorious. Chief In-Kick-Tee was the warchief in that battle and made a peace treaty in 1845.

Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe

The declaration of the Lillooet Tribe was made in 1911 in Spences Bridge and is the nation's declaration of ownership over lands that had been seized by non-native settlers at Seton Portage at the onset of the 20th century, and is considered a general statement of principle regarding ownership of all traditional territories of the Statimcets-speaking peoples. The Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe is the Lillooet Tribe's first formal declaration to the world of the tribes status as a Country, in International terms, as they understood them at that time. The Declaration is mentioned as the foundation document of all the various organizations of the Lillooet Tribe in place today, such as the Statimc Chiefs Council, Lillooet Tribal Council and the In-SHUCK-ch Nation. The Declaration brings the tribe together at the grassroots level as a Country.

Language

The ancestral language of the Státimc people is Lillooet, a member of the Interior Salish group which includes the languages of the neighbouring Secwepemc and Nlaka'pamux peoples.