Early discussions have started about a quarter-millennium-long plan to protect siwɬkw (water) in the Okanagan-Similkameen region’s watersheds.
The early steps to creating a 250-year, multigenerational roadmap comes months after syilx Okanagan leaders and local government officials formally pledged to increase their water protection advocacy.
“The biggest thing will be communicating to our constituents that it’s about the fish, it’s about this place, it’s about us, it’s about our future,” said Tim Lezard, a councillor with the Penticton Indian Band.
“With the 250-year plan, those will be the goals … Some people don’t have that worldview.”
More than 20 members of the Okanagan Similkameen Collaborative Leadership Table gathered for a meeting in the District of Lake Country on April 24.
The meeting brought together elected leaders from the syilx Okanagan Nation, municipal governments, and regional districts.
Protecting watersheds, protecting everyone’s future
It was the group’s fifth formal meeting since 2023, and their first since signing a memorandum of agreement (MOA) last November, which solidified their commitment to protecting the regional watersheds.
While the meeting aimed its sights seven generations into the future, leaders with leadership table also discussed immediate actions they could take as a collective to address ongoing water issues across their jurisdictions.
They hope a collaborative approach will lead to policies and legal structures towards the group’s long-term vision: to restore and conserve both regional waterways and the ecosystems that depend on them.
y̓ilmixʷm (Chief) simo Robert Louie, of Westbank First Nation, described the ambitious 250-year vision as “real” and “significant.”
“History is being made every time we meet,” he said during the April 24 meeting. “Every time we meet, we’re discussing the context of collaboration.
“How do we protect our watersheds? How do we protect our future? The only way we can do that is to work together.”
Various concerns about threats to siwɬkw in the region were raised during the meeting.
Okanagan Indian Band Chief Dan Wilson spoke about drinking water wells on reserve at Okanagan Lake’s north end — Inkumupulux (head of the lake) — that were “perfectly fine for generations” but are failing due to arsenic contamination.
The source of the highly toxic heavy metal in the contaminated wells remains unknown.
Arsenic, which can cause cancer in people and wildlife, can be naturally occurring in groundwater, but normally in trace amounts — however, it can be deadly when released from industrial activities.
It’s a concern that emerged after the 2021 White Rock Lake wildfire, which impacted the community.
“We find that really concerning,” Wilson said. “Because if it’s getting into the groundwater, it’s certainly getting into the lake as well.”
(According to the World Health Organization, “Contaminated water used for drinking, food preparation and irrigation of food crops poses the greatest threat to public health from arsenic.”)
Meanwhile, multiple officials raised concerns about algae blooms threatening drinking water and the region’s waterways — from Kalamalka to Okanagan lakes.
Blooms of blue-green algae, known as cyanobacteria, can produce harmful toxins that disrupt aquatic ecosystems and pose a risk to water quality — impacting the health of humans, wildlife and aquatic beings, according to Watersheds Canada.
The Okanagan Basin Water Board said increased development and ingredients in products such as fertilizers can contribute to excessive algae growth.
“Wood Lake is really suffering, which flows into Kal Lake, and Kal Lake goes into Okanagan Lake,” said Blair Ireland, the mayor of the District of Lake Country.
He said in kiʔláwnaʔ (Kelowna), “they’re already having algae problems there, when they thought that wasn’t going to happen.”
Hopes for improved farming practices
Other concerns officials raised in the meeting included harmful agricultural practices such as over-irrigation and the use of toxic chemicals.
The degradation of both waterways and fish habitats, as well as the loss of lake foreshore and stream ecosystems due to development, were also identified as regional issues.
Fifty-nine per cent of natural shoreline along Okanagan Lake has been lost, according to a 2016 Foreshore Inventory and Mapping (FIM) update report of the lake.
Continued disturbances to the lake’s natural shoreline — caused by an increase in density and land use around the lake — could result in the direct loss of fish habitats, wildlife, ecosystem functions, and even risks to clean drinking water, the report concludes.
And since natural shorelines help filter runoff into the ground, losing more of them could increase both peak water flow and the likelihood of flooding.
“All you have to do is look along this foreshore in the Okanagan Valley — Kal Lake, Wood Lake, or anywhere,” Ireland said. “We are not doing a very good job of protecting our environment.”
Citing the example of Okanagan Lake — the area’s largest reservoir — Ireland added that every day, “someone is interfering with that in a way that’s not good for that lake.”
“If we really truly want to do something about it,” he added, “we gotta protect the foreshores.”
‘Multiple generations of messaging’ needed for plan to work
All members of the leadership table agreed there must be a public education campaign on the purpose of the group.
Such a campaign, they agreed, needs to include awareness-raising messages explaining why protecting and conserving water is more important than ever, given the threats.
And it’s even more urgent because of more frequent droughts linked to climate change.
Officials agreed there must be ongoing educational discussions, relationship building, and policy changes within the agricultural sector to promote environmentally-friendly farming practices including water conservation.
“All of the pesticides they put into the ground go into the water,” Lezard said. “We have to talk about those things.”
Meeting participants also stressed the need for a specific focus on Youth in the leadership table’s public messaging — so there can be opportunities for them to be involved in their educational and advocacy efforts.
