yilíkʷlxkn in the southern Okanagan region have been experiencing a steady population decline. This decline is theorized to be due in part to infection by pneumonia or Mycoplasma ovipneumoniae (M. ovi), psoroptes (Psoroptes cuniculi) mites and Bluetongue contributing to overall poor yilíkʷlxkn health. The widespread reduction of available and suitable ranges, and increased human pressure have also been identified as compounding factors to their decline.

To learn more about the diseases affecting our yilíkʷlxkn: yilíkʷlxkn (Bighorn Sheep) Diseases

Help Us Continue Monitoring: 

1. Collared bighorn ewes with lambs at heel: Any photos of collared ewes/lambs and any identifiers such as number tags, location, and time.
2. Coughing or sick mountain goats and yilíkʷlxkn: Clinical signs of sick sheep may include coughing, runny nose, laboured breathing, and lethargic behaviour.
3. Crusty, scabs or poor coat condition animals: Any sick-appearing mountain goats, yilíkʷlxkn, feral horses, rabbits, or hares should be immediately reported.

Please send in all sightings you think may be important to:
Mackenzie Clarke, tmixʷ Biologist
mclarke@syilx.org or 250-681-0131

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tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: This last week the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) celebrated the 20th year of the Fish in Schools (FinS) program by delivering a final round of the fish tanks and equipment to 50 schools and institutions throughout Syilx territory. Over the last 20 years the program has rippled out to Band, Public, […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) are honoured to announce the return of sc’win (Sockeye Salmon) back to many of the tributaries that feed into kłusxnitkw over the 2022 season. Since 2019 ONA has worked to achieve salmon passage at Okanagan Dam in Penticton. The importance of returning sc’win to kłusxnitkw is […]

OSOYOOS, BRITISH COLUMBIA (October 21, 2022) – The Osoyoos Indian Band (“OIB”) and Okanagan Nation Alliance (“ONA”) are outraged at the conduct of the Community Safety Unit in raiding a local business without the OIB’s consent. On October 19, 2022, after previously assuring OIB’s Chief and Council that they would not enter OIB lands without […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: From October 5-6, 2022, the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) will host the 4th Annual Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women, Girls and Two-Spirit+ Gathering. This event supports our Nation members to come together in solidarity, share stories and experience, and take action to ensure women, girls, two-spirit plus and kin are safe […]

We are writing this letter on behalf of the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) Chief’s Executive Council (CEC) in regards to Child Protection and Resource worker Robert Riley Saunders (Saunders). Saunders had spent over a decade stealing support services funding from mostly indigenous youth in foster care with the use of a falsified Social Work degree. […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: On September 30, 2022, starting at 10 am, the Syilx Okanagan Nation will host a 5 kilometer “Walk for the Children”. This takes place on the National Day of Truth and Reconciliation, the walk will go from the Penticton Peach at Okanagan Lake and move to the Syilx Indian Residential School […]

sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ, Syilx Okanagan Territory: From September 16-18, 2022, Elders, Traditional Knowledge Keepers, youth and community members from across the Syilx Okanagan Nation will gather at sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ (Okanagan Falls), a culturally significant site that was formally a part of the Osoyoos Indian Reserve, to take part in the annual Salmon Feast. This year’s gathering is particularly significant due to […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: From August 29-30, 2022, the Syilx Okanagan Nation will host the ‘Purple Ribbon Campaign Caravan” as part of our efforts to support Nation members and families facing addiction issues and promote International Overdose Awareness Day. In particular, it is a response to the urgent need to address the stigma that surrounds […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Okanagan Nation Alliance is honoured to announce that their co-authored publication “Age-Structured Interactions among Reintroduced Sockeye Salmon, Resident Kokanee, Invasive Mysids, and their Zooplankton Prey in Skaha Lake, British Columbia” was selected by the American Fisheries Society as the best publication for 2021 in the North American Journal of Fisheries […]

snkxy̌ kntn (Revelstoke), Syilx Territory: The Syilx Okanagan Nation insist that the Province of BC protect old growth forest throughout our territory, including the area around snkxy̌ kntn. Despite the commitments made by BC to defer the development of Old Growth forests, they continue to approve cutting permits in critical caribou habitat and some of […]

The ability of Syilx students to access post-secondary education is central to our Nation moving forward and our voices being heard. This year the Okanagan Nation Alliance, Fortis BC and EMB Management Ltd. provided a total of 12 awards to financially support eligible Syilx Okanagan Nation students. The Building a Better Future Bursary has been […]

snkx̌ykntn (Revelstoke), Syilx Territory:  From July 26 – 28, 2022, the Okanagan Nation Alliance hosted our Annual General Assembly in snkx̌ykntn. This annual event gathered Syilx Okanagan members from across the Nation — including leaders, Elders, traditional knowledge keepers, youth and community members — to celebrate the many successes that have taken place for Syilx […]

Starting the week of July 18th the Province of BC will be constructing a fence along the eastern bank of the river at sx̌ʷəx̌ʷnitkʷ (Ok Falls fishing site) to try to make access to the fishing site along the shoreline easier and uninhibited. The area may have construction and monitoring activity during the 2022 fishing […]

