Katie Sperry is a Kamloops-based archaeologist. Dig It is KTW’s regularly published column on the history beneath our feet in the region. Interested in more? Go online to republicofarchaeology.ca.
John Jules was a cultural leader of the Shuswap Nation.
Tk emlups Indian Band and the Shuswap Nation as a whole have lost a cultural luminary - a traditional knowledge keeper - with the death of John Jules.
That was how John s brother, former TIB chief Manny Jules, described his importance to the community as a wake continued in the elder s honour Tuesday.
John Jules, 56, died Saturday at RIH after battling inoperable cancer since he was diagnosed in June. As the two eldest siblings in a family of seven children, they shared many experiences growing up. What he excelled at was the cultural aspect, Manny said. We had lost the (Secwepemctsin) language because of residential schools. He earned a degree in archeology and he gathered knowledge from the elders.