SĆIȺNEW Elder Lavina Charles gifted a SENĆOŦEN name to the newest facility in the Sooke School District: SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ Elementary School.

SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ is a brand-new elementary school with capacity to serve 480 students. It is located at 802 Latoria Road, Langford and – with 45,000-square-feet of large open spaces and a modern design – it will be an excellent place for the community’s children to learn and grow. The school is slated to open in the Fall of 2025.

The SENĆOŦEN name gifted by Charles — SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ — translates to “Salmon Children,” and is pronounced Schee-ay-nuh Sla-leetk-luth. In this way, the name honours the children who will attend the school while acknowledging that the school and many of the families it serves are living and learning on SĆIȺNEW’s traditional territory.

This gifted name is a powerful example of reconciliation in action. As Charles said in an article by the Prince George Citizen News, “I’m so glad that it’s happening because I went through hell in school,” she added, “I was told not to use my church, my words, everything else that made me who I am.” Charles’ naming of this school, then, is a reclamation of the power and identity taken from her as a child.

In a statement, the school district echoed this sentiment, describing the naming as “a commitment from the Sooke School District that the painful and ugly history of educational institutions will not be forgotten and that schools can and will be places of healing and hope.”

Charles, Chief Russ Chipps, and the Band Council are grateful for this opportunity to work together with the school district to further reconciliation and create a safe space for youth to thrive. As Band Councillor Traci-Lynn Pateman shared in a video for the school district:

I’d like to offer my gratitude to your community for giving us the opportunity to provide a name that is significant to our culture being that our children are our greatest gift and our future. You are shaping the leaders of our next community.

Pateman also expressed optimism for what the name means for future relations between SĆIȺNEW and the school district. In her words: “Being able to share this name brings both of our communities together.”

In the same video, Chief Russ Chipps expressed a message of connection between communities, sharing:

The medicine that our auntie is sharing with you guys, I hope, can spread over the whole community. We raise our hands up to you.

SĆIȺNEW̱ SṮEȽIṮḴEȽ is the second name gifted to Sooke School District by SĆIȺNEW. The first was the gift of the word “Lellum” – meaning “house and the idea of community, where we raise our children” – when naming the Centre Mountain Lellum Middle School.

SĆIȺNEW is grateful for the opportunity to build a positive relationship with the school district by gifting a name to the new school and looks forward to watching the next generation of youth thrive in the bright and beautiful new space. 

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