Speakers at the land acknowledgment ceremony (L-R): Stephanie Massart, Regent of the Karneetsa Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution; Moses Lake Mayor Don Myers; Big Bend Community College Vice President for Learning and Success Bryce Humpherys; Moses Lake School District Superintendent Monty Sabin; Confederated Tribes of the Colville Reservation Business Council Member Karen Condon and tribal member John Sirois.
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.