The Indigenous Interpretive Panel project for Salt Spring Island originally began with consultations with local Elders in 2019. The CRD and Salt Spring Foundation both provided seed money to begin the process of having discussions with, and most importantly, forming relationships with, local Nation representatives. The idea for the individual Penelakut panel came after Donna Martin, long time friend and ally of the Penelakut Sulxwe’en, passed away suddenly in 2020. Her daughter Tara Martin wanted to honour her mother’s connections with Penelakut Elders and to help uphold the Penelakut connection to Salt Spring. A Donna Martin Legacy fund was launched and Salt Spring rallied as usual. The Salt Spring Historical Society & Archives received a second generous grant from the Salt Spring Foundation to begin the good work with Penelakut and other Elders to produce a total of six Indigenous Interpretive Panels.

The panel statements are almost entirely from the Elders and all of the text has been translated by language knowledge keepers into Hul'qumi'num or SENĆOŦEN as appropriate to match the panel text. We hope that you will visit the panels, learn from the words presented there, and as the Elders have instructed us, “educate yourselves”. Learning and understanding are first steps toward reconciliation.

Here are some photos of the relationship building that was and remains, a good part of the process: