The Ancient Village ȾEL ̧IȽĆE in Cordova Bay

Course description

In February of 1852, Governor Douglas arranged the South Saanich Treaty between PKOLS (Mount Douglas) and Cowichan Head—essentially the treaty of Cordova Bay.

This treaty promised to set aside Indigenous village sites and enclosed fields, and guaranteed hunting and fishing rights. Indigenous families living in the Cordova Bay village known as ȾEL¸IȽĆE (as it is written in SENĆOŦEN) / c̓əl̓íɫč (as it is written in lək̓ʷəŋən) attended that treaty meeting, but the lands were never reserved when the area was surveyed.

Today, the archaeological footprints of the original people of ȾEL ̧IȽĆE / c̓əl̓íɫč are found throughout Cordova Bay. In the summer of 2023, the University of Victoria’s Anthropology Department partnered with Tsawout First Nation to undertake archaeological mapping and excavations in all the Cordova Bay waterfront parks held by the District of Saanich.

This talk will share what our Cordova Bay archaeological work revealed, and its implications for the future.