The BC Historical Federation conference was a one-day event that featured the Federation’s Annual General Meeting, a keynote presentation, and a guided bus tour of S'ólh Téméxw (Stó:lō homelands).

The keynote presentation centered on masking and unmasking Stó:lō placenames, delivered by Dr. Keith Carlson, Canada Research Chair in Indigenous and Community-Engaged History at the University of the Fraser Valley and Director of the Peace and Reconciliation Centre, and Dr. Si:yémiya Albert “Sonny” McHalsie, Cultural Advisor / Sxweyxwiyam (Historian) at the Stó:lō Research and Resource Management Centre, andinstructor at the University of the Fraser Valley.

The presentation explained how place-naming was an integral component of the settler colonial process, and suggested ways in how we can take action to move towards decolonizing, re-Indigenizing, and re-naming places that are known to have original Indigenous names.

Si:yémiya provided examples of place names that guided Indigenous communities while travelling that reflected their knowledge of sites with bountiful food resources; that commemorated historical events and occurrences; and that documented stories of origin and transformation.

Carlson spoke to the process by which colonialists asserted a degree of control by naming spaces and associating new memories that reflected settler heritages. He suggests empowering Indigenous communities to create policies and processes that lead to re-naming on Indigenous terms. 

The messages presented in the keynote presentation were subsequently seeded deeper into the minds of conference participants who joined a three-hour cultural bus tour of Stó:lō homelands where they saw and learned of original Indigenous place names and sxwōxwiyám (ancient stories) and sqwélqwel (personal and family histories) that give shape to Stó:lō culture, history and people. 

Dr. Si:yémiya Albert “Sonny” McHalsie speaks to participants of the 2024 BCHF conference near Yale.