2024 Vernon Regatta

While sailing and raising funds for local food security, it is important that we take time to reflect on the traditional peoples’ presence on these lands.  Whereas Europeans arrived a mere 200 years ago, Indigenous Peoples are understood to have inhabited the Okanagan Valley for 10,000 years.  The Sylix people have a deep kinship with the local waters.  While the lake foreshore and tributary creeks provide spawning grounds for fish, the water resources from uplands to the lake are critical to this valley being ‘home’ – providing for drinking water, habitat for food supply, transportation, spiritual and social activities.  As participants in the Okanagan Charity Regatta, we acknowledge that we are on the traditional lands of the Sylix, and pledge to respect and care for the land and water on which we live and play.