The Lil'wat First Nation (), a.k.a. the Lil'wat Nation or the Mount Currie Indian Band, is a First Nation band government located in the southern Coast Mountains region of the Interior of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Lillooet Tribal Council, which is the largest grouping of band governments of the St'at'imc or Stl'atl'imx people (a.k.a. the Lillooet people). Other St'at'imc governments include the smaller In-SHUCK-ch Nation on the lower Lillooet River to the southwest, and the independent N'quatqua First Nation at the near end of Anderson Lake from Mount Currie, which is the main reserve of the Lil'wat First Nation, and also one of the largest Indian reserves by population in Canada.
The Lil'wat First Nation's offices are located at Mount Currie, British Columbia, about 5 miles east of Pemberton, British Columbia, which is also located in the Lillooet River valley. Mount Currie is also about 20 miles "as the crow flies" from the luxury destination resort of Whistler, British Columbia.
Lil'wat and Lillooet
"Líl̓wat", which is the origin of the post-colonial name for all St'at'imc peoples (a.k.a. the Lillooet people), is from a St'at'imcets word referring to a variety of wild onion, one of the local indigenous food staples. The name became applied to the town that is today's Lillooet in 1860, when the population of the town petitioned the chiefs of what are now the Upper St'at'imc and the Lil'wat for the right to use the name, which was viewed as more harmonious that the town's former name of Cayoosh Flat. One reason for the choice of the new name is that the Douglas Road, also known as the Lillooet Trail as it traversed the Lil'wat country, ended at Cayoosh Flat. The Lil'wat and St'at'imc chiefs agreed to the proposal, with the result that the Lil'wat became also known as the Lower St'at'imc, and the former Upper St'at'imc (formerly just St'at'imc) became known as the Upper Lillooet. The name St'at'imc, according to ethnologist James Teit, was originally used only by outsiders to describe the St'at'imcets-speaking peoples west of the Fraser, who he says had no collective name for themselves despite a common language.
Indian Reserves
Indian Reserves under the administration of the Lil'wat Nation are: Challetkohum Indian Reserve No. 5, 0.6 ha. on left bank of the Lillooet River one mile north of Baptiste Smith Indian Reserve No. 1B Challetkohum Indian Reserve No. 9, 2 ha., on left bank of Lillooet River to the east of IR no. 5 Lokla Indian Reserve No. 4, ha. on left bank of Birkenhead River 5 miles north of IR No. 1 Mount Currie Indian Reserve No. 1, 76.3 ha., at confluence of Lillooet and Birkenhead Rivers, population in 2006: 114 Mount Currie Indian Reserve No. 2, 42.5 ha., on island in the Lillooet River one mile west of IR No. 1. Population in 2006: 15 Mount Currie Indian Reserve No. 6, 1618.8 ha., on the left bank of the Lillooet River north of Nesuch IR No. 3. This is the site of the main community and is what is usually meant by the term "Mount Currie Indian Reserve". Population in 2006: 800 (785 Aboriginal identity, 15 non-Aboriginal identity) Mount Currie Indian Reserve No. 7, 129.5 ha., on the north side of I.R. No. 6 Mount Currie Indian Reserve No. 8, 656.4 ha. on island in confluence of Lillooet and Birkenhead Rivers, Population in 2006, 72 Mount Currie Indian Reserve No. 10, 30.1 ha., west of Creekside, Population in 2006: 180 Nesuch Indian Reserve No. 3, 368.1 ha. on right bank of Lillooet River at north end of Lillooet Lake, Population in 2006: 115 (incl. 10 non-Aboriginal)
Chief and Councillors
Language
Treaty Process
History
The people of the Lil'wat Nation at one time also lived at Pemberton Meadows, about 20 miles northwest up the Lillooet River from Pemberton, but were encouraged by the Oblate fathers to move to their mission at Owl Creek, a few miles up the Birkenhead River from the current reserve at Mount Currie, where the Lil'wat population relocated after the mission was closed.