kwunus ts’its’usum’ huw’a’lum’ ni’ ’utl’ snuneymuhw | Childhood memories: playing in Snuneymuxw
This is a story written by xulsilum | Crawford Seymour with help from pul-qwuletse’ | Wayne Charlie, stqeeye’paal’t-hw | Lawrence George, sp’aqw’um’ultunat | Donna Gerdts for our new stories project in February 2026. Thanks to Wayne Charlie for the Hul’q’umi’num’ recording.
kwunus ts’its’usum’ huw’a’lum’ ni’ ’utl’ snuneymuhw | Childhood memories: playing in Snuneymuxw
- ’een’thu xulsilum, tun’ni’ tsun ’utl’ snuneymuhw.
I am Crawford Seward, from Snuneymuxw - tun’a kweyul ’i’ qwaqwul’ tsun tse’ ’u kwunus hwun’ steehwulh ’i ’i ’utl’ snuneymuhw.
I am going to talk today about what it was like being a kid, here in Snuneymuxw. - ni’ tsun he’kw’ kwunus wa’wu ’apun ’i’ kw’ yuse’lu, ’apun ’i’ kw’ lhihw sil’anum.
I remember when I was like 12, or 13 years old. - lhnimulh stu’ehwulh, wa’wu ’upeenu ’i’ kw’ yey’sul’u, ’i’ yath tst ’uw’ nem’ huw’a’lum’ q’ushin’tul’.
There would be 12 of us who would go that far to play, always together. - mukw’ skweyul ’i’ ni’ tst nem’ ’utl’qul ’i’ mukw’ stem ni’ yu su’luthut tst.
Everyday, us kids would be outside doing things. - kwutst hwun’ stu’ehwulh ’i’ ’uwu niis qux tu ni’ sul’uthut tst.
When we were kids, we really didn’t have very many things to do like we do today. - yath tst ’uw’ pupti’tul’ siilt tu tayu hunum’ustuhw ’u tu shelh.
we would race, rolling tires up and down our street as kids. The streets were our Olympics. We would race, pushing tires from one corner to the other and back. pe’pti’tul’ silum siilt - ni’ tsun hekw’ ’u tu nuts’a’ spulhxun stutes ’u tu t’i’wi’ulh’ew’t-hw snu’a’th ’u tu lelum’s tunu shhwuw’weli.
I remember there was a field near the church across the road from my late parents’ place. - ni’ ’u tey’ spulhxun ’i’ ni’ tst hii’wa’lum’ ’u tthu qux siw’a’lum’ tst st’e ’ukw’ xut’ustum’ red rover ’uw’ stemus.
At that field, we would play many games like red rover, etc. - tun’ni’ ’u tuw’ mukw’ ’unuts tu stu’ehwulh.
It was kids from our whole community. - mukw’ skweyul ’i’ yath ’uw’ nem’ huw’a’lum’ ’utl’ lhnimulh.
They would come and play with us every day. - yath tst ’uw’ qux sul’uthut ’u tuw’ mukw’ stem ’ul’.
We always would do stuff like this. - kwus kwunnuhwus tthu shwuw’weli tst tu ’uhwiin’ telu, ’i’ ni’ ’iluqulhtsustal’hwus ’u tu puysukul.
When our parents could afford it, they would get us bikes. - niilh tst ’iwatul’ ’ula’ulh ’u tu puysukul tst, hunum’ ’u tthu shelh ’i’ yu hwu’alum’.
We would race bikes up and down the street. - ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ’uw’ sey’q ’ul’ kwthu s’ul’uthut-s tthu stu’ehwulh ’i’ ’uwu niis xa’ilhmutum ’u tu shhwuw’welis.
Sometimes there were some kids in our community if they did something wrong they didn’t get a lick or anything. - ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ kwikwulhum’ tthu tsul’itsut sus ’uw’ ’utth’emustalum’u tthu s’itth’um. ’i’ nilh ni’ ha’kwushut kwutst hi’wa’lum’ sq’uq’a’ ’u tu siiye’yu tst.
Sometimes the parents would get upset and … little boys would get put in dresses and have to play with everyone. That would be to teach them never to do wrong again. - xwum kwus tul’nuhwus tu stu’ehwulh hwnem’ ’u tthu s’ul’uthut-s ’uwu niis suy’q’.
The bad children learned quickly from that experience. - ’uwu tum’temus ’i’ tux qul’et .
They never made mistakes ever again. - ’i’ ’uwu hi’walum ’u tu snuhwulhshun ’i’ tu bike, ’i’watul’ kwus hi’walum ni’ ’u tu spulhxun.
If we weren’t doing tire, bike races or playing in the field we’d be playing in our cousins’ driveways playing marbles. - ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ tst huw’a’lum’ ’u tthu ni’ xut’ustum’ mapuls ni’ ’u tthu shelh stutes ’u kwthu lelum’ tst ’i’ ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ni’ tst nem’ t’akw’ kwun’el’s ’u tthu qux mapuls ’i’ ts’uhwle’ ’i’ ’uw’ ’uwu te’.
Some of the boys would go home with a pocket full of marbles, some with none. - sutst ’uw’ nem’ ’iluqut qul’et tthu mapuls, ’uwu niis tl’i’stum tu mapuls ’uw’ sum’ya’.
They would get more marbles because marbles were inexpensive. - ts’uhwle’ ’i’ nem’ tst ’i’mush ni’ ’u tu liloot shelh hunum’ tuyul hunum’ ’utl’ Chase River, lhxulwulhtun.
There would be days we’d walk along the tracks to head south out of the reserve across Chase River. - ni’ tst nem’ shaqwul ’u tu paam kwutst nem’ huw’alum’ ’u tu spulhxun.
We’d cross there and go to farm fields and just go and play in the fields. - tl’lim’ tst ’uw’ ’iyus kwutst hii’walum’ ’u tu s’e’tl’q.
We really enjoyed spending time outside. - sutst ’uw’ nuw’ilum’ xlhas ’ukw’ slhap’ ’i’ ’uwu hithus ’i’ ni’ tst nem’ ’utlqul qul’et hiiw’alum’.
We only went in for a bowl of soup or something, and then we would go back outside. - mukw’ skweyul ’i’ ni’ tst huw’a’lum’ kwutst hwun’ stu’ehwulh.
And this is what we did each day when we were young. - kwutst hay ’u tu skwool’kwul’ tst ’i’ nem’ tst suw’q’ ’ukw’ syaays.
Later, we finished school and got jobs. - nilh p’e’ ni’ he’kw’me’teen’ kwunus yath ’uw’ huw’a’lum’ kwun’atul’ ’u tthunu siiye’yu.
But I indeed still remember my friends and how we played together each day. - hwu nets’ ’u tun’a skweyul, ’ skw’ey kws huw’a’lum’s ’u tthu s’e’tl’q. ’uwu niis ’uy’ ’u tun’a kweyul. qux tu qul mustimuhw. qux tu sunihwulh.
It is different today, kids can’t play outside like they used to, because of the safety for our community. - nilh tu ni’ he’kw’me’teen’ kwunus hwun’ stu’ehwulh ’i ’i ’utl’ snuneymuhw.
This is my childhood memory from Nanaimo. - hay ch q’a kwus hwiyunem’ ’u tunu sqwul’qwul’.
Thanks for listening to my story. - ni’ hay.
The End