For the third time over the course of a year, a Secwépemc family has been united with treasured items used by their ancestors.
A variety of tools created by previous generations were returned to siblings Leo, Patsy, Virginia and Molly Tomma by members of the Ruth family.
The link between the two families originated with trees. About 100 years ago, collecting seeds to sell was a thriving business for Percy Ruth, grandfather to cousins Robin Ruth and Paul Bennett, both Salmon Arm residents.
Percy was friends with Harry Tomma, father of Leo and his sisters. Pine and fir cones were collected by members of the Tomma family and other Secwépemc, who brought them to Ruth’s cone shed for seed extraction. Those seeds were sold and shipped, with many of them transformed into forests in Europe.
When Leo Tomma contacted Robin Ruth in 2023, his request resulted in artifacts collected in the early 1900s coming back to the Tomma family. At that time, Virginia Tomma remarked how meaningful and emotional it was for her.
“Our culture came back to us.”
The Tomma family has been in the area now called the North Shuswap for many generations.
In the early 1900s, Harry Tomma and Percy Ruth found artifacts around the Secwépemc kekulis, or pit houses. The treasured items returned to the Tommas during the past several months have ranged from snares for catching small animals to ceremonial pipes, to weights for fishing nets to arrowheads.
Sparked by a January 2024 article on the artifacts in the Shuswap Market newspaper, Paul Bennett decided the time was right to follow in his cousin’s footsteps. Paul returned a collection of arrowheads to the Tommas.
“I saw the article in the paper and I thought, this is the perfect opportunity. I want these to go back – they were passed down to me,” Bennett explained. Several months later, Paul accompanied his son Hugh Bennett to another meeting with the Tommas. Hugh had just returned from Victoria where he visited his great uncle, Douglas Ruth, Percy’s son, now 92. Doug, who had worked in forestry cataloguing insects, sent Hugh to Salmon Arm with four boxes of artifacts and an envelope, all which he had been saving.
Hugh relayed a story from Doug about the importance of squirrels to the cone business. He said one day his grandmother went with Percy and Don Ruth and they cut down a tree so they could collect all the cones. However, the cones were green, covered in pitch and it was decided that cutting down a tree for its cones was not a good idea.
“Your families were very good at finding squirrel caches,” Hugh continued. “They said they could get eight 25-pound bags of cones from a single cache.”
Molly Tomma remembers when their mom was driving back from a cone-collecting excursion with the kids and a load of cones. As they headed down a hill, the brakes on the truck failed and sacks went bouncing onto the road as she tried to get it under control. Once she safely brought the truck to a stop, the kids registered their delight with the wild ride.
“We were all yelling – ‘Hey Mom, do that again!’”
Archaeology sites in British Columbia are now protected by the Heritage Conservation Act (HCA), and may not be altered without a permit.
Work with First Nations is currently underway through the B.C.HCA Transformation Project to reform the Act to align with the UN Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples, including shared decision-making and the protection of First Nations cultural, spiritual and heritage sites and objects. First Nations also administer their own cultural heritage policies in accordance with their own laws and governance systems.
Hugh said Doug had been recently given beadwork in order to locate its home in Manitoba. Virginia Tomma explained that each piece of beadwork and each basket has its own signature.
“It’s the design...,” she said. “That’s my legacy when I pass on.”
Thea rtifacts returned to the Tommas will be inventoried by the Skwlaxte Secwepemculecw (Little Shuswap Lake Band) archeological department, where they’ll be dated. The artifacts will then be displayed at Quaaout Lodge once it’s rebuilt.
After the boxes were returned, both families expressed their satisfaction.
“They’re yours. They’re back where they belong,” Hugh said with a smile.
Leo and Hugh hugged, Leo proclaiming that Hugh is now family.
