Skip to Content

Regional District of Central Okanagan Logo Regional District of Central Okanagan Logo

Contact Us
  • Living here
    Living here
    • Alarm permits
    • Building permits and inspections
    • Bylaws
    • Citizen survey
    • Community events and programs
    • Dog licences and control
    • Emergency management
    • Fire protection
    • Maps and GIS
    • Protective services
    • Property taxes
    • Report issues and request services
    • Roads, parking and sidewalks
    • syilx / Okanagan people
    • Utility billings
    • Waste and recycling
    • Water and environmental services
    • Your say RDCO

    QuickLinks

    • Buy/renew dog license
    • Park & facility booking
    • Pay bills online
    • Waste pick up schedule & maps
  • Parks and trails
    Parks and trails
    • Attend nature programs and events
    • Book a facility or park
    • Book an educational program
    • Community halls
    • Ice rinks
    • Park and trail directory
    • Park donations
    • Park planning and resources
    • Park use and regulations
    • Parks calendar
    • Parks newsletter
    • Robert Hobson Environmental Education Centre for the Okanagan
    • Sports courts
    • syilx / Okanagan partnerships
    • Volunteer in parks

    QuickLinks

    • Park & facility booking
  • Environment
    Environment
    • Air quality
    • Climate action
    • Outdoor burning
    • Transportation
    • Waste and recycling
    • Water and environmental services

    QuickLinks

    • Waste pick up schedule & maps
  • Business and land use
    Business and land use
    • Alarm permits
    • Bid opportunities and purchasing
    • Building permits and inspections
    • Business licences
    • Business waste
    • Economic development
    • Maps and GIS
    • Official community plans
    • Planning and land use
    • Planning applications
    • Regional growth strategy
    • Starting a business
    • Zoning

    QuickLinks

    • Business licences
    • Building permits and inspections
    • Planning applications
  • Your government
    Your government
    • A-Z services
    • Agendas and minutes
    • Alternative Approval Process
    • Bid opportunities and purchasing
    • Billing and payments
    • Boards, committees and commissions
    • Board policies
    • Budgets and financial statements
    • Bylaws
    • Contact us
    • Departments
    • Elections
    • Electoral areas
    • Freedom of information
    • Job postings
    • News and notices
    • Planning and land use
    • Plans, reports and studies
    • Regional Board
    • Report issues and request services
    • What we do
    • Your say RDCO

    QuickLinks

    • Agendas and minutes
    • Board policies
    • Budgets & financial plans
    • Regional Board

How Do I...

  • Apply and register
    • Alarm permit
    • Business licence
    • Building permit
    • Dog licence
    • Facility or park rental
    • Job posting
    • Planning applications
  • Buy and pay
    • Alarm permit
    • Business licence
    • Bylaw
    • Dog licence
    • Property taxes
    • Utility bill
  • Find and view
    • Agendas and minutes
    • Annual review
    • Budgets and financial statements
    • Emergency management
    • Maps
    • News and notices
    • Waste pick up schedule
  • Get involved and volunteer
    • Boards, committees and commissions
    • Paid-on-call fire fighter
    • Volunteer in parks
  • Report and request
    • Bylaw complaint
    • Found or lost dog
    • Freedom of information
    • Missed curbside collection
    • Open burning complaint
    • Park issue
    • Weeds complaint
  • Sign up for
    • Emergency notifications
    • News
    • Park programs and events
    • Parks newsletter

syilx / Okanagan people

HomeLiving heresyilx / Okanagan people
  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • LinkedIn
  • Email

Elk sculpture by Smoker Marchand

Land acknowledgement

The RDCO acknowledges our presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land) of the syilx / Okanagan people who have resided here since time immemorial. We recognize, honour, and respect the syilx / Okanagan lands upon which we live, work, and play.

What is tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ?

tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ means the land and everything that lives and interacts on it. It is an all encompassing word that expresses the intersectionality of land and nature.

 

Inclusive regional governance

The Regional Board recognizes that colonial practices exist within our local, provincial and federal government systems. The Board has prioritized redefining our relationships with syilx / Okanagan communities within the Central Okanagan and intends to move forward in the spirit of Reconciliation.

In 2023, the RDCO was provided provincial funding from the Ministry of Municipal Affairs to explore the advancement of First Nation participation on regional district boards. The RDCO and Westbank First Nation (WFN) jointly agreed to engage JWR Business Group to conduct research and then draft the RDCO/WFN Inclusive Regional Governance Initiative Discussion Paper. The discussion paper was presented to the Regional Board and Westbank First Nation Chief and Council in January 2024. The discussion paper outlined five inclusive governance models for more exploration.

Discussion paper 

The Ministry of Municipal Affairs has continued to support this initiative with additional funding for 2024/2025. The RDCO and WFN engaged JWR Business Group, supported by Neilson Strategies Inc. in collaboration with Urban Systems, to facilitate a working session on March 13, 2024 and produce an outcome report following the session. The purpose of this meeting was for elected officials and leadership teams from both the RDCO and WFN to further explore the models proposed in the discussion paper and to provide direction on what preferred what preferred models each government would like to further develop as a proposal to the province.

 

National Indigenous Peoples Day

June is National Indigenous History Month and June 21 is National Indigenous People's Day. On this day we recognize and celebrate the unique heritage, culture, resilience and outstanding contributions of the First Nations, Inuit and Métis across Canada, and more specifically the syilx / Okanagan people. See resources below for ways you can learn something new about the syilx / Okanagan people.

