You will notice that the website includes images and icons of plants. These are plants native to what is now called British Columbia and the Pacific Northwest. The choice to integrate plants of this region is part of our contributions to reconciliation. We aim through this project and our ongoing work on the inclusive teaching of writing to challenge “colonial narratives with awareness of the place, land, and position from which [we] speak” (Indigenous Ways of Knowing). The plant icons represent the situatedness of this project including the rootedness of language and communication to place.
Territorial Acknowledgment
In so doing, we acknowledge that this project was developed on the ancestral, traditional, and unceded territories of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people at the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus. The project’s core faculty and student team members are not of Indigenous ancestry although we represent a range of backgrounds and identities including from historically, persistently or systemically marginalized (HPSM) groups. You can find faculty and student subject position statements on the About page of this website. All stages of this project have received generous support and guidance from the CTLT Indigenous Initiatives team.
Plant Significance
It is important to note that our alignment of plants with each of the ten characteristics of inclusive writing instruction was arbitrary. We are not making any associations between the key characteristics and the significance of these plants to the Coast Salish Nations or other Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest.
Plants embody resilience, growth, and interdependence and so also represent how language, writing and communication embody these same characteristics for the people who use them. Due to cultural genocide and violent colonial practices and policies such as the residential school system, most Indigenous languages in Canada remain at risk.
Indigenous Languages
Through the Indigenous Strategic Plan, UBC is committed to forwarding the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples (UNDRIP). Article 13 (1) of UNDRIP states that:
Indigenous peoples have the right to revitalize, use, develop and transmit to future generations their histories, languages, oral traditions, philosophies, writing systems and literatures, and to designate and retain their own names for communities, places and persons (United Nations, 2007).
Although the number of fluent speakers of Indigenous languages continue to decline, efforts to revitalize Indigenous language and culture have led to an increase in the number of speakers of languages such as hən̓q̓əmin̓əm which is the dialect of the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people and one of three Hul’qumi’num (Halkomelem) dialects spoken by the Coast Salish peoples of what is now called British Columbia.
Indigenous Plant Names
Below you can find the plant icons, their common names, and translations (when available) in hul’qumi’num (Halkomelem)1
Hul’qumi’num (Halkomelem) is a Coast Salish language spoken widely by Coast Salish peoples from the Fraser River into Washington. There are over 17 dialects of Hul’qumi’num (Halkomelem) that are organized into three main dialect groups: hən̓q̓əmin̓əm (Downriver)̓, hul’q’umi’num (Island), and halq’eméylem (Upriver). The dialect hən̓q̓əmin̓əm was spoken by First Nations across the lower mainland including Musqueam, Tsawwassen, Kwikwetlem, and Tsleil-Waututh. Although today there are no fluent hən̓q̓əmin̓əm speakers, this dialect and others have been a part of a concerted effort to revive Indigenous languages and culture (Musqueam)
and Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim (Squamish). As noted above, we are not making any claims to the cultural significance of these plants to Indigenous communities by aligning them with a characteristic. We want instead to honour the naming of these plants by Host Nations who are the original and current stewards of this land, now and since time immemorial2
You can find more information about plants significant to the xʷməθkʷəy̓əm (Musqueam) people (including the Sword Fern) in this
Musqueam Plants
resource for UBC Student Housing. The plants were given their names from Elder Larry Grant, including pronunciations.
.
We have chosen to focus on hən̓q̓əmin̓əm translations of plant names as it is the dialect of the Musqueam people on whose unceded and traditional lands the University of British Columbia’s Vancouver campus is situated. However, we have also included Squamish translations and other Hul’qumi’num (Halkomelem) dialects when a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm translation was unavailable.
| Plant Icon | Plant name in hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ (Downriver Halkomelem) | Plant name in Sḵwx̱wú7mesh Sníchim (Squamish) | Common name |
 | χpey̓əɬp | x̱ápay̓ay | Western Red Cedar (tree) |
 | —3 We could not locate a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ translation of Trembling Aspen. We did find a translation in halq’eméylem: t’thəxtíyəłp (‘rattlesnake plant’). And in hul’q’umi’num: Qw’iiqw’i’yul’ushulhp (‘little dancing tree’). | p’ep’elq’máchxw or p’ep’elq’em (‘shimmering leaves’) | Trembling Aspen |
 | ƛ̓ik̓ʷən̓ (fruit) ƛ̓ik̓ʷən̓əɬp (bush) | tl’íkw’en (fruit) tl’íkw’enay̓ (bush) | Kinnikinnick, Bearberry |
 | spe:nxw | spánanexw | Camas |
 | sθχeləm | tsx̱álem | Sword Fern |
 | səɬa:ɬəx̌ʷəm | — | Pacific Bleeding Heart |
 | kʷil̓xəɬp | — | Pacific Dogwood |
 | qel̕qəɬp (bush) | ḵál̓ḵay (bush) | Wild Rose |
 | —4 We could not locate a hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ translation of mushroom. We located a translation in hul’q’umi’num: q̓em̓s, sq̓em̓s. | ts’áy̓tn tl’a stéwakin (dead person’s umbrella) | Mushroom (Chanterelle) |
 | sṕe | kwiÍayus | Red Flowering Current |
References
- Compton, D.B. & Gerdts, D. Halkomelem ethnobiology website. Simon Fraser University.
- Duncan, R. (translator). Indigenous plant guide: sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim. Museum of Vancouver.
- George-Wilson, K. (translator). Indigenous plant guide: hǝn̓q̓ǝmin̓ǝm. Museum of Vancouver.
- Joseph, L. (2024). Held by the land: 45 ways to use Indigenous plants for healing and nourishment (Guidebook and cards). Wellfleet.
- Kwikwetlem First Nation. Hən̓q̓əmin̓əm̓ language guide.
- Lil’wat Nation. Dictionary. First Voices.
- Musqueam, A Living Culture. Community services: Language. Musqueam Indian Band.
- Turner, N. J. (2014). Appendix 2B. Names of Native Plant Species in Indigenous Languages of Northwestern North America. Ancient Pathways: Ethnobotany and Ecological Wisdom of Indigenous Peoples of Northwestern North America.