The Sto:lo ( /ˈstɔːloʊ/), alternately written as Stó:lō, Stó:lô or Stó:lõ and historically as Staulo or Stahlo, and historically known and commonly referred to in ethnographic literature as the Fraser River Indians or Lower Fraser Salish, are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada. They traditionally speak Halq'eméylem, the "Upriver dialect" of Halkomelem, one of the Coast Salish languages. Stó:lō is the Halqemeylem word for the Fraser River. The Stó:lō are thus the river people.
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The first traces of people living in the Fraser Valley date from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago, the Stó:lō called this area, their traditional territory, S'ólh Téméxw. These early inhabitants of the area were highly mobile hunter-gatherers. There is archeological evidence of a settlement in the lower Fraser Canyon (called "the Milliken site") and a seasonal encampment ("the Glenrose Cannery site") near the mouth of the Fraser River. Remains of this latter campsite show that in spring and early summer they came here to hunt land and sea mammals, such as deer, elk, and seals and, to a lesser extent, fish for salmon, stickleback, eulachon, and sturgeon and gather shellfish. Their livelihood depended on their success at harvesting the resources of the land and the rivers through fishing, foraging and hunting.[1]
Stó:lō elders describe their connection to the land in the statement "we have always been here." They tell of their arrival in S'ólh Téméxw as Tel Swayel ("sky-borne" people) and through the transformations of ancestral animals and fish such as the beaver, mountain goat, and sturgeon. Xexá:ls (transformers) fixed the world and the people and animals in it, creating the present landscape. As Carlson notes:
There is a continuous record of occupation of S'ólh Téméxw by Aboriginal people dating from the early Holocene period, 5,000 to 10,000 years ago. Two archaeological sites referred to in the Origins section are well documented. Additional archaeological evidence from the early period has been found throughout the region, including sites at Stave Lake, Coquitlam Lake and Fort Langley.
Many more sites exist that date from the middle Holocene period (c. 5,500-3,000 years ago). Tools found indicate considerable continuity with the early period. One striking feature of this period is the introduction of permanent house sites, showing evidence of cultural transmission from a nomadic to a more sedentary lifestyle between 5,000 to 4,000 years ago. Characteristic of this period were decorative and sculpted stone items, an increasingly complex relationship with the environment and a more stable and increasingly complex culture. The now extinct Coast Salish wooley dog appeared for the first time during this period.
Among the oldest archaeological digs in Canada is Xá:ytem, at Hatzic, just east of Mission. Initial work on a suburban housing project around a transformer stone aroused the interests of Sto:lo archaeologist Gordon Mohs and the land eventually was transferred to Sto:lo governance for heritage purposes. The focus of the site is a large transformer stone which bears the name Xá:ytem, which has also come to be used for the ancient village site that has been excavated in the surrounding field. There are two major eras found in the dig, one 3000BP the other from 5000-9000BP . Both indicate posthole and timber-frame construction and advanced social and economic life, eventually covered by flooding and sediment during the ongoing evolution of the Fraser delta.
Around Harrison Bay, near Chehalis, a group of structures known variously as the Fraser Valley Pyramids or Scowlitz Mounds are currently the subject of investigation by a joint task force of the Scowlitz First Nation and archaeologists. Little is known about the mounds, which appear to be burial mounds and which contain timber structures to sustain the weight of the mound. Because they are distinct from any other structures anywhere else in the region, it is not assumed that the people who made them were necessarily forebears of the Sto:lo peoples.
This period extends from 3,000 years ago to first contact with European people. New forms of groundstone technology, including slate knives, slate points, hand mauls, nephrite chisels, and nephrite adzes, are evidence of an increasingly specialized society evolving during this period. Social class distinctions were accompanied by changing house forms that indicated expanding households. Warfare became increasingly widespread.[1]
Although Captains Jose Maria Narvaez of Spain and George Vancouver of England explored the Georgia Strait in 1791 and 1792, respectively, they did not reach the Fraser River or Stó:lō territory. The first point of contact between the Stó:lō and Europeans came indirectly, through disease.
A smallpox epidemic struck the Stó:lō in late 1782, arriving overland, likely spreading north from Mexico. It is estimated that the epidemic killed two thirds of the Stó:lō people within six weeks.[2] Those that survived were likely to have been struck with blindness just as hunting season was to begin, only compounding the devastation. Later, however, their close contact with Europeans would lessen the destructive power of the disease on the Stó:lō. In 1862, the effects of a smallpox outbreak on the Stó:lō were limited in comparison with northern indigenous people, because of their access to the vaccine.[2] Although deadly Smallpox epidemics would return at least once more (possibly in 1824 and in 1862), it was, however, only one of a number of serious diseases that would strike the region.[2] Measles, mumps, tuberculosis, influenza and venereal diseases would further ravage the Stó:lō population.
