Governance

Our Processes

Cultural Safety

We value the safety of our partnership and our communities, and recognize the importance of cultural safety plans and their use. Our partnership is addressing this by actively developing a customized and locally-relevant Cultural Safety Plan for our work.

Indigenous Laws

The Nłeʔkepmx and syilx peoples of the Nicola Valley hold a responsibility to ensure that water can maintain all of its relationships, known and unknown. This responsibility is fulfilled through the stewardship and use of water in accordance with Nłeʔkepmx and syilx laws, as transmitted through oral histories, creation stories, and cultural teachings.

Recognizing the need for water governance decisions to be informed by both Indigenous and provincial laws, the NWGP partnered with the Indigenous Laws Research Unit (ILRU) to research how Nłeʔkepmx and syilx laws relate to water.

This collaborative initiative brings together legal researchers, scholars, community coordinators, knowledge keepers, Elders, leaders, and language speakers to identify, articulate, and apply the laws, customs, stories, and traditions of the Nłeʔkepmx and syilx peoples. Central to this work are sptékʷł and captíkʷl, spíləx̣m and smy̓may̓, and snk̓y̓ép and sənḱlip narratives, which continue to guide relationships with water and the natural world.

The knowledge gathered through this work continues to inform and strengthen government-to-government (G2G) decision-making processes within the Nicola Watershed.

The initial research phase with ILRU resulted in the development of the Scw’exmx and syilx Law resources, which have been integral to several key watershed initiatives, including:

Scw’exmx and syilx Law in & for the Nicola Watershed Report
Scw’exmx and syilx Law in & for the Nicola Watershed Casebook
Scw’exmx and syilx Law in & for the Nicola Watershed Droughts & Flooding Analysis

Building on this foundation, the Indigenous Laws team is developing a Nłeʔkepmxcín and nsyilxcən language glossary, scheduled for publication in 2026. The team is also preparing an implementation workbook titled Scw’exmx and syilx Resolution Pathways: How We Make Decisions and Uphold Our Responsibilities to Water and to Each Other in the Nicola Valley.

The workbook expands on the legal resources developed through the partnership with ILRU by providing practical guidance for applying Nłeʔkepmx and syilx decision-making pathways to the care, use, and stewardship of water throughout the Nicola Watershed.

“This work is not new. This is the work of our ancestors who carried it as far as they could so we could pick it up and continue with the vision of restored inherent rights and stewardship of our territories. We will do so until it is time for the next generation to take over thereby ensuring relationship, knowledge transfer and ceremony are conducted with the land and waters that have known us all since time immemorial and continue to support our relationships today.”

—Crystal McMaster, NWGP N5 Project Director