In a cooperative venture between Tla’amin Nation and the provincial ministry of transportation and infrastructure, new highway signage has been erected at Tis’kwat, Tla’amin Nation’s ancestral home in Townsite.
At a special ceremony to unveil the new sign, Tla’amin hegus John Hackett said the nation acknowledges with gratitude the hard work that had been put into the sign project.
“Seeing our place names on official signage in our territory is very important to our nation,” said Hackett. “The names have existed for thousands of years and hold important information that has been passed down to generations. The inclusion of traditional names on highway signs acknowledges our identity, our belonging here, and our territory.
“This project is a crucial step forward towards decolonization and is a step in the right direction toward reconciliation. The inclusion of our traditional place-names on the highway acknowledges the Tla’amin identity and shows this is our territory.”
Ministry of transportation and infrastructure assistant district manager for the Lower Mainland district Amanda Price said on behalf of the ministry, they are incredibly proud to be able to help support this project to bring the place-names to Tla’amin.
“We’re really hopeful this will be one of many projects where we can partner,” said Price. “The project team that worked together to do this was incredibly collaborative and very willing to share the spirit of this project.”