Based on harvest information gathered since 2008, we are estimating a higher than average number of sc’win (sockeye salmon) to return to the Columbia watershed (and thus Okanagan subbasin) for the 2022 season. Returns of sc’win are monitored by tracking the numbers of fish that go through various dams and sites on the Columbia River. […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Syilx Okanagan Nation is disturbed and disgusted by the plea deal struck between the Crown and Robert Riley Saunders and demands that the court provide justice for the many youth harmed by Saunders’ egregious abuses of power. Saunders stole at least $460,000 from youth, many First Nations, in government care […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory:  The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) will host the 14th annual Spirit of Syilx Unity Run from June 3-5, 2022. This year participants will be starting at the Kamloops Indian Residential School and finishing at the Syilx Indian Residential School monument on the Penticton Indian Band reserve. This run was initiated in […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) is pleased to announce that EMB Management Ltd’s has committed $10,000 annually to the ONA’s Building a Better Future Bursary Program. This program assists Syilx students in their pursuit of education. This announcement demonstrates the power of supporting First Nations students. “We will build and maintain […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: On May 27, 2022, the Syilx Okanagan Nation recognizes the one-year anniversary of Tk’emlúps te Secwépemc announcing the unearthing of 215 remains at the Kamloops Indian Residential School. Children from across many First Nations, including the Syilx Okanagan Nation, attended the Kamloops Indian Residential School, and this revelation is felt by […]

Since March 9, 2022, the ONA has received several reports from Anglers who have caught and identified juvenile and sub-adult chinook salmon in the eastern portion of Syilx territory — including in the Lower Arrow Lakes, on the Columbia River down river from the Keenleyside Dam and in the Waneta area. To date (May 12, […]

WHAT: From May 17 – 18, 2022, as part of the Okanagan Nation Alliance’s (ONA) ongoing effort to bring salmon back to the Upper Columbia, sockeye fry releases and cpu taʔstm iʔ xaʔxʔitət uɬ ck ́aʕxtm iʔ ntytyix Salmon Ceremonies will take place throughout the Upper Columbia. WHEN & WHERE:   May 17 – Castlegar at […]

WHEN: Thursday, May 5th, 2022. 9:30 am – 10:30 am. WHAT: Syilx Okanagan Nation members, and nearlyt 400 students from 13 local schools, will take part in a ceremonial release of 10,000 sc’win (sockeye) fry. These fry have been raised as part of Okanagan Nation Alliance’s (ONA) Fish in Schools (FinS) Program, along with fry […]

nʔaysnú laʔxʷ (Ashnola), Keremeos, BC, sməlqmí x / syilx Territory: Today, the sməlqmí x, the syilx people of the Similkameen Valley announced the designation of a new Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA) in their territory. The Ashnola IPCA declaration upholds the inherent jurisdiction and responsibility of the sməlqmí x to protect and manage their […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: On April 1, 2022, Pope Francis issued an apology for the conduct of some Roman Catholic Church members in the Canadian residential school system after a week of discussions with a delegation of First Nation, Inuit and Metis representatives. This followed the Government of Canada recent pledge of an additional $2.9 million to assist […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Syilx Okanagan Nation celebrated World Water Day with the 8th annual siwɬkʷ (Water) Forum. This year’s Forum explored how the Syilx Okanagan Nation holds up siwɬkʷ as a living relative, and how we can continue to collaborate to protect siwɬkʷ.  The morning included an online event, which started with WFN […]

Kelowna, B.C. – The three regional district boards of the Okanagan have voted to change the Okanagan Basin Water Board (OBWB)’s governance structure, giving the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) representative equal voting powers as the representatives appointed by the regional districts. This amends a provision in place since the ONA’s seat on the water board […]

The Syilx Okanagan Nation Chief Executive Council is calling for swift response, and support, of regional officials and the RCMP to ensure the safety of our Nation members after receiving reports of a series of racially motivated violent crimes coming out of what is now referred to as Freedom Convoy movement on Syilx territory and […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Syilx Okanagan Nation stands in solidarity with the T’exelcemc (people of Williams Lake First Nation) as preliminary results from geophysical investigations have identified 93 “reflections” of potential human burials, at the site of the former St. Joseph’s Mission Indian Residential School near Williams Lake, BC. We are sending prayers to all peoples who […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: Over the last week the Okanagan Nation Alliance (ONA) delivered the final round of the fish tanks and equipment to 30 schools throughout Syilx territory, including 13 returning schools and groups in the Columbia, as part of the Fish in Schools (FinS) program. These deliveries have come as new provincial regulations […]

tkwəɬniwt (Westbank), Syilx Territory: The Syilx Okanagan Nation is urging the US Secretary of Interior, Deb Haaland, to act immediately and relaunch the recovery planning process for ki?lawna (grizzly bear) in the US portion of the North Cascades. This process was stalled under the previous US Administration since 2016.  However, we are hopeful that the […]