Jolene Sellars grew up learning to hunt and fish by watching her father, and being immersed in both the Secwépemc and Tŝilhqot’in culture and traditions of her family from an early age.
Now 18, Sellars’s love for the land is apparent. Observing her dad — the late Hank Sellars — provide for their family and take care of others has inspired her to follow a similar but unique path of her own.
Sellars’s home of Xats̓úll First Nation (XFN) is in the Cariboo region of the Central Interior, near St̓emcúl̓ecw (the Fraser River).
XFN has two communities, Xats̓úll which translates to “on the cliff where the bubbling water comes out,” and Cmetēm which translates to “on the inside of a valley”— and both have played an integral role in Sellars’s life.
While mowing the lawn last year, Sellars saw a buck lying in the grassy field behind her house. Without a second thought, she grabbed her gun. Soon, she was skinning and cutting the deer, another skill she had already learned from her father.
An essential part of the traditions includes giving thanks to the animals for giving their lives in a hunt, which she does by putting tobacco in the four directions while praying. If they didn’t get an animal, they would also pray while putting tobacco in a hole where they were hunting.
As it was her first deer, she followed her traditional protocol and gave it away to a family member who dried the meat and fed their family for months. The next deer she hunts for now will be for her family. From beginning to end, Sellars knows all the steps in caring for the deer, even drying and smoking the meat herself.
Sellars joked that a buck was big enough for her to hunt and that anything larger would be too much to carry alone.
“A deer is twice my weight, and I struggle with that. I couldn’t imagine a moose,” she says.
While attending the hunting camps XFN holds each year, Sellars recalls the first camp she attended with her family, where she woke up in the freezing October morning to frost on her sleeping bag.
“We wanted to support because nobody else went,” she says.
At the following hunting camps, Sellars and her fellow Youth, Angel Mitchell, would wake up early and head out to hunt before some camp attendees were awake. At the camp, they were usually out hunting with a RCMP member stationed with XFN as part of the First Nations Policing Program.
During the hunts, Sellars shot her grouse and was there to help when the officer shot a buck.
Not only did Sellars go hunting, but when she returned to camp, she helped wherever needed, including cooking and cleaning.
She would also go fishing with a rod that her mom won, but she enjoyed fishing from the boat, an experience she’s only had once and hopes to do more.
“That was fun. We caught a couple of fish then,” she says.
While she isn’t rod fishing, Sellars uses a dipnet in the rivers to catch salmon. She explained the differences between set netting, where the net is tied down, and dipnetting, where you dip the net into the water and attempt to scoop out the fish.
Sellars prefers set netting because there’s no chance of the net dropping into the water. While she has fished at multiple rivers, Xats̓úll’s fishing place is her preferred spot for set netting.
Fishing is just one of Sellars’ favourite pastimes as she takes any opportunity to fish and notes the joy of rod fishing in creeks and lakes.
“I could waste a whole day away doing that,” she says.
Involved as a Youth
Sellars and her mother, Jessie Hunlin, have been attending community events for many years. They are staples at each event and are there to help out when needed or to enjoy their time with family and friends.
She has been involved with child and Youth programming since attending the XFN Headstart program from the time she was an infant until around age five. She then continued into the children and Youth programs, which she still regularly attends.
There is a group of Youth who are all around the same age, meaning Sellars has memories of the community with the Youth with whom she grew up.
From swimming in the culvert to taking nature walks, Sellars has always enjoyed the outdoors. She notes that nothing could interfere with their plans as she remembers a group of them finding a way to the creek to swim and using windshield shades as their seating.
“We were like complete rez kids that day. We embraced it,” she says, laughing.
Throughout her years in the children’s program, Sellars remembers the teachings on the land, where they were taught to gather pitch and turn it into medicine or use the plants for different types of teas.
She even learned the language on the land at the Xats̓úll Heritage Village, where Elder Minnie Phillips and her granddaughter Brandi taught Secwepemctsín. While she learned the language several years ago, Sellars still remembers the teachings to this day.
When Sellars was 14 in 2020, she joined the Xats̓úll Youth Council for its first meeting and has remained a committed member ever since.
Sellars says it is vital for the Youth to have a say in the band operations because they are the ones who are growing to become future leaders, noting that the Youth Council, to her, is to improve processes for the future and the present in which they live.
