Seabird Island Culture, History, and Education
Welcome to a new educational resource site where you can listen to Seabird Island Knowledge Keepers and others as they share aspects of the history and culture of the Seabird Island and broader Tiyt tribe and Stó:lō Nation communities.
Here you’ll also find curriculum resources that have been specifically designed for teachers and educators working with and for Seabird Island. This is a dynamic and growing new curriculum platform so check in regularly to see what new resources have been added.
View Classroom Resources
Who can use these educational materials?
This website is intended first and foremost for Sq’éwqel / Seabird Island band and community members. It is also designed to assist K-12 and college educators who are working with and for the Seabird community. We have made some of the videos and curriculum resources publicly accessible, but to access most of them you will need first to secure permissions. These restrictions are in place because the Elders and other Knowledge Keepers who contributed their time, energy, and knowledge to this project did it with the understanding that they were helping build resources specifically for Seabird members, youth, and educators.
Request Full Access
If you are a Seabird Island band member or community member, or if you are an educator working at one of the Seabird Island schools or the Seabird Island College, you are entitled to access all the information on this website. Please email the Seabird Administrator and request the password.
If you are not a member of the Seabird community or affiliated with the Seabird schools and college, you might still be able to get permission to access the resources. Please email the administrator and provide them with a short letter explaining why you would like to access the videos and curriculum resources.
About the UFVs' BMO Collaboratorium
This website was created through a partnership between the Seabird Island Band and the University of the Fraser Valley’s BMO Collaboratorium. The BMO Collaboratorium brings highly motivated university students to work under faculty mentorship on projects that communities have identified as priorities. For more information on how you can get involved with the UFV BMO Colaboratorium, please go to
→ BMO Collaboratorium WebsiteWorking with Seabird Island
The Sq’éwqel community (also know as Seabird Island Band) is a member of the Tiyt Tribe and the broader Stó:lō Nation. They are an ancient community who was decimated by the 1782 smallpox epidemic and then repopulated in the late nineteenth century with Upper Stó:lō and Lower Nlakapamux people who were being disrupted and displaced from their canyon homes by the construction of the Cariboo Wagon Rd and the Canadian Pacific Railway.
Seabird was initially a commonage reserve for the seven Tiyt tribe communities. On several occasions settlers from Agassiz and elsewhere tried to occupy Seabird and have it removed from the list of Indian Reserves. These threats were thwarted by independent actions taken by the Tiyt tribe and the Cheam Fist Nation to protect and preserve Seabird as a reserve. In 1960 Seabird Island became an independent band (First Nation) under the Indian Act.
Today Seabird works with other Tiyt tribe members and the broader Stó:lō Nation to protect its rights and title and to work towards creating a brighter future for their youth.