Rick Desautel

Colville Tribal Member

Coulee Dam, WA

September 4, 2024

On a sunny September morning we arrived at the Colville Tribal Museum overlooking the mighty Grand Coulee Dam. We were there to meet with Rick Desautel. Rick, along with almost half of the members of the Colville Reservation, are part of the Sinixt tribe whose homelands stretch along the Columbia River into Canada and the Arrow Lakes region of British Columbia. Despite the Sinixt’s very real existence, the Canadian government declared them extinct in 1956. Since then, the national border has severed ties between the Sinixt and their homeland. Over the past decade surviving tribal members including Rick have waged a legal battle, fighting for their rights to access traditional territory once again.

As we sat in a large quiet room, Rick passionately told us his story. It all began with the shot of an elk in what the Sinixt consider traditional hunting grounds in Canada. Rick was the one to take that shot and after a long legal process Rick was granted an aboriginal of Canada by the Supreme Court of Canada. Now, after being granted rights in Canada, the Sinixt are working to re-familiarize and bind with the land as well as gain status as First Nation people. Rick talked about their existence alongside the battle for Salmon describing that “We need to get home just like the salmon need to get home.” Living in a world where simply existing is a protest, Rick is hopeful and continues to work with the community to regain connection to their sacred land.  

by Cameron Collister