Images
click on images to see them enlarge
- Title: ni’ tse’ ‘alh tthu t’i’wi’ulhew’t-hw | Stone Church Repair
- Title spoken by: Pul-hwuletse’ | Wayne Charlie
- Description: Restoration of the Stone “Butter” Church on Comiaken Hill in 1957.
hwuhwilmuhw knowledge
- Speaker/Story Teller: Sti’tuma’t | Ruby Peter (Kwa’mutsun Elder)
- Date of recording:
- Listen to the recording in Hul’q’umi’num’:
ni’ tse’ ‘alh tthu t’i’wi’ulhew’t-hw | Stone Church Repair
- nilh thu Stone Church, t’iwi’ulhew’t-hw smeentew’t-hw.
This is the Stone Church at Comiaken. - nilh tthu hwulmuhw ’i thuyt thun’a t’i’wi’ulhew’t-hw.
The native people built this church. - wulh hi.i.ith ’i’ nilh tun’a tl’athutstun, Canute Lemo, nilh ni’ ’aanlh kwsus thuytum thu t’i’wi’ulhew’t-hw ni’ ’u tthu tumuhws.
And it was there for a long time on Canute Lemo’s land, where he gave persmission for the church to be built. - ni’ kwu’elh ni’ ’u tthu ’apun ’i’ kw’ toohw lhq’utssulhshe’ ’i’ kw’ tth’a’kwus ’i’ ni’ thuytum tthu shkw’itth’ul’uqws thu lelum’, thu t’iwi’ulhew’t-hw.
In 1957, a restoration project was undertaken to rebuild the church’s roof. - ni’ wulh na.a.a’ut wulh tth’aqw’um
It had rotted away. - sis ’uw’ kw’uyxthut tthu tun’ni’ ’u tthu xut’ustum’ Native Sons of B.C., George Evans ’i’ Magnus Colvin, nilh tun’ni’ ’u kwthey’.
And the Native Sons of B.C. got involved: pictured are George Evans (center) and Magnus Colvin (on the right). - nilh kwu’elh ’i’ tthey’, thuyt tthey’.
So they undertook this project. - yath ’uw’ ni’ tthu tl’athutstun kws xi’xlem’s ’u tthu hiiyaay’us.
Canute Lemo (then 80 years old) was there supervising the construction. - hay ’ul’ thi syaays kwsus wulh thuytum.
It was a lot of work to fix it. - qux telu kwsus wulh ’alhutus ’eelhtun tun’a ’uw’ ne’ullh they’ smeentew’t-hw t’i’wi’ulhew’t-hw.
And it took a lot of funding for them to restore the Stone Church. - yath’ulh ’uw’ shni’s tthu hwulmuhw kws t’ut’i’wi’ulhs.
This used to be a place of worship for the native people. - kwus wulh hay kwus ’uw’ yu hwun’a’ ’ul’ tuw’ hay ’i’ yathulh ’uw’ ’e’wu tthu hwulmuhw kws t’ut’i’wi’ulhs.
This was the first church that the native people came to worship at. - qux hwunitum’ m’i ’e’wunus m’i xi’xlhe’mut thun’a t’i’wi’ulhew’t-hw thi snes kwus smeentew’thw.
A lot of white people come to view the famous Stone Church. - mukw’ tun’untsu hwunitum’ m’i ’e’wu kws le’lum’ute’wut.
People come from all over to view the Stone Church. - ni’ kwu’elh ’uw’ hwu saay’ tthu shkw’tth’uluqws thu lelum’, thu t’iw’i’ulhew’t-hw.
And so they fixed up the roof of the Stone Church. - ’uy’ syaaysth tthey’ tun’ni’ ’u tthey’ Native Sons of B.C.
The Native Sons of B.C. did an excellent job. - hay ch q’a’.
Thank you.
Key information
- Time period or Date: 1957
- Theme(s): Churches, Religion, Community Celebrations
- Location: Stone Church
- Source info (type – name): To Be Decided — Cowichan Valley Museum & Archives
- Photographer credit: Wilmer H. Gold
- Individuals identified: Canute Lemo, George Evans, and Magnus Colvin
Learn more
Watch this video to learn more about Stone Church from elder Sti’tuma’t | Ruby Peter. She speaks about the history of the building and her experiences.
About Stone ‘Butter’ Church
In 1958, a restoration project of the Stone ‘Butter’ Church was undertaken by the Cowichan First Nation, Native Sons of B.C. and Duncan area residents and businesses. The picture above shows Lemo Canute, George Evans (center) and Magnus Colvin (on the right) standing in front of the church before restoration was completed. Lemo Canute was a respected Elder and Knowledge Keeper who lived on Qw’umey’qun | Comiaken Reserve, next to the ‘Butter’ Church. George Evans and Magnus Colvin were members of the Native Sons of BC, a fraternal organization founded in Victoria in 1899 to preserve BC’s early pioneer history and promote regionalism.
St. Ann’s Church, or the Stone ‘Butter’ Church as it is more commonly known, is one of the most recognizable buildings in the Cowichan Valley, regularly featured in photographs and visited by those captivated by its beauty and its noteworthy history.
It was built in 1870 to replace an earlier wooden structure constructed by Father Peter Rondeault, an Oblate missionary who had arrived in Quw’utsun territory in 1858. The ‘Butter’ Church is constructed of sandstone and was built on Qw’umey’qun Hill on land owned by the family of Lemo Canute, a dedicated follower of the Catholic religion.1
Indigenous labourers along with a stonemason from Victoria excavated large slabs of sandstone from Mount Tzouhalem | shquw’utsun to build the church. Local stories suggest that when the Royal Navy arrived in Cowichan Bay in 1856 (see below) they fired cannons at Mt. Tzouhalem | shquw’utsun to announce their presence and demonstrate their strength. It was these cannonballs that were reportedly used by the Quw’utsun people to break apart the rocks they would use to form the Stone ‘Butter’ Church. For their labour, the Indigenous workers who constructed the church were paid in butter churned by Father Rondeault, thus giving the church its unusual name.
