“Songhees”, prior to 1876, was originally a European term used by settlers in reference to the Indigenous peoples on Vancouver Island that spoke the Lkungen dialect.[1] In order to be as respectful as possible, which, is one of the main focuses of our website, we will be referring to the Songhees as the “Lekwungen” as it is their historic name, rather than one given to them by European Settlers.
In 1911, after decades of resistance, the Lekwungen were subject to a reserve relocation that displaced them from their historical territory, in what is now urban Victoria, and moved them onto a reserve adjacent to the Esquimalt Reserve. The members of the Lekwungen were given compensation for their agreement to move their reserve in the form of cash, which was then audited by the DIA in subsequent years.
[1] John Sutton Lutz, Mukúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations. Vancouver, BC: UBC Press, 2008, 50.