Steven Point of Chilliwack has been invested as an officer of the Order of Canada.
The annual list of 2023 appointees to the Order of Canada was released by Governor General of Canada Mary Simon on Dec. 28.
“The Honourable Steven Lewis Point, OC, OBC,” was named officer of the Order of Canada “for his dedicated commitment to reconciliation, and esteemed leadership throughout his trailblazing career as a chief, judge and academic and as the first Indigenous lieutenant governor of British Columbia,” said the announcement.
Point said in a 2018 keynote speech on reconciliation for the Chilliwack Healthier Community network, that “understanding” starts with education.
“We have to make sure that people know our history, and teach it in the schools,” Point told a rapt audience. “If we are going to reach a better understanding, we have to listen to one another.”
“There is a lot of misinformation out there about native people. There is a lot of fear as well, and all of that feeds into bias, and prejudice, and we need to eliminate that, because quite frankly there is too much conflict in the world.
”Everywhere I look there is conflict.”
RELATED: Point talks about truth and reconciliation
The esteemed local leader does, however hold out fierce hope for true reconciliation.
“My hope in Canada is that we get rid of this platform, and we begin to see each other as people on the same platform, that we move forward with an understanding of what happened, that the courts begin to take that into account when they are sentencing our people, that the schools take that into account when they teach our children, that the hospitals take that into account when they treat our elders.”
Chilliwack-Hope MP Mark Strahl fired off his congratulations to Point in a tweet on the day it was announced.
Congratulations to the Honourable Steven Point on his appointment as an Officer of the Order of Canada “for his dedicated commitment to reconciliation and esteemed leadership throughout his trailblazing career as a chief, judge and academic, and as the first Indigenous lieutenant…
— Mark Strahl, MP (@markstrahl) December 28, 2023
Point is known as a Si:yam, the Halq’eméylem word for a leader, someone known for integrity and service.
Sto:lo-Coast Salish from Sq’ewqéyl First Nation (Skowkale), Point followed the teachings of his esteemed elders.
He served from 2007 to 2012 as the 28th B.C. Lieutenant Governor, on the heels as chief of Skowkale First Nation, and chiefs’ representative for Sto:lo Nation. In 2014, he was bestowed the title of Grand Chief by the Sto:lo Tribal Council.
Point was presented in 2016 with the Order of Chilliwack, and the Queen Elizabeth II Golden and Diamond Jubilee Medals, as well as the Order of B.C.
In his illustrious career the he also served as a provincial court judge, a chief commissioner of the B.C. Treaty Commission, an instructor at UFV, director of the Native Law program at UBC, manager of the Sto:lo Heritage Project, and the manager of the lands program at Sto:lo Nation Canada.
