Notable Sinixt People
In Washington, one particular family of Sinixt have figured prominently among recent-day "urban Indians". Bernie Whitebear (1937–2000), a Seattle Indian rights activist and founder of several "urban Indian" organizations, was declared Washington state's "First Citizen of the Decade" in November 1997; his sister Luana Reyes (1933—2001) was, at the time of her death, deputy director of the U.S.'s 14,000-person Indian Health Services; and their brother Lawney Reyes (b. c.1931) is a Seattle-based sculptor, designer, curator and author. Lawney Luana and Bernie are descendants of Alex Christian, whose family lived at Kp'itl'els (Brilliant, BC, near present day Castlegar), a Sinixt village, for generations until the Canadian Government sold their land to settlers.
Novelist and memoirist Okanagan Mourning Dove, also known as Christine Quintasket, is described by anthropologist Paula Pryce as of Sinixt-Skoyelpi descent, and Quintasket describes her childhood and youth at Pia (now Kelly Hill, Washington) in the late 19th/early 20th century. Quintasket (Humishuma) was one of the first Native American women to publish a novel.
Joe Feddersen is a Sinixt/Okanagan sculptor, painter, photographer and mixed-media artist born in Omak, Washington.
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