Since David Dick joined the team as the Senior Manager of the South Resident Killer Whale Monitoring program in June, he’s been busy working hard to bring the W̱SÁNEĆ Marine Guardian Program to life.

Shown above The QENTOL, YEN W̱SÁNEĆ Marine Guardians new logo, by James Jimmy

There have been two major accomplishments towards launching the program, the first is the announcement of the SENĆOŦEN name of the program. The second, the successful completion of the logo design contest, resulting in a visual identity created by a W̱SÁNEĆ Community member.

After several discussions with the W̱SÁNEĆ  Language Committee members; Belinda Claxton, Linda Elliott & John Elliott, a SENĆOŦEN name was chosen for the program: QENTOL, YEN

QEN – Watching out to sea

TOL – Out at sea

YEN –  Comes from the word QENÁLIYEN which means reef net captain

As well, the W̱SÁNEĆ Marine Guardian Program had a  Logo Contest with 3 submissions. The winning design came from Tseycum First Nation Artist James Jimmy. The design he submitted is called a “Sea Wolf”, a wolf transforming into a Killer Whale. Jimmy’s design, along with the new name, will be used on the W̱SÁNEĆ Marine Guardian uniforms, clothing, stationary items and more.

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