By means of hands-on activities and presentations, the student leaves with an understanding and appreciation for traditional Sto:lo technology, housing and culture and the importance of cedar, salmon and oral tradition.

Tour Structure:

Morning tours begin at 9:30 a.m., afternoon tours will begin at 12:30 p.m
Each tour will take approximately 2 hours. Please schedule your transportation accordingly.

The Site Visit

There is an outdoor covered area available for snacks and lunches.
Part of the tour is outside; please have students dress in accordance to weather conditions.
We suggest a maximum tour of 60 visitors.
Tour fee: $10.50 (prices include GST).
Cheque/ Cash/Visa/Mastercard/Interac
Cheque payable to Xá:ytem Longhouse Interpretative Centre.

Xá:ytem Gift Gallery: Plan to visit the Gift Gallery for museum quality art, fun keepsakes, books, posters, and other teaching tools. Custom orders are welcome!

Program Content

Xá:ytem is an ancient settlement with evidence of 9,000 years of occupation. The students learn about “BC’s Oldest House” at 6000 years old and the thousands of artifacts that were unearthed in 1990 and 1991.
Students will learn about the sacred transformer stone. A physical manifestation of Sto:lo spirituality.
Students will take a walk back in time when they enter “Siyemchess” or “Skw:im Spath”, the first two pithouse (skumels) built at Xá:ytem in over 6000 years.
Students will work at a number of hands-on activity program stations..

The Tours
The Cultural Tour

3 stations
Pithouse
Story of Rock

The Archaeology Tour
Welcome/ intro

3 Stations
Pithouse
Story of Rock

Group/ Family Guided Tour
Welcome/ Intro

Pithouse
Story of Rock

Workshops

Drum making
Rattles
Overnighter
Mat Making

Each tour has three hands-on activities each specific to the type of program:

Cultural Tour: Salish weaving, cedar station, and woodworking
Archaeology Tour: Sifting, tool technology, and archaeological lab and questionnaire.
Fishing Tour: Carving out a canoe, slideshow, and fashioning a fish net.

On July 4th 1996, XÁ:YTEM Longhouse Interpretive Centre’s new “friends” acknowledged the important, ground breaking work that the original Friends of Hatzic Rock Society had accomplished in the time they were together. Today the new “friends” society called the XÁ:YTEM Siyaye Society is building on this foundation. They are carrying on the vision and building a society that will benefit XÁ:YTEM.

One of the purposes of the society is to raise funds from the sales of lapel pins, a set of four interpretive posters, and memberships. Setting up a gift shop is another objective of the Society as well as preserving and promoting the site.

Our Vision

Our vision for the future is to create a heritage centre at Xá:ytem which reflects the values and the spiritual, cultural and archaeological traditions of the Stó:lo Nation to the world without compromising the natural or spiritual integrity of this very special place.

Our Purpose

To promote awareness of the site and its significance.
To provide interested persons and organizations the opportunity to share in the development and benefits of the site.
To support activities of XÁ:YTEM.
To support educational programming.
To help raise funds and generate revenue to support the XA:YTEM site.

Xá:ytem welcomes financial contributions to support its rich cultural programming and for future development and for financial news.

Xá:ytem is a non-profit charitable organization that offers a charitable tax receipts to donors, funders, individuals and organizations for their support to keep us operating and growing. If you wish to contribute please make out cheque or money order to the Sto:lo Heritage Trust Society and mail to 35087 Lougheed Highway, Mission, BC V2V 6T1. If you wish we accept Visa and Mastercard, American Express or Interact, please contact us at (604) 820-9725 or email info@xaytem.ca

Are you interested in becoming a volunteer?

Working in the Siyaye Society Gift Shop.
Donating time to landscape the site.
Taking part in the interpretation/education programs.
Carrying out some administration work.
Helping with fund-raising activities.

Future fundraising plans are in the works and anyone interested in becoming part of this exciting new development for Mission can call us and leave their name and number for the XÁ:YTEM Siyaye Society or email to the address below. You may wish to contribute a specific skill or simply wish to support this very worthwhile society by becoming a member.

Our vision for the future is to create a heritage centre at XÁ:YTEM which reflects the values and the spiritual, cultural and archaeological traditions of the Stó:lo Nation to the world, without compromising the natural or spiritual integrity of this very special place.

A Few of Our Objectives for XÁ:YTEM:

To provide a focus for the expression of the cultural heritage of the Stó:lo people by preserving the site’s spiritual character and artifacts and to provide opportunities for Stó:lo cultural activities that promote and strengthen Stó:lo culture.

