“Something that is very old, very honourable and should be very precious to you” : an Indigenous feminist analysis of the Salish Weavers Guild, 1966-1986

This thesis examines the work and history of the Salish Weavers Guild (formally entitled “the Original Salish Weavers and Crafts of Koh-Kwa-Leet-Sah”), a collective of predominantly Stó:lō women weavers that operated in the second half of the twentieth century. The Guild produced an incredible array of woven materials, including blankets, robes, sashes, and baskets, among other items, and was made up of roughly forty women and girls. The historical and public narrative behind the Guild’s creation and work thus far has predominantly emphasized the influence of the late Oliver Wells, a Chilliwack area farmer who had built friendships with many of the women and their families. This thesis steps away from this and specifically explores the political circumstances in which the Guild operated. The author draws on an Indigenous feminist framework to challenge settler assumptions around Indigenous women’s work, particularly critiquing settler views on political/public and non-political/private binary. This binary has substantially influenced how academics, and the broader settler public, understand, document and respond to Indigenous assertions of sovereignty and Indigenous resistance. By analyzing archival materials that documented the inner workings of the Guild, newspaper articles detailing their work, and additional literature that defines and articulates Stó:lō ontologies, epistemologies, and cosmologies, this thesis identifies the Guild as a historically powerful example of Indigenous women’s assertions of sovereignty. More specifically, this thesis identifies how the women of the Guild asserted sovereignty over three critical areas: determining membership based on a collective definition of belonging, the transmission of intergenerational knowledge, and publicly articulating relational ties between Stó:lō individuals and non-Indigenous public figures.