Halq’eméylem

The ''Stó:lō'' are a group of First Nations peoples inhabiting the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada. Nineteen Stó:lō First Nations are mutually affiliated as the Stó:lô Nation. They traditionally speak the Upriver dialect of Halq’eméylem, one of the Salishan languages|Salishan family of languages of the Coast Salish peoples. ''Stó:lō'' is the Halq’eméylem word for the Fraser River. The Stó:lō are thus ''the river people''.

The first traces of a people living in the Fraser Valley date from 8,000 to 10,000 years ago. ''S'ólh Téméxw'' is the Halq’eméylem word the people use to refer to their traditional territory. These early inhabitants of the area were highly mobile hunter-gatherers. Some areas show that in spring and early summer, they came here to hunt land and sea mammals, such as deer, elk, and Pinniped|seals and, to a lesser extent, fish for salmon, stickleback, eulachon, and sturgeon and gather shellfish. Their social structure was egalitarian and family-based. Their livelihood depended on their success at harvesting the resources of the land and the rivers through fishing, foraging and hunting.

Stó:lō elders describe their connection to the land in the statement "we have always been here."