{"id":95794,"date":"2025-08-12T16:49:37","date_gmt":"2025-08-12T20:49:37","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=95794"},"modified":"2025-08-12T16:49:37","modified_gmt":"2025-08-12T20:49:37","slug":"squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\/","title":{"rendered":"Squamish Elder receives province\u2019s highest honour"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Ina Pace, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Squamish Chief An Elder in Squamish has revitalized the Nation\u2019s &#8216;ways of knowing,&#8217; and in doing so has received the most prestigious award from the province. The Order of British Columbia (B.C), which was established in 1989, is the highest form of recognition that the province can extend to its citizens. Elder Gwen Harry (Ch\u00e9sha7 \/ Wigistame), 94 years, is one of 15 people who will be receiving the Order of B.C. at a ceremony at Government House in Victoria, held on Tuesday, Sept. 16. The 2025 recipients are being officially recognized for their \u201cextraordinary contributions to the province and beyond,\u201d a news release reads. Harry will receive the award for her \u201clifetime of transformative leadership in education, healing and economic development,&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F08%2F12%2Fsquamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Ina Pace, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Squamish Chief An Elder in Squamish has revitalized the Nation\u2019s &#8216;ways of knowing,&#8217; and in doing so has received the most prestigious award from the province. The Order of British Columbia (B.C), which was established in 1989, is the highest form of recognition that the province can extend to its citizens. Elder Gwen Harry (Ch\u00e9sha7 \/ Wigistame), 94 years, is one of 15 people who will be receiving the Order of B.C. at a ceremony at Government House in Victoria, held on Tuesday, Sept. 16. The 2025 recipients are being officially recognized for their \u201cextraordinary contributions to the province and beyond,\u201d a news release reads. Harry will receive the award for her \u201clifetime of transformative leadership in education, healing and economic development,... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, and Canada Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2025%2F08%2F12%2Fsquamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-95794","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":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v27.4 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Squamish Elder receives province\u2019s highest honour - 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\/2025\/08\/12\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Squamish Elder receives province\u2019s highest honour - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Ina Pace, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, The Squamish Chief An Elder in Squamish has revitalized the Nation\u2019s &#8216;ways of knowing,&#8217; and in doing so has received the most prestigious award from the province. The Order of British Columbia (B.C), which was established in 1989, is the highest form of recognition that the province can extend to its citizens. Elder Gwen Harry (Ch\u00e9sha7 \/ Wigistame), 94 years, is one of 15 people who will be receiving the Order of B.C. at a ceremony at Government House in Victoria, held on Tuesday, Sept. 16. The 2025 recipients are being officially recognized for their \u201cextraordinary contributions to the province and beyond,\u201d a news release reads. Harry will receive the award for her \u201clifetime of transformative leadership in education, healing and economic development,\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2025\/08\/12\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2025-08-12T20:49:37+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/12\\\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/12\\\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Squamish Elder receives province\u2019s highest honour\",\"datePublished\":\"2025-08-12T20:49:37+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/12\\\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":694,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/12\\\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2025\\\/08\\\/12\\\/squamish-elder-receives-provinces-highest-honour\\\/\",\"name\":\"Squamish Elder receives province\u2019s highest honour - 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