Bit of history. Late 1700s, the Spanish arrive and start to colonize what will become Vancouver Island. They're followed by the British, the Americans, the Russians. By early 1800s a steady trade has developed on the coast, and between plagues, Indigenous nations are booming. 1

With all these new found resources and rapid development, the Sto:lo grow richer than most, none more so than my people, the Kwantlen - we monopolized trade with the foreigners. I won't say Europeans, because there are as many Hawaiians, Metis, Iroquois, and Americans. 2

Our control of trade inspires envy. We're seen to be aligned with the British. Further up the coast, another people make a deal with the Americans, for weapons. You see a traditional canoe now, and how quaint. In this era they had small canons on them. 3

Raids by these people, call the Yucultas at the time - called the We Wai Kai now - were the greatest fear of all along the Fraser. To say what they did to their captives, is to invite cancellation here on twitter. But they did some bad stuff. 4

Late 1830s, the Yucultas ready their final strike at the heart of the Kwantlen. They've peeled off all that they could, burned, killed, and now they come gunning for our last village - to their misfortune, it is across from the British fort. 5

In the village, now called Kanaka Creek, warriors from a handful of nations waited by the water as the singing of the Yucultas came into earshot. Their songs were hypnotic, meant to put their victims in a trance. 6

Finally, the fleet in sight, hundreds of canoes, heavily armed, launched towards the shore, to exterminate Kwantlen's men, and take the surviving women and children into slavery. As they came close though, something happened, for the first and only time in BCs history. 7

We know the names of most of the people at the fort, and for non-Natives, some of them will be familiar in place names around the region. For Natives though, the only name that matters is that of a Salish man from the region - who worked with the British. Sashia. 8

Sashia was old school Salish in the truest sense. I.E. he was a trader, he made deals. At the Fort, he made a deal - no one knows what it was - but it got the British to come to the side of Kwantlen. As the Yucultas came into view, the canons and guns of the fort opened up. 9

The Yuculta force was destroyed in its entirety. The assembled warriors marched through the red waters to slaughter the survivors. It's said that thousands died that day. But, the war with the Yucultas wasn't over - though it had turned. 10

With a victory in hand & a combined force of warriors on his side, Sashia travelled across the Salish world, at that time, a very populous place. He won support from every part of it, and built an armada that colonists report as taking hours to pass by in its entirety. 11

And Sashia, at the head of this massive fleet, launched it on the Yuculta homeland, taking the fight to them, to forever put an end to their attacks. And he won. The wars ended. Within a decade, the newly disarmed enemy was a neighbour like any other. The nations intermarried. 12

It's one of those epic bits of history that Canadians don't know about, even though it took place entirely within the historic era. But it's excusable - it's not like there's a holiday to mark it. It happened and we put it aside because people have to live with each other. 13

It would take a true psychopath to make a holiday of that victory, or worse yet to force the people we defeated to celebrate it. Still, what to make of those who take out their insecurities on others by taunting them about the victory. Those are some deviant, inferior people. 14

Which is a 15-tweet way of saying, good god you creeps, enough with the thanksgiving bs tweets at Native people. What a group of uniquely rotten scumbags you are. You weak, inferior, moral failures of people. You scream inadequacy. 15

OK 16th tweet. Yes, we had wars too, yes we had all sorts of shit too. But the difference is - you guys celebrate it, we don't. 16