{"id":104637,"date":"2026-05-13T08:40:36","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:40:36","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=104637"},"modified":"2026-05-13T08:40:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T12:40:36","slug":"legacy-of-smelqmix-elder-cewelna-leon-louis-honoured-at-syilx-water-gathering","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/legacy-of-smelqmix-elder-cewelna-leon-louis-honoured-at-syilx-water-gathering\/","title":{"rendered":"Legacy of sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx Elder cewel\u2019na Leon Louis honoured at syilx water gathering"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Like his ancestors before him, cewel\u2019na Leon Louis was committed to upholding syilx laws and responsibilities that ensure future generations have the same access to clean lands and waters as he did. The late sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx Elder from the Lower Similkameen Indian Band regularly attended and led water ceremonies on both sides of the international colonial border; at different creeks, rivers and lakes throughout the vast territory of the cross-boundary syilx Okanagan Nation. It was at these ceremonies where he prayed for the health of siw\u026ck\u02b7 (water); for the tmx\u02b7ulax\u02b7 (the land); for the tmix\u02b7 (all living things) \u2014 such as ntytyix (Chief Salmon) \u2014 and for his own people, including those seven generations from now. \u201cThe ones that are not yet born… <\/p>\n

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By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Like his ancestors before him, cewel\u2019na Leon Louis was committed to upholding syilx laws and responsibilities that ensure future generations have the same access to clean lands and waters as he did. The late sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx Elder from the Lower Similkameen Indian Band regularly attended and led water ceremonies on both sides of the international colonial border; at different creeks, rivers and lakes throughout the vast territory of the cross-boundary syilx Okanagan Nation. It was at these ceremonies where he prayed for the health of siw\u026ck\u02b7 (water); for the tmx\u02b7ulax\u02b7 (the land); for the tmix\u02b7 (all living things) \u2014 such as ntytyix (Chief Salmon) \u2014 and for his own people, including those seven generations from now. \u201cThe ones that are not yet born... <\/p>\n

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Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-104637","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"\nLegacy of sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx Elder cewel\u2019na Leon Louis honoured at syilx water gathering - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/05\/13\/legacy-of-smelqmix-elder-cewelna-leon-louis-honoured-at-syilx-water-gathering\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Legacy of sm\u01ddlqm\u00edx Elder cewel\u2019na Leon Louis honoured at syilx water gathering - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Aaron Hemens, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, IndigiNews Like his ancestors before him, cewel\u2019na Leon Louis was committed to upholding syilx laws and responsibilities that ensure future generations have the same access to clean lands and waters as he did. 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