Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Business Council member Karen Condon stands beind a driftwood sculpture of a heron made by former Moses Lake resident Mike Salazar for the land acknowledgment ceremony Tuesday.
November 16, 2022
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‘We belong to the land’
Ceremony acknowledges Moses Lake’s original people
MOSES LAKE — At an hour-long ceremony on Tuesday, officials with the city of Moses Lake formally recognized the city sits on the homeland of the Moses-Columbia, or Škwáxčenex, people of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. “We acknowledge that the City of Moses Lake is encompassed by the historical homeland of the Škwáxčenex people (Moses-Columbia or Sinkiuse) of the Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation. These lands were once a major trading center for the tribes of the Columbia Plateau. The Moses-Columbia shared this place by welcoming other tribes through their relations, history, trade and ceremony,” the land acknowledgment reads.