the K’nmaĺka? Sәnqâĺtәn Garden
July 16, 2021
For July and August, the Vernon Museum will share a series of articles that explore some of the many heritage sites around the North Okanagan. To plan a visit to any of the sites featured, please visit https://vernonmuseum.ca/explore/heritage-field-trips/.
Syilx Okangan land
The K’nmaĺka? Sәnqâĺtәn Garden is situated on the Traditional and Unceded territories of the Syilx Nation, and is located at the Okanagan College.
The garden’s creation was a collaboration between the Okanagan Indian Band, Okanagan College, and the Food Action Society of the North Okanagan.
The showcases traditional Syilx plants, medicine, foods, and captikwł.
captikwł & the land
As per the Okanagan Nation Alliance website: “captikwł are a collection of teachings about Syilx Okanagan laws, customs, values, governance structures and principles that, together, define and inform Syilx Okanagan rights and responsibilities to the land and to Syilx Okanagan culture. These stories provide instruction on how to relate to and live on the land.”
Balsam Root, pictured here circa 1960, is one of several plants in the K’nmaĺka? Sәnqâĺtәn Garden that are part of the traditional Syilx diet.
The first plants added to the garden in 2017/’18 were harvested with permission from Elder Theresa Dennis, and came from the Similkameen territory, the SilverStar Mountain Area, and the Head of the Lake. Native plants such as bitter root, saskatoon, wild huckleberry, soap berry, and balsamroot came to rest in garden beds made from recycled materials and containing locally transplanted soil.
Food Sovereignty
Historically, the Syilx people subsisted on many of these plants, supplemented by wild fish, game, and fowl. This system of food sovereignty is by no means a past one, as many Indigenous people in the Okanagan and around the world still maintain a traditional diet instead of consuming only store-bought food.
Studies have found that a traditional diet is vitally important to the health of Indigenous individuals. In 2018, the University of Alberta interviewed 265 Syilx adults to reveal that the consumption of traditional foods, even in small amounts, led to significantly higher intakes of vital nutrients like protein, omega-3 fatty acids, dietary fibre, magnesium, potassium, riboflavin, and vitamins B6, B12, D, and E. Moreover, the study also determined that a traditional diet was extremely important for spiritual, cultural, social, psychological, and economic well-being. All of this likely comes as no surprise to those who follow a traditional diet today.
Indigenous Plants & Ecosystem Change
The historic transition by Indigenous Peoples to a Western diet was an act of survival in the face of multiple colonial policies that reduced access to traditional foods and contributed to ecosystem change; the impacts of this forced change continue to be seen today in the health disparities of Indigenous communities across the country.
Places like the K’nmaĺka? Sәnqâĺtәn Garden provide visitors with an introduction to the roots, fruits, and vegetables that compose a traditional diet, as well as a greater appreciation for the connection Syilx People share with their Ancestral and Unceded Land and Territory.
To learn more, sign up for a Heritage Field Trip to K’nmaĺka? Sәnqâĺtәn Garden on Friday, July 23rd, 2021
Gwyn Evans