I live in k̓ukamaʔnam within Ktunaxa ʔamakʔis, also known by its colonial name of Kimberley, BC. My home is within the Townsite neighbourhood, and my block is made up of miner shacks, which were placed here in the 1920’s. According to my neighbour, these particular houses were moved here from the Wasa mine as staff housing for the Sullivan mine workers and their families. 

The Ktunaxa people have been on this land for over 10,000 years. Their language is a language isolate, unique from any other in the world, and deeply tied to this landscape. The Ktunaxa were seasonally nomadic within their traditional territory for thousands of years, following vegetation and hunting cycles across an area of about 70,000 square kilometres throughout the Rocky Mountains and the Great Plains. The Ktunaxa traditionally lived in small family units of 5-15 people, in pithouses or teepees, but spent most of their waking hours outside. From attending talks with the previous Aq’am Nasookin (Chief) Joe Pierre, I have learned that all needs of the Ktunaxa were met from the land, including medicines and herbs such as fireweed, pine needs, arrowleaf balsamroot, and sustenance such as elk, mule deer, trout, salmon, camas and thimbleberry. 

Cranbrook-raised historian Sean Macphereson’s Master’s thesis is an original dive into the true history of contact and conflict for the Ktunaxa and European settlers, using the Kootenai Uprising as a case study (for context, Cranbrook is only 20 minutes away from Kimberley, the Aq’am reserve lies in between). Much of what has been written before has been based on settler myth or from colonial perspectives, making written documentation between the period of the late 1800’s unto the present one with skewed bias. Simplified and inaccurate stories are only just being untangled (by settlers and descendants, not by the Ktunaxa people, of course) in terms of local history, place and identity. I say this to emphasize that the true history of this area is remarkably underrepresented in record-keeping and the academic discipline of history. 

At a recent event, Joe Pierre explained how the Ktunaxa experienced colonization much more recently than many other Indigenous communities in North America, and that the late 1800’s are what he refers to as the “Ktunaxa Dark Ages”. From 1886 to 1890, all of the Ktunaxa groups were forced onto reserves. At the border walk event hosted by the aq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi ‘it First Nation, I learned that this process split up families across colonial borders. At first, families were allowed to gather and meet. But very promptly, passports (of which Indigenous people were unable to receive) were required. 

This was soon followed by residential schools, including St. Eugene, located on the Aq’am reserve. Colonization and residential schools led to the creation of the present Bands of the area. There are four Ktunaxa First Nations within what is now Canada’s border: ʔakisq̓nuk First Nation, ʔaq̓am, yaqan nuʔkiy and Yaq̓it ʔa·knuqⱡi‘it., and two Kootenai Tribes within what is now the border of the United States of America:  Kootenai Tribe of Idaho, Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes (Ksanka Band).

In k̓ukamaʔnam, one of the world’s largest deposits of lead, zinc, and copper was discovered in 1892, leading to the opening of the Sullivan Mine, which operated from 1909 until 2001. One major problem was “Hot muck”. This phenomenon is when the ore would burn like lava. To control the issue, mining waste would be used to backfill large spaces left by ore extraction. This danger was so prolific that the term is now a part of the cultural discourse around Kimberley nostalgia. 

The Kootenay region has been dominated by resource extraction over the last 100 years. While the Sullivan mine is now closed, coal mines run in the nearby Elk Valley, and other mineral exploration, such as gold and silica, is constantly taking place.

Kimberley and the surrounding region is also a hub of recreation and mountain adventure. Mountaineers, climbers, hikers, and off-the-landers have long flocked to the area. Talented wilderness and wildlife pioneers, such as Art Twomey and his friends, settled in this era, creating the first backcountry ski hut in North America and inspiring generations of conservationists and environmentalists.

A dichotomy of environmental ethics survives in Kimberley. There is an entrenched sense of identity in being a descendant or current purveyor of industry, but the area also has a strong environmental conscience. In 1987, Kimberley designated BC’s largest municipal park, the Kimberley Nature Park. The park itself is home to 500 species of plants, fungi and lichens. It also includes 97 species of birds, 29 species of mammals, and 9 species of reptiles and amphibians. Kimberley is also a part of the Yellowstone to Yukon corridor, the most intact animal corridor in mountain habitat (especially for large mammals life grizzly bears) in North America. 

The book, Exploring the Purcell Wilderness, written by Art Twomey, Pat Morrow, and Anne Edwards, talks about the Purcell Wilderness Conservancy, which borders Kimberley. It was the first of its kind to receive the conservancy designation. The Conservancy was fought for by citizens after a century of resource industry, agricultural, and recreation pressures. 1. 

This important wilderness area contains five different major ecosystems, from low elevation cedar hemlock rainforests on the western side of the Purcells, to Montane and Englemen spruce forests, to alpine tundra. On the east side of the Purcells are drier interior Douglas Fir forests. Black and grizzly bears, mountain goats, pileated woodpecker, and cutthroat trout, as well as 68 species of birds, have been identified in the area. Mountain caribou also previously lived in this area (since the last ice age!). However, our closest local herds have become extirpated, mainly due to habitat loss and fragmentation. 

Kimberley itself contains many rich forested and grassland ecosystems, with over 200 wildflower species and thirty documented species of grass. Ponderosa pine forests are a staple here, as well, we are home to one of the largest, potentially in the world, concentrations of Larch–which we have an annual festival to celebrate. However, Kimberley is not immune to invasive species, especially terrestrial and aquatic plants, of which many have been discovered and are of high threat to local ecosystems and habitats. 

In more recent times, post-mine closure, Kimberley has regenerated itself as a tourism-based mountain town with an emphasis on sustainability and outdoor recreation. The ‘Electrify the Mountains’ project aims to get folks onto e-bikes, of which infrastructure has started to be built in urban areas (heavily utilized in my neighbourhood) and throughout the Nature park. Last year, town-wide compost pickup was installed. Our small town boasts multiple community gardens, and a thriving farmers market in the summer months. We are rich in sustainable, local food from vegetables to meat (both wild and domestic). 

While the Sullivan Mine lands have been turned into a solar-farm, and we have many great sustainability projects starting up, Kimberley still has a ways to go in upgrading much of its infrastructure to be more sustainable. We also face differing sentiments about land use designations, and how we will sustainably grow this developing town as density and population continues to increase. 

1. Anne Edwards, Pat Morrow, and Art Twomey, Exploring the Purcell Wilderness (Douglas & McIntyre, 1978).

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Edwards, Anne, Pat Morrow, and Art Twomey. Exploring the Purcell Wilderness. Douglas & McIntyre, 1978.