Adopted 21 June 2023 on 92G/12 as recommended by shíshálh Nation.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.

The name mala is the shishalh ancestral name for Albert Louie. The name mala is the shishalh name of Albert Louie’s maternal grandfather. Albert was honoured to be given this name to carry on the tradition of connecting to his ancestors and to his land of origin. As is tradition, this name has continued to be passed down to Albert’s descendants and will continue to link the families to their ancestry, history, and lands. (Advice from shíshálh Nation Stewardship and Territorial Land Management Division, 2021)

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Elder Albert Louie – mala. Albert Louie was born November 27, 1935. mala was a respected shishalh Elder who lived his entire life in the shishalh swiya, with his primary residence in the village of ch’atlich (Sechelt). mala lived his early life exploring the shishalh swiya in his family dugout canoe, living in his family homesteads and living off the natural resources provided by land and ocean. mala was a great knowledge keeper of shishalh language and history and worked tirelessly throughout his life to preserve shishalh language and culture. Mala was a great provider to his family and community due to his abilities and actions as a hunter, fisherman, logger and family man. mala was a man who fished all shishalh waters and hunted and gathered resources from the ocean all the way to the mountain tops and boundaries of shishalh swiya. mala passed away in 2012. (Advice from shíshálh Nation Stewardship and Territorial Land Management Division, 2021)

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John Hind-Smith came to live on the Sunshine Coast in 1960. He is described as a “spiritual elder for the conservation community of the Sunshine Coast” and was an integral part of the Tetrahedron Alliance, which contributed to the creation of the Tetrahedron Provincial Park. He is described as a life-long lover and protector of nature and was a voice for calm and respect when facing opposition to conservation efforts. In 1994, the SCRD honorarily renamed “No Name Lake” in the sub-alpine region of Tetrahedron Park to John Hind-Smith Lake, however this designation was not officially gazetted at the time. John Hind-Smith passed away in 2005, and in 2019 his friends and colleagues in the conservation community proposed to the shishalh Nation that No Name Lake be officially re-named to recognize both John Hind-Smith and a shishalh name (see “mala” above). (Advice from shíshálh Nation Stewardship and Territorial Land Management Division, 2021)

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Acknowledging with gratitude Raquel Joe (ch’elkwilwet), Museum Curator, tems swiya Museum, shíshálh Nation, and Steven Feschuk (xwash), Protector of Culture, shíshálh Nation, for providing the audio pronunciation.

Source: BC place name cards & correspondence, and/or research by BC Chief Geographer & Geographical Names Office staff.

To hear recordings of place names and learn other she shashishalhem words and phrases, visit shíshálh Nation’s language webpage: https://shishalh.com/culture-language/sechelt-language/

Source: included with note