The ‘Butter’ Church did not serve as a church for very long, only ten years. The diocese was concerned that the church had not been built on land they owned. To resolve this concern, Bishop Demers ordered that a new St. Ann’s Church be constructed nearby on land purchased by the diocese. The ‘Butter’ Church was abandoned in 1880 in favour of the newly constructed St. Ann’s Church at Tzouhalem.2 The beautiful stained glass windows that had stood in the ‘Butter’ Church were removed and re-installed in St. Paul’s Church, Fulford Harbour, Saltspring Island.
The church lay in disrepair until the 1958 restoration project – a Canada Centennial project. It had further restoration work in 1980 when it was rebuilt as a cultural centre. Since then it has once more been abandoned, the windows and doors removed, and the building left to the elements.
About Qw’umey’qun Hill3
The church is located on Qw’umey’qun Hill, a sacred and powerful place within the Quw’utsun homeland. It was on this hill that Spaal’ met Xeel’s, the transformer, and was turned into a raven. The hill also provides a viewpoint to the Cowichan Bay and estuary. Traditionally, the people of Qw’umey’qun village kept this hillside clear of large trees and brush to ensure that there was a good view of the surrounding area and down to the sea. This was especially important as a tool to identify visitors approaching from the river and sea.
When colonial powers arrived in Quw’utsun territory in 1853, Qw’umey’qun Hill became an important site of conflict, negotiation, protest, and the advocacy of Indigenous rights for the Quw’utsun people. In 1853, it was on this hillside that Governor James Douglas, his marines and armed Voltigeurs met with Quw’utsun chiefs to negotiate the surrender of the men Douglas believed responsible for the murder of HBC employee Peter Brown. Three years later, in 1856, when James Douglas returned to Quw’utsun territory with another gunboat, the hill served as the Royal Navy’s headquarters while they carried out their orders to capture the man they believed responsible for a murder.4
In May of 1913 when the McKenna-McBride Commission (a joint federal and provincial Royal Commission on Indian Affairs) visited Quw’utsun territory, it was on Qw’umey’qun Hill that they met with Quw’utsun leaders and community members.5 In front of the ‘Butter’ Church and on the surrounding hillside, Quw’utsun chiefs, leaders, and community members gathered to hear from the commissioners and deliver their testimony (see the McKenna-McBride Commission photographs on this website for more information).
During his testimony, Chief Tsulpi’multw, who had met with the King of England at Buckingham Palace in 1906 as part of a Coast Salish delegation to resolve the question of Indigenous land rights, reminded the commissioners of the promises the King had made to them to “give each male Indian on the reserves, 160 acres of land, as the land belonged to us Indians.”6
To support his point, he brought to the Commission the autographed portrait of the King that he had received during their 1906 meeting. Also at Qw’umey’qun Hill to hear from the Commission was Chief Suhiltun. He was among the Quw’utsun representatives gathered to speak with the McKenna-McBride commissioners. Taking action to convey that the land still belonged to the Quw’utsun people, during the hearings he seized the Union Jack flag from the Commission’s table. His act was a direct challenge to British authority in our Hul’q’umi’num’ homeland and demonstrated his intention to resist the Crown’s claim to title of our lands.7
Reflections
The ‘Butter’ Church is a well-known feature in Quw’utsun and is often photographed and written about. It has been variously written of as a gothic church, a haunted building, a timeless stone structure, a landmark of the valley and more. But to Quw’utsun people, the ‘Butter’ Church is part of a larger cultural landscape. It is interwoven with our ancestors, our language, our sense of ourselves, our traditions, our economies, our power (spirit and otherwise), and our relations with the Canadian government, the British Crown, and other visitors to this place. Knowing these stories helps us understand the place in which we live, our homeland. Sharing these stories with others will help them understand too.
Sources:
- Digital Public Library of America. https://dp.la/item/796fe41e45858dc916425c43ca466c8f
Morales, Sarah. - “Snuw’uyulh: Fostering an Understanding of the Hul’q’umi’num Legal Tradition,” PhD, (UVIC), 2014. https://dspace.library.uvic.ca/server/api/core/bitstreams/8eb32688-9308-45cd-adf9-8857cc90fdba/content
Footnotes
- When the church was built it was Lemo Canute’s grandfather, Chief Joe Tsulpi’multw (also spelled Tzalpaymoult), who gave Father Rondeault permission to build on his land. Chief Joe also helped with the construction, using an old cannon ball to break up stone for the church.
- The Diocese wanted a church on church-owned land.
- Also spelled Qwum’yiqun’
- James Douglas believed that Tathlasut, a S’amunu man of high standing, had been responsible for the death of Thomas Williams, a white man who had been squatting on land in the Cowichan Valley.
- According to historian Kelly Black, “The commission was Premier Richard McBride’s effort to gain access to reserve lands and resources that he and other Settlers believed were being ‘wasted’ by First Nations. By design, and in rejection of repeated requests from First Nations, the commission was not given a mandate to deal with treaty and land claim matters. Nevertheless, the commission repeatedly heard from First Nations leaders who expressed anger and frustration with the Crown’s failure to listen and address the ongoing theft of their territories.” https://bcstudies.com/unsettling-an-image-behind-the-bc-studies-conference-poster/
- See Sarah Morales, “Snuw’uyulh: Fostering an Understanding of the Hul’q’umi’num Legal Tradition,” PhD, 2014, p.187.
- Morales, p. 187.
Related images
Related images to come.
Leave a Reply