First Nations Culture in Lilloet, BC

After visiting the Xat’súll Heritage Village, our group stopped in Lilloet, BC to meet some of the First Nations people of the Bridge River band. Bonnie demonstrated how her people have been drying fish since the beginning of time (see her stretching a sockeye salmon in the video below).

We were then fed a wonderful homemade meal of salmon, rice, potato salad, Caesar salad and bannock (yum!). As the sun was setting, Bonnie and a few others from the site took us up to their archaeological dig to see the distinct pithouse depressions in the ground. Students from the University of Montana are actively excavating the site.

Laura John met us just after dinner and continued to chat with us about her culture, traditions and history. Most interesting to me was the fact that she’s a dancer. Instead of performing a traditional dance, though, she sang two songs for us in a stunning voice while banging her husband’s drum (the video was recorded horizontally- anyone know how to flip it around?).

What I liked:

All of the people we met were so genuinely warm and welcoming that I didn’t want to say goodnight (after the longest day of the trip when I was dragging my butt…).

The Bridge River First Nations people run tours like the one we did but that also includes seeing how they have fished for years down on the river. Prices range from $30.00 CAD for a one-hour fishing tour to $60.00 CAD for a three-hour fishing tour, S7istken site tour (archaeology dig) and a First Nations feast.

Laura had such a beautiful voice and was generous enough to share two songs with us, as well as much interesting info about what her children’s and her own name translated into.

We spent the night at the Reynold’s Hotel, a recently renovated (and still ongoing) accommodation in the middle of the main street of Lillooet. I LOVED the heritage style and that all of the rooms are very different and slightly themed.