Ghost Peoples

Ghost PeoplesIn 1956 the Canadian government declared the Arrow Lakes Indian Band extinct. There was only one problem they were still alive. But the government was about to begin negotiations with the USA for the Columbia River Treaty that would dam the Columbia and create a reservoir stretching from Castlegar in the south to Revelstoke in the north. This two hundred mile long lake would eventually wipe out all archaeological traces of a culture that had endured

In 1956 the Canadian government declared the Arrow Lakes Indian Band extinct. There was only one problem Ð they were still alive. But the government was about to begin negotiations with the USA for the Columbia River Treaty that would dam the Columbia and create a reservoir stretching from Castlegar in the south to Revelstoke in the north. This two hundred mile long lake would eventually wipe out all archaeological traces of a culture that had endured for over five thousand years. Ghost Peoples is the story of the Sinixt: their origins, their culture, their history and their present situation. This story is not one of blame but one that hopes to shine a light on a darkness that pervades our history so that it can be reconciled. Our story is not complete without the truth of our prehistory; our landscape is barren without its original inhabitants.