Citxw Nlaka'pamux Assembly 

Community Fishing - Summer of 2022

Wonderful salmon for wonderful people

Over the summer we had our CNA staff fishing at the river for our members. The CNA Board heard there was a large run of salmon headed up the river. They gave the direction to get our staff fishing for the members who were unable to fish themselves.

This was an exciting salmon run with more salmon than our communities have seen for years. We are so thankful the river was so giving. Our people are thankful for the fish we could pull from the river. Many of the fish were made into sc̓wén for our elders. Our staff that helped riverside learned lessons about fishing and processing salmon.

We had many people assist, both staff and volunteers. We were able to engage with some of our knowledge keepers to learn about fishing and processing. Some of our helpers were:

Distribution 

The counts

The CNA caught approximately 2500 salmon. We pulled salmon from all along the Fraser river, from the Anderson Creek area, all the way through Siska to the Lytton area.

We built a drying shack which allowed us to sc̓wén approximately 175 fish, which accounted for 350 sides which were then distributed to elders.

We distributed to all of our 8 communities, from river to cooler to the hands of our members.

Some of the feedback we heard:
"Thank you so much, what a treat!"

"I would love to know how to do this!"

"Fresh fish?! How many do I get?"

Plans going forward

Food security

Food security is a high priority for all our community members, the CNA Board is a driving force behind our food security initiatives. In order to provide opportunities for our members to participate in food security initiatives, the CNA has a plan.

We will be holding fish and hunt camps this year; we will utilize our new mobile kitchen on-site. The mobile kitchen named, "The Gift of Health and Wellness", was purchased in the fall of 2021. Our initial excitement was quickly dashed by a number of unforeseen delays in the operation of the vehicle. With continued setbacks through the 2022 year, we are finally ready to hit the road. Many of you may have seen us in community in October as we toured with the kitchen.

Learning how to plan, prepare, preserve and maintain healthy food and healthy habits will be a large focus in our 2023 year and we hope to utilize our members knowledge in our workshops to learn from each other. If you or someone you know is interested, please give us a call!

Programs @ 250-378-1864

View all the pictures by clicking the link below:

2022 Salmon Distribution.pdf