“I think we need to start the educating of our children, and let them know we’re doing this for them,” Lazard said, “for their children, their grandchildren and great-grandchildren.”
Amanda Shatzko, director of the Regional District of North Okanagan, called for “multiple generations of messaging.”
“As much as we’re educating ourselves and educating the other adults, we’re trying to protect this area for future generations,” Shatzko said.
“If you want people to buy in, you often need to get children involved — you need them to understand, because they’re really good influences to their parents and families.”
‘Traditional knowledge can help all of our ways of being’
During the meeting, members split off into smaller groups based on their regions — North Okanagan, Central Okanagan and South Okanagan-Similkameen — to brainstorm different collaborative strategies each would work on.
In addition to more public education about the importance of clean water, other action items from the meeting included: collecting water samples and developing a water quality database; inviting graduate students to participate in water data research; restoring creeks and fish habitats; and educating based on syilx knowledge and values around water.
Jordan Coble, a councillor with Westbank First Nation, said it’s crucial the leadership table develop relationships and build trust with syilx Knowledge Keepers.
That way, they can come to a place where Knowledge Keepers are more comfortable educating others and helping to “dispel the reluctance, help dispel the denialism” among the public.
“Understanding that traditional knowledge can help all of our ways of being,” Coble said. “It isn’t just for us as Okanagan people — it’s for everybody to be able to live, breathe, work and play in the same area.”
He made his comments after another participant shared an anecdote about a farmer in the Similkameen whose peach trees washed away when a creek flooded in 2018.
The farmer had removed black cottonwood trees and shrubs along the creek — which in the natural ecosystem maintain the integrity of the creek banks and absorb potential flood waters — and instead planted peach trees in the cottonwoods’ place.
Coble said that, according to syilx traditional knowledge, the cottonwood “in and of itself can help bring water” to dry landscapes — and help retain that water, too.
He cautioned others planting orchards to reconsider removing trees along riverbanks.
“It might be in your best interest — because water’s gonna cost a lot of money these days — to actually keep those trees,” he said, “to help maintain that water preservation that you need for food growth.”
Working together to balance economy with ecology
Participants suggested the group use the syilx Nation’s Four Food Chiefs as a guiding model in their approach to internal consensus-building and decision-making — a model Westbank First Nation already uses across their governance structures, Louie said.
He said Chief skəmixst (Black Bear) represents governance; Chief ntyxtix (Spring Salmon) represents the economy; Chief spʼiƛ̕əm (Bitter Root) represents the land; and Chief siyaʔ (Saskatoon Berry) represents the community.
“You have to be mindful of the land — which includes the waters,” Louie explained. “We have to be mindful of the economic aspects of it.”
And while it’s important to have governance processes clearly designated to achieve results, he said, all members of the broader community must also be front of mind.
”We’ve got to be mindful of the community — all of the constituents, the people who live in this valley and who we represent.”
One of the challenges, he said, will be striking a balance between the four values, particularly between protecting water and maintaining the economy.
“We need education, we need acceptance of the need for protecting the water and conservation,” he said. “But you have to balance it with the right to survive and make money in some cases with agriculture.
“That’s the mindset that we’ve gotta be respectful of and mindful of — sometimes, it may simply take education and understanding, and then you’ve got acceptance. Then you work together to find solutions.”
A duty and responsibility to plan ahead
Meeting attendees agreed to gather three times a year, with the next meeting scheduled for November in the Similkameen Valley.
Deborah Curran, of the University of Victoria’s Environmental Law Centre, shared with participants several examples of long-term planning and collaboration between Indigenous nations and municipalities in “B.C.”
She encouraged local governments to “think about their existing operations, planning and approvals processes in the context of syilx authority.”
West Kelowna Mayor Gord Milsom attended the meeting as an observer, as the city’s council has yet to fully commit to the leadership table. He said his council “needs more time to understand” the group’s terms of reference “and get educated.”
As was the case with the MOA signing, there was no representation from the City of Kelowna at the leadership table’s latest meeting, despite the municipality being the largest in the Okanagan-Similkameen.
Louie said the leadership table has more work to do in providing support and information to municipalities like Kelowna to encourage them to join.
“We’re not giving up one or the other’s jurisdiction,” he emphasized. “We’re not treading on issues of the other.
“That’s not the purpose of why we’re here; we’re here because we have to be here. It’s our duty — it’s our responsibility to be here.”
Chief Greg Gabriel, of Penticton Indian Band, reminded the leadership table that the group “carries a lot of influence,” and that “they can make a change.”
“That message needs to go out to the ones that are not here,” said Gabriel.
syilx Nation member qʷəqʷim̓cxn Tessa Terbasket — one of main leads on the leadership table’s co-ordination team and watershed responsibility planning process — said from now until November, they will focus on community-engagement, relationship-building, educating, and getting more Youth involved.
Along with co-lead Scott Boswell, of Okanagan Collaborative Conservation program, Terbasket said they’ll be preparing an outline for the 250-year watershed responsibility plan to be shared with the rest of the leadership table in November.
She said she has “so much hope” for the leadership table as it moves forward, too.
“Water really moves — it’s interconnected. It’s ancient,” said Terbasket, head of the Okanagan Nation Alliance’s Water Strategy. “It connects us through the generations, it’s always moving forward."
