Stl’atl’imx Roots
My grandfather, Chief Alphonse Stager, lived his entire life in Mount Currie, Líl’wat territory, fulfilling his leadership role as hereditary chief of the nation. He was groomed for this by my great-grandfather, James Stager, one of the original chiefs to sign the 1911 Declaration of the Lillooet Tribe joining the Indian Rights Association, affirming the people’s demand for their rights and the return of their lands. My great-grandmother, Madeline, raised the family and wove traditional baskets, instructing my grandmother on how to use these skills.
chieftanship, rights, decolonization, heritage
I’m Still Investigating
My mother, Euphemia Stager, was born on 15 November 1927. She was the third eldest of her siblings, Nellie, Rita, James, Hilda, Celina, Myrtle, Allen, and Casper (who died in infancy). The horror came after my birth in 1951. The facts surrounding the death of my mother in 1954 have always been vague, and my father spoke little of this time.The events surrounding my mother’s death came to me through Auntie Hilda, who, at age seventeen, was asked to travel from Mount Currie to Seattle to identify my mother’s body and make arrangements for her return. Official autopsy reports indicate it was an alcohol-related death, but I’m still investigating. My mother was only twenty-seven when she died. The effects of childhood trauma mark me but do not claim me.
fear, loss, unknown, MMIWG
Taken
My mother had her first child early, my half-sister Loretta, who had attended residential school, much like my grandmother, my mother, and all my aunties and uncles. At twelve years of age, while attending residential school, she died of pneumonia when a nun refused her admittance to the infirmary. The profiles of so many others who shared similar traumatic experiences are mirrored in each of my family members.
separation, despair, residential school, erasure
Entrepreneurial Spirit
My grandmother had learned to read and acquired excellent homemaking skills from her mother, who had been the head cook for the Pacific Great Eastern Railway building crew that constructed the line from Squamish to Lillooet between 1912 and 1915. Intended to lure growth to the region, expansion and economic efforts were slow and limited. Grandmother Rosie married into the Líl̓wat community, of which my grandfather was a part of, and learned the indigenous artistry of Líl̓wat basketmaking from her mother-in-law, Madeline. My granny developed her entrepreneurial spirit by selling her baskets to visitors. She used her skills and shared her efforts with the community, an affinity I would associate with and come to understand.
entrepreneurship, resourcefulness, resilience, survival
My Summers in Mount Currie
Customarily, grandmothers often took grandchildren into their care after the passing of a parent. However, my father continued to raise me in Seattle, and after I turned 11, I got to visit Mount Currie to see my mother’s side of the family in the summers. This allowed me to really know my family and connect with my Stl’atl’imx roots.Looking out for her seven children (she bore nine), my grandmother was an excellent cook, gardener, traditional basket weaver, seamstress, and midwife. Her chicken soup is legendary in our family. Luckily for me, I was also able to spend the year 1977 under Rosie’s tutelage, learning to make baskets and listening to her life story.
reconnection, inspiration, intergenerational connection
Next: to Old Buswang Road in the Philippines