T'Sou-ke Nation
Sooke, located on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, is the historical home of the T'Sou-ke Nation, also known as the Sunghees. The T'Sou-ke people were traditionally a maritime community with a robust culture centered around fishing, hunting, and gathering. They lived in substantial cedar dwellings and formed permanent winter villages that emphasized community defense and cooperation. Their lifestyle included a variety of ceremonies, such as Spirit Dances and the First Salmon Ceremony, which played significant roles in their cultural practices and rites of passage.
Historically, the T'Sou-ke Nation faced significant challenges following European contact, particularly after 1850, due to the arrival of gold miners and settlers, which led to a decline in their population due to disease. Despite these hardships, the T'Sou-ke Nation has worked diligently to revitalize their community through sustainability and self-sufficiency initiatives, focusing on renewable energy and local food production. Today, their cultural heritage and efforts to maintain their identity continue to be vital aspects of their community’s resilience and growth.
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T'Sou-ke Nation
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Northwest Coast
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Salishan
- PRIMARY LOCATION: Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada
The descendants of the T'Sou-ke Nation, once known by their anglicized name of Sooke (or Sunghees), were a maritime people with bilateral kinship. They lived in large, rectangular, split, hand-hewn cedar dwellings in permanent winter villages that cooperated in defense. Members of what is now the T'Sou-ke Nation intermarried with adjacent people. Their principal food source was the sea; they fished and harpooned sea mammals. During the summer and fall, they hunted and gathered numerous types of animals and plants for food and utilitarian products. The major ceremonies were the Spirit Dances, the Secret Society, the First Salmon Ceremony, and the Cleansing Ceremonies. Potlatches were staged for certain rites of passage, house erection, canoe launching, and change of status. Young men trained for a vision quest to become shamans and to attain a tutelary spirit. Little was recorded of these early people. After 1850, their population was greatly reduced by the influx of gold miners and settlers, who brought disease, although a small group remained. Their population numbered only in the few hundreds in the twenty-first century. However, the T'Sou-ke Nation was known for its sustainability and self-sufficiency initiatives, which focused on renewable energy and local food production.
Bibliography
Ducklow, Zoe. “T’Sou-ke Nation and District of Sooke Reaffirm Committment to Work Together.” Vancouver Island Free Daily, 30 June 2021, www.vancouverislandfreedaily.com/news/tsou-ke-nation-and-district-of-sooke-reaffirm-committment-to-work-together-7213168. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
Kennedy, Dorothy, and Randy Bouchard. "Coast Salish." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 25 July 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/coastal-salish. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
“T'Sou-ke First Nation.” British Columbia Assembly of First Nations, www.bcafn.ca/first-nations-bc/vancouver-island-coast/tsou-ke-first-nation. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.
“T'Sou-ke Nation.” Greater Victoria Chamber of Commerce, web.victoriachamber.ca/Government-Agencies,-First-Nations-Crown-Corporations/T'Souke-Nation-8624. Accessed 4 Dec. 2024.