Thetis & Penelakut History
Wednesday, October 9, 2019 at 9:46PM Hi, I am hoping to reach out to the Thetis community to create a video essay for a course I am taking as part of my masters program at SFU.
I am hoping to find resources or family memories that reflect on indigenous and/or settler perspectives about Thetis Island. I will likely include Penelakut history as well since they are so close.
Some questions I have to get started include: Did Indigenous peoples live on Thetis prior to when H.M.S. Thetis surveyed the land? What was the process of settlement on Thetis? Did Indigenous peoples live on Penelakut prior to it having the Kuper Island residential school? And if so, did local children go here or were they forced to other residential schools to separate them from families? What has the process been like to build the community and culture after the closure of the school.
How have people lived off of, and learned from the land & water? (Both islands)
I plan on visiting our family cabin on Thetis over Thanksgiving weekend if there are references on the island to look at.
Rebecca Innis
Editor’s note: if you have any information or resources you are able to share with Rebecca, please contact her directly, and not by commenting to the post.