Respectful names for the trail along Kalamalka Lake are Syilx ones. Anything else is a part of the fraught history of the Commonage, which is divisive, however, it is viewed.
It’s time to come together as a community and name the trail under advisement from the Okanagan Indian Band.
Traditionally, after all, the lake was never named Kalamalka. It is Chilutsus or “the lake that is two lakes.” The shallow isthmus at Oyama hardly separates it from Wood Lake. In Syilx memory, it likely doesn’t. What’s more, twins are sacred in almost all world cultures.
They speak of the intensification of life. There’s even more: a sacred double-headed rattlesnake is a historical part of the mythical reality of Kalamalka Lake Provincial Park.
These names are not up to me, as I’m not a member of the Okanagan Indian Band.
I suggest them out of respect for the people who know this land best, and to invite us all to open up a conversation with deep roots, deep meaning, and deep community, of which we can all be proud as we move forward together.
Personally, anything else would be a repetition of a colonial wound.
As a child of this valley, I know it’s time to take this step. The rest of the world will respond in the same positive spirit. This reclaiming of names is alive in the world today. Let’s be part of that future.
Harold Rhenisch
Vernon
