Past Chiefs
Secwépemc bands were run by a hereditary Chief with the advice of the Elders. Besides the Chief, there were also Councillors to help the Chief with his duties, such as providing for the community and enforcing the rules.
The ancestors of the Shuswap Indian Band were the most recent permanent settlement of Secwépemc people within the Columbia Valley. A migration to the area occurred approximately 200 years ago (late 1700’s/early 1800’s), and is referred to as ‘the Kinbasket Migration’, after the Kinbasket men who were the hereditary Chiefs of the band.
The move was gradual starting with use of the area as a hunting ground, and produced three generations of Kinbasket Chiefs; Yelheelna, (also known as Gelhulnah), Paul Ignatious and Pierre Kinbasket.
When the young mean first starting exploring they needed a leader. Yelhellna Kinbasket, originally from Adams Lake, became the first chosen Shuswap Chief of the Columbia Valley.
Chief Pierre Kinbasket with Peace Pipe. Courtesy of the Windermere Valley Museum (A174)
Over the years migration continued southward and Chief Yelhellna passed away on the shores of the Columbia River near Spillimacheen. His son, Paul Ignatious Kinbasket, became the next Shuswap Chief. There was dissension among the men of the tribe and so the new Chief gathered up family and followers, trekked north to Kinbasket Lake and after several relocations, at last settled in the Windermere Valley. In the 1850’s, the Chief continued to bring his people from Shuswap Lake country to the area and the tribe was now much larger.
When he became ill, his son Pierre Kinbasket became the third and last of the Shuswap hereditary Chiefs of the Columbia Valley.
“The Indian meaning of the name Kinbasket is “reaching for the highest part of the sky” or “touching the sky ...close to heaven.” Shelagh Dehart, Shuswap Elder
Neither Chief Pierre Kinbasket or his brother Kinbasket had any surviving male children, and thus the Indian Agents stepped in to instil a system of voting.