To increase public knowledge regarding historical and contemporary Stó:lo culture particularly as it relates to environmental cultural and spiritual heritage.

To support economic development within the region and to provide new employment opportunities for Native youth and spin-off benefits to all residents of the local community and region.

To develop a First Nations Historic site of national and international significance and to enhance the status of the Fraser Valley and British Columbia as destinations for tourists.

To conserve and manage the archaeological and cultural resources and the natural site features in response to the needs of the site interpretive programs and cultural activities.

To achieve and maintain a level of financing that sustains the site in a manner that contributes to the attainment of the site’s objectives.

Comments Supporting the Creation a World-Class Native Heritage Centre

“The Stó:lo Nation is determined to build a World Class Heritage Interpretive Centre at Hatzic, British Columbia, at an estimated cost of $6,000,000. The Chiefs of the Stó:lo Nation fully support the XÁ:YTEM Longhouse Interpretive Centre, Hatzic Rock Site and the efforts of those directly and indirectly involved with this project. Our vision of developing a World Class Heritage Interpretive Centre is also to showcase Stó:lo cultural, archaeological and spiritual traditions.”

—- Chief Steven Point, Stó:lo Nation Chiefs’ Representative, October 1996

“I would strongly urge support of this endeavour…. There is no permanent public interpretation of a First Nations archaeological site in British Columbia….This is a serious gap in our public history.”

—- Dr.Michael Ames, Director and Professor, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, August 1991

“I could have had it developed and sold by now, but it holds someone’s heritage, and that strikes a chord . . . Maybe by cooperating, we’ll make history here.”

—- Harry Utzig, former property owner, 1991

The first archaeological excavations were done in the fall of 1990 under spartan granit conditions before the rainy weather set in. Information gathered at this time proved the site was extremely rich and a more extensive excavation was then planned.

In 1991, archaeologists from the University of British Columbia and the Stó:lo Nation uncovered the remains of an ancient dwelling and collected thousands of artifacts from the bulldozed surface of the site and gathering an understanding on the individuals daily task like hunting, cooking, making maple syrup sugar, cleaning and socializing.

In July of 1992, the Federal Government officially designated XÁ:YTEM as a National Historic Site, one of the first Native spiritual sites in Canada to be formally recognized in this manner. The following year, the provincial government of BC announced the eighteen acres had been acquired through a special arrangement with the owner of the property.

Archaeologists at XÁ:YTEM excavated down to a 10 by 12 meter house floor approximately 3.5 meters below ground level. The exposed ‘floor’ of the house revealed that it had been specially prepared with packed sand and clay. A dozen dark, circular patches of soil are the remains of the house’s supporting wooden posts called post-mould features. Since the dwelling may have been occupied over a 300-year period, the post-mould features likely belong to several occupations and renovations. Imagine the archaeologist’s job of sorting out when and how many times the house was renovated!

In 1894, anthropologist Charles Hill-Tout opened one of the burial mounds near XÁ:YTEM. Since then, over 350 prehistoric sites and an additional 200 sacred sites have been recorded in the traditional Stó:lo territory. This represents only a portion of the Fraser Valley which has been surveyed for heritage sites. Today, the heritage staff at Stó:lo Nation and ViSalus are working to record and preserve the traditional village sites, seasonal camps, ceremonial and spiritual places in their territory.

—- Stó:lo Elder James Louie speaking at XÁ:YTEM, September 1991

One of the things that makes XÁ:YTEM unique is the blending of science with Native oral tradition. At XÁ:YTEM students are afforded an opportunity not only to see archaeology in action but also to explore the science of archaeology for themselves.

Archaeological evidence from XÁ:YTEM is physical testimony of long term Stó:lo presence, cultural traditions and spirituality. It also demonstrates that ancestors of the Stó:lo were a socially developed sedentary society of people who fished for salmon, systematically harvested the forests, traded over great distances and practiced a life rich in ceremony.

Open year round!

Xá:ytem Longhouse Interpretive Centre
Mission, British Columbia

Xa:ytem offers a unique opportunity to learn about Sto:lo spirituality, archaeology and history at a place where our culture has flourished for thousands of years.

Xá:ytem welcomes financial contributions to support its rich cultural programming and for future development. Xá:ytem is a non-profit charitable organization that offers a charitable tax receipts to donors, funders, individuals and organizations for their support to keep us operating and growing. If you wish to contribute please make out cheque or money order to the Sto:lo Heritage Trust Society and mail to 35087 Lougheed Highway, Mission, BC V2V 6T1.