Friday November 19, 2021 | METCHOSIN, BC [Updated November 21 & 23, 2021]
by Mary P Brooke, Editor | Island Social Trends
Pearson College in Metchosin has big news!
Chief Russell Chipps of the Sc’ianew First Nation and Elders Rick Peter and Henry (Hank) Chipps on November 18, 2021 officially celebrated with the Pearson College UWC community the gift of new SENĆOŦEN language names and artwork for five student dorm houses. The event was livestreamed.
Students who returned and were new to the Pearson campus at the beginning of the 2021-22 school year have already enthusiastically and proudly embraced the SENĆOŦEN language names.
People of the Salmon:
“The Sc’ianew community are People of the Salmon,” said Chief Chipps at a ceremony hosted by Pearson Vice President Ty Pile that included all 200 students as well as campus faculty and staff.
“Together with our families and friends in all Coast Salish Nations, we honour the renewal and determination represented by the salmon in the Salish Sea and the rivers that run to those waters,” said Chipps.
“We live, learn, work and play on the traditional territories of the Sc’ianew First Nation,” said College Head Craig Davis.
“Our predecessors at Pearson built friendships and learned from our friends in the Sc’ianew community for nearly five decades and today, with gratitude and humility, we receive the gift of new SENĆOŦEN language names and artwork for each of our five student residence houses,” said Davis.
Five new names:
Chief Chipps, Elders Rick Peter and Henry Chipps and student reps from each house officially unveiled the new SENĆOŦEN language names representing five species of Pacific Salmon:
ŦEḴI¸ (Sockeye) Formerly Japan House
SȾOḰI¸ (Spring) Formerly Victoria House
HENEN¸ (Pink or Humpback) Formerly McLaughlin House
QOL¸EW̱ (Chum or Dog Salmon) Formerly East House
ŦÁ¸WEN (Coho) Formerly Calgary House
Pearson, an international pre-university school with students from across Canada and up to 160 countries, was established in 1974 with a mission to make education a force for peace and sustainability. Most recently, the College has focused on how a “place-based” education can be grounded in Indigenous knowledge and environmental stewardship.
“Knowledge of, and centuries-old familiarity with, the land, water and local ecosystems acquired by First Nations peoples guide and help us build upon the work we have developed – such as our Marine Science course, Race Rocks ecoguardianship and outdoor leadership initiatives,” said Davis.
He added that the renaming of the houses is one of many steps on the College’s journey of reconciliation informed by an Indigenous Reconciliation Action Plan created with cross-community input and support and guidance from Sc’ianew. The plan — based on four principles: Indigenous-led, Truth Before Reconciliation, Commitment and Respect, Shared Values and Shared Understanding — outlined a series of action items being implemented at the College.
Pronouncing the new names:
Guidance to the campus community about how to pronounce the new dorm house names was issued in September 2021:
| SENĆOŦEN | Phonetic alphabet | Previous house name |
| ŦEḴI¸ | θə́qiʔ | Japan House |
| ŦÁ¸WEN | θéʔwən | Calgary House |
| SȾOḰI¸ | st̕ᶿáqʷiʔ | Victoria House |
| QOL¸EW̱ | k̕ʷál̕əxʷ | East House |
| HENEN¸ | hə́nən̕ | McLaughlin House |
Climate action leadership:
These principles, Davis noted, are embedded in the development of an additional new curriculum pathway option – the Climate Action Leadership Diploma – for implementation as early as this coming fall, will include four terms of Indigenous Perspectives on the Environment courses developed on conjunction with Royal Roads and Vancouver Island universities.
Design development:
Initial designs for the salmon were created and gifted to the campus by Chief Chipps and shared with the College’s Reconciliation Action Plan Working Group. Chief Chipps consented for his designs to be workshopped and transformed through student, faculty and campus community input to adapt and create the final form of these new visual identities which embody both Sc’ianew and Pearson visual elements in harmony. These were then approved by Elders Rick Peter and Henry Chipps.
Each version utilizes the overarching salmon theme with characteristics and colours unique to each house and acknowledges the ecosystem and elements of campus land and water, including the sea, the land, the sky, the sun, and the moon. An egg-sack within each salmon contains 40 eggs (representing the number of students living in each house) which is cradled by two hands, symbolic of Houseparents who hold and care for students during the school year.
The prominent house signs were manufactured in wood by Brett Moorhouse at Douglas Signs in Esquimalt and will be installed after the naming ceremony.
Reconciliation journey:
“This is both a celebratory and a solemn moment for us at Pearson,” said Davis.
“We celebrate this as one of many steps along our reconciliation journey with the guidance of our neighbours and friends. We also reflect upon the resilience of Indigenous peoples here and around the world and we thank them for their stewardship of the lands and the places we live upon and honour.”
Mitzi Dean, MLA (Esquimalt-Metchosin) said that she is encouraged to see new dorm names at Pearson College “that reflect the cultures of the Coast Salish peoples”.
“Honouring Indigenous language and culture supports a more welcoming learning environment for students and our community,” says Dean.
“As Chief Chipps notes, our friends and neighbours the Sc’ianew community are the ‘People of the Salmon’. I was honoured to be invited to witness this wonderful celebration of collaboration and reconciliation between the Sc’ianew Nation and Pearson College,” said Metchosin Councillor Andy MacKinnon.
