Community Screening of ‘Snk̛míp Dig Deeper’

The Thetis Island Nature Conservancy and Community Climate Resilience Presents Powerful Reconciliation Film on June 22nd.

Date: June 22

Time: 7:00PM start

Location: Forbes Hall

As part of our Nature of Water project, The Thetis Island Nature Conservancy (ThINC) and Community Climate Resilience (CCR) is proud to host a community screening of ‘Snk̛míp Dig Deeper’, a feature-length documentary, that reveals how what started as a simple wetland restoration project led to uncovering the site's true history: an ancient Indigenous village (located in what is now 'southeastern BC').

Co-directed by Autonomous Sinixt Matriarch Marilyn James and settler conservationist Lorna Visser of the Valhalla Foundation for Ecology, the film documents the transformation of the ecological conservation project into a profound journey of discovery, cultural reconciliation and land-based responsibility.

As the Valhalla Foundation for Ecology worked to rehabilitate the marsh, they discovered it was once the site of a thriving Sinixt village. What followed was an unexpected and challenging collaboration between settler conservationists and Indigenous people. The Sinixt were declared extinct by the Canadian government but they are in fact very much alive and active in their territory. The film looks at the additional reconciliation challenge posed by the Sinixt people's bureaucratic extinction by the federal government.

Beautifully filmed over six years in Sinixt tmxʷúlaʔxʷ (traditional territory), Snk̛míp Dig Deeper offers a rare look into Indigenous-led protocols, ecological ethics, and the complex work of decolonizing conservation work. The film features a custom-composed film score, stunning scenery, humour, and many touching moments that will connect you to why restoration of the land, and the First People of the land, is so important.