The 1782 epidemic was soon followed by direct, face-to-face contact with white people. The first white man to explore the region from overland was Simon Fraser who travelled down the Fraser River in 1808. Hudson's Bay Company posts Fort Langley (established in 1827) and Fort Yale (1848) brought tremendous change to the relationships of the Stó:lō with each other and with the land. Although these HBC posts were built with the fur trade in mind, trade in salmon soon took over as primary item of exchange. Between 1830 and 1849, Fort Langley's purchases of salmon increased from 200 barrels to 2610 barrels.[2] The Kwantlen branch of the Sto:lo relocated their main village to the proximity of the fort, partly to maintain primacy in trade with the Company and partly for protection. The fort repelled an attack by the Euclataws of Quadra Island and is credited with putting an end to slave raids on the lower Fraser by northern tribes.
Watersheds were the basis for the relationship between Coast Salish towns and villages. Thus, a central theme in the culture of the Stó:lō is salmon fishing. The various tribes fished on the Fraser River and its tributaries, including the Chilliwack and the Harrison. The life of the people was profoundly influenced by the life cycle of the salmon. Ceremonies such as the First Salmon ceremony, performed when the first fish was caught each year, reflected its importance in Stó:lō culture.
Stó:lō society was organized into classes: the sí:yá:m (or upper classes), the ordinary people, and the slaves.[2] A person's family status was important in determining their role within Stó:lō society, and within longhouse ceremonies, though this has faded over time. Slaves may have been treated relatively well, but were not permitted to eat with others at the Longhouse fire.[2] They were primarily responsible for menial tasks such as gathering food or firewood. The actual use of slaves died out long ago, though the memory of which families descend from slaves may continue.[2]
The Síyá:m (or leader) was the most powerful member of each family, while the best hunter was named the Tewit to lead during the hunting season. The Grand Chief, a title which originated much later, is known as the Yewal Síyá:m.
The primary shelter for the Stó:lō people was in the form of a longhouse. Although some modern longhouses were built with gabled roofs, most Stó:lō longhouses were built with a single flat but slanted roof, similar to the Xá:ytem Longhouse.[2] Entire extended families would live in a longhouse, and the structure could be extended as the family expanded. Pit houses (or Quiggly hole houses) were also used, though generations earlier.[2]
Although river and lake canoes were built within Stó:lō, larger ocean-going canoes were primarily acquired through trade with indigenous people of the coast and Vancouver island.[2] In the late 19th century, the emphasis on water transport was replaced first by horse and buggy, then by train and automobile.
Traditionally, Stó:lō girls went through puberty rites at the time of their first menstruation. A pubescent girl would be brought to a pit lined with cedar boughs and told to wait there during daylight hours, only leaving to eat and sleep.[2] Others would bring her fir boughs and instruct her to pick out the needles one at a time, but this was the only work she would be allowed to do; other women would feed, and wash her until her first menstrual period was over. This was practiced widely at least until youth were sent to residential schools.[2]
While there are two Sto:lo tribal councils, not all Sto:lo bands belong to either council. Also, the Chehalis Indian Band of the Sts'Ailes people on the Harrison River, while ethnically and linguistically similar, do not consider themselves Sto:lo. Similarly, the Musqueam Indian Band, Tsleil-Waututh First Nation, Tsawwassen First Nation and Semiahmoo Indian Band are sometimes described as Sto:lo because they are in the Lower Mainland and are ethnolinguistically similar, but they are not part of any Sto:lo organization.
The Stó:lō Declaration included twenty-four First Nations when it was signed in 1977. Twenty-one of these nations entered the BC Treaty Process as the Sto:lo Nation in August 1995. Four First Nations withdrew from the treaty process, leaving seventeen to reach Stage Four of the six-stage process.
In 2005, an internal reorganization of the nineteen Stó:lō First Nations divided them into two tribal councils. Eleven of these First Nations — Aitchelitz, Leq'a:mel, Matsqui, Popkum, Shxwhá:y Village, Skawahlook, Skowkale, Squiala, Sumas, Tzeachten, and Yakweakwioose — chose to remain in the Sto:lo Nation. Eight others formed a new tribal council called the Stó:lō Tribal Council. The eight members of the Stó:lō Tribal Council — Chawathil, Cheam, Kwantlen First Nation, Kwaw-kwaw-Apilt, Scowlitz, Seabird Island, Shxw'ow'hamel First Nation, and Soowahlie — are not participating in the treaty process.[3]