“It’s to be more involved, to make changes,” she says.
For Sellars, these changes include more community events where the Youth and families are involved and having community members as the decision makers in the band.
Every year, one Youth representative is sent to the Northern Shuswap Tribal Council’s Citizen Assembly for a Youth and Elder panel. In 2022, Sellars took the stage, where she and other panellists addressed the opportunities available to youth and the challenges they face in their lives. Her points were then brought to the XFN chief and council, as people found her words inspiring.
In addition to making recommendations to the chief and council and other band departments, the Youth Council plans trips to visit post-secondary institutions in other cities and gain new experiences.
They have travelled to “Vancouver,” “Victoria,” “Kamloops,” and “Kelowna” in the past, but a recent trip to “Alberta” is the most memorable for Sellers.
In each city the group has visited, she has favourite schools, such as MacEwan University, and favourite activities, including the Capilano Suspension Bridge Park. However, one of her highlights was the latest trip’s stop at the Calgary Stampede, where the Youth spent a whole day.
“That was definitely the coolest thing ever,” she says.
Sellars laughed while recalling the oversized ‘lucky ducky bucky’ drink she bought at the Stampede.
“And then, obviously, I had to fit in with everybody, so I bought a cowboy hat.”
The views along the way also make the trips exciting, as Sellars recalls seeing new scenery throughout the national parks on the journey between the two provinces.
“One of my favourite parts was seeing [Lake Louise] because I’ve never been there before.”
As the Youth have gotten older throughout the years, Sellars recalls being more independent with the planning and on the trips, allowing them to explore more of the cities they visited.
The Xats̓úll Youth Council is involved in what schools they visit, what activities they book, and how they can fundraise for all their plans.
The future is outdoors
As a senior in high school, Sellars took a RISC (Resources Information Standards Committee) course, which gave her archaeological training, including basic site identification, survey, and recording skills through daily classroom and field components.
Knowing a desk job would not be the right fit for her, Sellars jumped at the opportunity to learn in an outdoor environment. After passing the course, she took multiple other smaller courses to learn more about surveying trees, protocol around waterways, and erosion before landing a full-time position working with the XFN Natural Resources department once she graduated high school.
Walking 10 to 15 kilometres a day, she explored the land from the riverbeds to the mountain tops where they would locate and record findings such as cultural depressions and culturally modified trees (CMT), using the skills she learned in the RISC course.
The landscape constantly changed throughout Sellars’s archaeology career as she worked through multiple areas of the territory. While working, Sellars had the opportunity to explore new spots, travelling as far north as “Quesnel,” into the mountains surrounding “Likely,” and even out west to Toosey First Nation.
Sellars explained that while the work could be challenging, it rarely feels monotonous, getting to explore areas up in the mountains that they could only reach by ATVs or walking for hours to reach their destination.
On one occasion, she had to find creative ways to warm the key before starting the ATV, as everything was frozen.
Sellars says they are cautious with their surroundings and ensure they are prepared for any situation, including watching for wildlife. While on the job, she’s been circled by a grizzly bear and encountered a cougar den.
“My heart’s always racing,” she says.
“It might be a bear. It might be an eagle, or it might be some scenery. You won’t know until you’re out there.”
They need to watch out for not only the animals but also the forests themselves, as Sellars recalls a tree falling mere metres in front of her.
“Work is fun, never a dull moment out there,” she says.
While her archaeology position is completed for the season, Sellars keeps herself busy by helping in any area she is needed. She has proven adaptable as she works in multiple XFN departments to give back to the community and even help run the children’s program.
Sellars has just completed a Basic Wildfire Certificate Training and is looking forward to firefighting throughout the summer.
She notes that her career will probably be ‘something outdoorsy’ in the future since her time ahead in firefighting is still unknown.
“I’ve been convinced I should try it while I’m young,” she says.
She could also imagine working in construction or as a haul truck driver since positions always open up. After travelling and having new experiences with the Youth programs, Sellars now has dreams to travel and explore more of the world.
For now, Sellars is focused on the present as she jokes about her plans for the future.
“I don’t even know what I’m doing tomorrow,” she says jokingly.
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