Above, I have combined four pages of maps into a single digital version. These maps of SENĆOŦEN place names of the W̱SÁNEĆ Saanich People were updated and released in the 1990 (2nd) edition of Saltwater People, a textbook written for schoolchildren that tells the history and culture of W̱SÁNEĆ. In the 1st edition, place names are listed in roughly geographical order in an appendix, with varying levels of descriptive detail; in this 2nd edition, they are mapped, indexed, and in the middle of the book.

To improve visibility, I cropped and inverted the colours of the original maps before re-projecting them on Felt. Otherwise, they are reproduced directly from the source.

YELḰATṮE Earl Claxton, Sr. reviewed the revised list and maps, adapted from the original list from Salt Water People (1st ed.), and from the map presented as winning evidence of continuous use and occupation in 1987’s B.C. Supreme Court case, Claxton v. Saanichton Bay Marina. Louis Claxton of SȾÁUTW̱ Tsawout First Nation, worked in community to protect Saanichton Bay from development with the help of these names.

When our first edition of Saltwater People was published in 1983, Dave remarked that there was still a lot of research to do on the Saanich Placenames. There were many more names to add, and many translations to determine. Translations from the Saanich language SENĆOŦEN to English present some difficulties because a language is a way of thinking, or viewing the human experience in the world, as much as it is a way of communicating. All the names have a meaning. They either describe the physical geography, refer to the use or to a story.

Since the Saanich People named the places they knew and used, the placenames represent the extent of traditional territory. The placenames are evidence of occupation and use. Dave continued to research and translate Saanich placenames up to his death. His nephew Earl Claxton Sr. worked closely with him as did Dave’s son John and daughter Linda. Earl, John and Linda have continued the work, often consulting with Elders from other families as well as with Earl’s mother Elsie Claxton (née Pelkey) of Tsawout.

In the historic Saanichton Bay Marina case in the Supreme Court of British Columbia, 1987, Earl presented a map detailing placenames and uses of sites in Saanich traditional territory.

All of the placenames on the maps and lists in this chapter represent an updated version of the original list and have been verified by Earl Claxton Sr.

– YELḰATṮE (Earl Claxton, Sr.), STOLȻEȽ (John Elliott, Sr.), and Linda Underwood. “Saanich Placenames.” In Saltwater People: A Resource for the Saanich Native Studies Program (2nd ed.), 18-40. Edited by Janet Poth. Saanich, BC: School District 63, 1990.