Salmon Boy: A Legend of the Sechelt People

The Sechelt Nation, a division of the Coast Salish family of First Nations peoples, originallyoccupied the southern portion of what is now known as the Sunshine Coast, from Gower Point near Gibsons to Saltery Bay, south of Powell River. At time of contact the shishalh (Sechelt people) occupied some 80 scattered village sites divided into four main tribal groupings, the xenichen, the t’ sunay, the tuwankw and the sxixus. A populous and peaceful people, the Sechelt enjoyed a comparatively prosperous existence owing to their benign climate and an abundance of salmon, herring, and other food resources. Estimates of original population range from 5,000 to 20,000, but by the time of the first official census in 1881, Sechelt population had plunged to a mere 167, mostly as a result of introduced diseases. Father Paul Durieu of the Oblate missionaries converted the Sechelt to Catholicism by 1865 and founded a central mission at the present Sechelt village on Trail Bay in 1868. The modern Sechelt are one of Canada’ s most progressive First Nations groups, having been involved in the operation of a deep-sea fishing vessel, a commercial airline, a salmon hatchery, an office and cultural complex, a large gravel-mining project, and other business enterprises. In 1986 the Sechelt gained international notice when their long campaign to gain control of their own affairs culminated in the successful passage of Bill C-93, The Sechelt Indian Band Self-Government Act, making them the first band in Canada to achieve native self-government. In 1999, the band followed this by signing an agreement in principle for settling its land claim with federal and provincial governments. As of 1999, the Sechelt band numbered 1003 members, 448 of whom lived on band lands.