20 Facts About Sinixt

The Sinixt are of Salishan linguistic extraction, and speak their own dialect of the Colville-Okanagan language.

Many Sinixt continue to live in their traditional territory on the Northern Side of the 49th Parallel, particularly in the Slocan Valley and scattered amongst neighbouring tribes throughout BC, however the Canadian Government declared the Sinixt extinct in 1956.

Parts of the traditional territory of the Sinixt are being claimed by the Westbank Band of the Okanagan people and as shared use and occupancy by the Ktunaxa.

In prehistoric times, the Sinixt were a semi-sedentary people, living in warm, semi-subterranean houses for the winter months.

The Sinixt caught only the salmon that were not strong enough to clear the falls, ensuring that the strongest went on to spawn.

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Sinixt were a Matrilocal people, with newly married couples living with the wife's family rather than the husband's.

Ethnographic and historical evidence suggests the Ktunaxa and the Sinixt battled each other over the territory along the lower Kootenay River between the present cities of Nelson and Castlegar, British Columbia.

The Ktunaxa were considered the intruders, and the dispute was reportedly ended after the Sinixt mounted a large-scale raid into Ktunaxa Territory at the south end of Kootenay Lake.

The Sinixt later renewed their historic peace with the Ktunaxa, and took common cause with them, the Kalispel, the Flathead, the Coeur d'Alene, the Spokane, the Nez Perce, and others against the Blackfoot.

The Sinixt supported the company in its efforts to prevent American trappers and settlers from entering and taking over the territory.

Nevertheless, the Sinixt managed to maintain effective control over their northern traditional territory through the 1850s, 1860s, and 1870s, despite some conflict.

In 1865, Sinixt blocked 200 miners and mining activities at the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay rivers in an attempt to protect their hunting and fishing rights as promised by the Crown as related by Gold Commissioner J C Haynes in a letter to the then acting colonial government in Victoria.

However, their reduced numbers resulted in the Sinixt being unable to control development of the area as it was flooded with miners during a second mineral rush in the 1880s and 1890s.

The majority of Sinixt continued to live in Washington State on the Colville Reservation.

Nevertheless, a number of Sinixt remained permanently in Canada during the first half of the 20th century.

Until the construction of Grand Coulee Dam, the Lower Sinixt continued to fish in their traditional manner at Kettle Falls.

Permanent Sinixt presence was re-established in British Columbia during the late 1980s when, following direction by an Elder, a number of Sinixt descendants returned to the Slocan Valley to protest road building affecting an important village site, now called the Vallican Heritage Site.

Since 1989, a permanent Sinixt presence continues in the Slocan Valley, with local members overseeing the repatriation of remains and playing an increasing role in local affairs.

The ruling effectively recognized the Sinixt as having rights in Canada, despite being declared extinct in 1956.

In Washington, one particular family of Sinixt have figured prominently among recent-day "urban Indians".