BCHF News Lawney Reyes (1931-2022): Sinixt artist and author

Lawney Reyes (1931-2022): Sinixt artist and author

USCC executive director J.J. Verigin is seen at left, with Lawney Reyes at centre, at k’pit’els in October 2009.(Courtesy Muriel Walton)

A man whose mother and grandfather were the last permanent residents of k’pit’els, the Sinixt village at the confluence of the Columbia and Kootenay Rivers, has died at 91.

Lawney Reyes, a noted artist and author, was present in 2009 as a stone monument to his family was unveiled at the site, also known as the lower Brilliant flats.

At the same time, he accepted an apology from Doukhobor leader J.J. Verigin for the treatment of his ancestors nearly a century earlier.

Read more at mykootenaynow.com.