‘The Tribes are still here’: Salish School of Spokane breaks ground on new campus
The Salish School of Spokane will break ground on its new campus with traditional tools, Tribal ceremonies and a tribute to language preservation elder Samtica.
Main Points
By Matthew Kincanon | FāVS News Reporter
Next week, the Salish School of Spokane will be breaking ground for their new campus, which will involve using traditional tools and remembering an elder who worked tirelessly to preserve the Salish language.
In July 2024, the school received land from Catholic Charities of Eastern Washington to establish a new campus near the Spokane River.
The new space is part of the River Family Haven project and will expand classroom spaces for the P-12 school, Salish immersion teacher training and adult language and culture classes. It will also have a gymnasium, cafeteria and sports fields for the school and community.
Recognizing Spokane Tribe’s land
At the ceremony, LaRae Wiley (Sinixt), co-founder and former director of the school, said they will recognize they are on Spokane Tribal land and are inviting Tribes from the area and Tribal dignitaries to come and celebrate with them. Students will perform, and a few speeches by some of the school’s partners will be given.
Chris Parkin, principal of the school, said they are also going to “take a moment to pray for the land.”
“We’re going to remove trees and break things, and so we’re having a ceremony to recognize those losses and to promise to fix them, replant, restore and be good stewards of that land,” he said.
There will also be the formal naming of the educational building, and the groundbreaking will be performed using golden pichas instead of shovels. A picha is a traditional root digging tool used by Salish women.
Traditionally, Wiley said, the tool was made of ironwood, was pointed at the bottom and had a handle from an animal’s antlers, such as elk or deer.
“People have used this digging tool for thousands of years to dig bitterroot, camas and all sorts of other roots, and medicinal plants as well,” Wiley said.
Celebrating Southern Interior Salish women
Parkin added half of the tribal economy was the women’s economy, and the roots were taken care of, propagated, harvested and prepared by women.
“Southern Interior Salish women had strong cultural and political power. They had a lot of equality with men,” he said. “Our cultures here are very famous, even globally, for how equitable things were between the sexes, and a lot of that is grounded in the women’s economy and the women’s knowledge, scientific knowledge and cultural practices that they passed on through the generations.”
The traditional plants, he added, were a bedrock of the society and culture, and tying the tool into the ceremony reflects how the school was founded by strong Salish women.
‘The Tribes are still here’
The ceremony will be held on Thursday, May 21, at 2 p.m.. at the site of the new campus at 2720 W. Elliott Dr.
For the school, May 21 is known as Samtica Day. Samtica was a survivor of the St. Mary’s Mission boarding school in Omake, Washington, who passed away in 2021.
Parkin said the groundbreaking will also be a memorial to her, her generosity, and how hard she worked to preserve her language and pass it on to other people. Some of her family will be in attendance.
Wiley said she wants people to know the Tribes are still here and part of the community, and they want other people to join in celebrating that they are still here and moving forward with the new campus.
She added it’s important to recognize this moment and opportunity was built on the hard work of all the teachers, elders, families and everyone who has brought the school’s mission forward.
“We stand on the shoulders of giants, and all of the people struggled to carry it forward to this moment so that we can build on it and look to a future,” Parkin said, adding it’s a moment of gratitude for all of those who got them to this moment.
Those interested in attending can register for the event here.
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