Who We Are
Who is the Qwelmínte Secwépemc Office
Qwelmínte Secwépemc is a collective of leadership from eight Secwépemc communities (Adams Lake Indian Band, High Bar First Nation, Skwlāx te Secwepemcu’lecw, Simpcw, Skeetchestn, Splatsin, Tk'emlúps te Secwépemc, and Whispering Pines / Clinton Indian Band), along with their Aboriginal Rights and Title and Natural Resource technicians. Qwelmínte Secwépemc has been working with the B.C. Government (through the Ministry of Indigenous Relations and Reconciliation; Ministry of the Environment and Climate Change Strategy; Ministry of Energy, Mines and Low Carbon Innovation; Ministry of Forests; and Ministry of Water, Lands and Resource Stewardship) to move forward via the Qwelmínte Secwépemc Government to Government table.
Qwelmínte Secwépemc, as a collective, is NOT a decision-making body. While leadership and technicians from each of the Secwépemc Signatories are actively part of Qwelmínte Secwépemc, it is the Signatories who ratify the decisions through their respective governance structures and processes respecting a decentralized governance model.
What is Qwelmínte Secwépemc’s mandate
As a hub of leadership and technical expertise, we are strengthened by the collective wisdom of our representatives. We share knowledge and offer insight to each other as well as the Province of B.C. on what has worked and what has not. We are focused on ensuring informed decision-making for the Secwépemc Signatories.
The Qwelmínte Secwépemc Government to Government table is founded on a “Walking On Two Legs” approach - upholding both western laws and science as well as Secwépemc Laws as laid out in our oral histories and songs. For the eight Secwépemc Signatories, as caretakers of Secwepemcúl’ecw we look after everything below, everything on, and everything above our Mother Earth. This includes the Water World, the Sky World, Fire World, and our cultural heritage.
Together with Qwelmínte Secwépemc Signatories, the Province of B.C. can make sustained, substantive progress towards:
Developing a shared path to long-term reconciliation;
Developing structures and processes that can facilitate consensus seeking outcomes;
Supporting Secwépemc with building law and land management capacity; and
Eliminating the socio-economic gaps faced by Secwépemc by securing a central role for Secwépemc as partners in the regional economy and developing a new fiscal relationship.
Qwelmínte Secwépemc and the B.C. Government have a shared goal to develop a pathway to long term reconciliation that will enable our two governments to work collaboratively to preserve Secwepemcúl’ecw in a state consistent with traditional importance to Secwépemc people; and to maintain those practices for future generations.
To create a positive, beneficial and harmonious relationship to protect and care for the tmícw (land, resources, and everything on the earth), Qwelmínte Secwépemc and the B.C. Government have committed to work together toward a comprehensive Recognition and Reconciliation Agreement.