 

National Day for Truth and Reconciliation

Each year, September 30 marks the National Day for Truth and Reconciliation and Orange Shirt Day. The day honours the children who never returned home and the survivors of residential schools, as well as their families and communities. Public commemoration of the tragic and painful history and ongoing impacts of residential schools is a vital part of the reconciliation process.

For more Information about Truth and Reconciliation and the 94 Calls-to-Action please visit: nctr.ca

 

Residential School Survivor Support line

If you are a Survivor and need emotional support, a national crisis line is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week: 1-866-925-4419

 

RDCO and WFN message on Truth and Reconciliation Day

This path we walk calls on us to acknowledge the truth of what has been done to Indigenous people in the past and continues to this day. The injustices toward syilx / Okanagan people and all Indigenous people across Canada take form through policies that perpetuate racism, hardship, and oppression.

As a non-Indigenous person learning and acknowledging these truths has been uncomfortable and frankly, shameful. Many of us coming from a settler heritage have benefitted from the colonial policies that have led us to where we are today.

This acknowledgement and commitment to educate ourselves is the first step toward Truth and Reconciliation. Often, we want to jump straight to action, but this is a journey we must slow walk to fully understand the ever-present challenges faced by Indigenous people in this place we now call Canada.

Before reconciliation there must be truth.

way̓ limləmt | Thank you

Loyal Wooldridge (he/him)
Chairperson | Regional District of Central Okanagan

 

Resources

Kelowna Museums - events

Kelowna Museums have been hosting nsyilxcen language courses and a series "syilx Traditional Plants Use Walking Tour". See the Kelowna Museums events webpage for current offerings.

Sncəwips Heritage Museum

What does it mean to be syilx? The latest exhibit at the Sncəwips Heritage Museum, focuses on the voices of community members and their artistic / written expression of identity. Drop-in and learn all about the syilx people. 

Take the Indian Out of the Child - book

While there are now many books about the Indian residential school system, Take the Indian Out of the Child is the first to speak about specific ways in which it has touched the syilx / Okanagan people. Available for purchase through Okanagan Nation Alliance.

Where are the Children - touring exhibition, website and app

Where are the Children: Healing the impacts of Residential Schools is a touring exhibition that explores the history and impacts of Canada's Residential School System through Survivor stories, archival photographs and documents curated by Iroquois artist Jeff Thomas.

 

Westbank First Nation parks partnership

Visit our syilx / Okanagan partnerships page for more information.

  • syilx / Okanagan people
  • View full living here menu
    • Alarm permits
    • Building permits and inspections
    • Bylaws
    • Citizen survey
    • Community events and programs
    • Dog licences and control
      Toggle Section Dog licences and control Menu
      • Dog complaints
      • Dog licences
      • Dog licence reward program
      • Report lost and found dogs
    • Emergency management
      Toggle Section Emergency management Menu
      • Be prepared
      • Emergency notifications
      • Emergency support services
      • McDougall Creek wildfire recovery and Resiliency Centre
    • Fire protection
      Toggle Section Fire protection Menu
      • Ellison fire department
      • Joe Rich fire rescue
      • North Westside fire rescue
      • Wilson's Landing fire department
      • Community Wildfire Protection Plan
      • Fire prevention
      • FireSmart program
      • Outdoor burning
      • Recruitment
    • Maps and GIS
    • Protective services
      Toggle Section Protective services Menu
      • Alarm permits
      • Calling 911
      • Crime prevention
      • Crime Stoppers
        Toggle Section Crime Stoppers Menu
        • Wanted
        • Missing persons
        • Unsolved crimes
        • About us
      • Victim services
    • Property taxes
    • Report issues and request services
    • Roads, parking and sidewalks
      Toggle Section Roads, parking and sidewalks Menu
      • Snow removal
    • Utility billings
    • Waste and recycling
      Toggle Section Waste and recycling Menu
      • Apartment and condo recycling
      • Business waste
      • Composting
      • Curbside carts
      • Disposal locations
        Toggle Section Disposal locations Menu
        • North Westside Road transfer station
        • Traders Cove transfer station
        • Westside residential waste disposal and recycling centre
      • Garbage
      • Hazardous waste
      • Illegal dumping
      • Living greener calendar
      • Pick up schedule and maps
      • Programs and events
      • Recycle Coach app
      • Recycling
        Toggle Section Recycling Menu
        • Provincial take back programs
        • Recycling depots
      • Reducing food waste
      • Report a missed collection
      • Utility billings
      • Wildlife awareness
      • Yard waste
    • Water and environmental services
    • Your say RDCO

Contact us

Subscribe to this page

Regional District of Central Okanagan footer logo

Regional District of Central Okanagan

1450 KLO Road
Kelowna, BC, V1W 3Z4
Phone: 250-763-4918
Email Us

Open Monday to Friday 8 a.m. to 4 p.m.

Follow us

  • Facebook
  • LinkedIn
  • Instagram
  • Twitter
  • YouTube

Links

  • A-Z services
  • Disclaimer
  • Privacy Statement
  • Freedom of information
  • Sitemap
  • Contact Us
  • Website Feedback

The RDCO acknowledges our presence on the traditional, ancestral, and unceded tm̓xʷúlaʔxʷ (land) of the syilx / Okanagan people who have resided here since time immemorial. We recognize, honour, and respect the syilx / Okanagan lands upon which we live, work, and play.

© Copyright 2025 Regional District of Central Okanagan

Designed by eSolutionsGroup

Browser Compatibility Notification

It appears you are trying to access this site using an outdated browser. As a result, parts of the site may not function properly for you. We recommend updating your browser to its most recent version at your earliest convenience.