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About the OMI Census, 1877

The nominal census of Native peoples taken by the Catholic missionary order, Oblates of Mary Immaculate (OMI), in 1877 was conducted independently of either national or provincial governments. While the Bishop, Louis d'Herbomez, undoubtedly wanted the enumeration to be complete and comprehensive, the process was dependant on the resident priests taking the time to conduct it. In the Okanagan Valley, for example, the Okanagan Mission, Head of the Lake and Spallumcheen communities were enumerated by Father Baudre but no priest was available to enumerate the communities of Penticton and Inkameep, or those in the Similkameen Valley.

The nominal census taken in 1877 was preceded by two general censuses for the region. In 1874 Father Baudre wrote that the District of the Immaculate Conception included about 1600 Natives of whom 1300 were Christianized. These comprised fifteen different tribes or villages, five of which were in the Okanagan-Similkameen: Negamaplax [Head of the Lake] ( 136), Pentekten (100), Soyoos (80), La douane (70), Vermillion [Princeton] (100) and [Lower] Similkameen (50). In 1875 he sent in a more complete Native census, which exhibited numerous differences from the previous one. For example, it included the community of Okanagan Mission with 123 persons which had not been included in the previous census. This census was broken down by village and aggregated by marital status, sex, and age group. His categories were: married couples, non-married couples, Native women married to whites, Native women living in concubinage with whites, widows, widowers and bachelors, unmarried men and women of marriageable age, and children. Even though he included more detail, he could not vouch for the accuracy of his census. He claimed that he had met resistence from the Natives in conducting the census and that many persons had been missed. In particular, the Natives in the Okanagan Mission were under-recorded and a group of approximately fifteen Natives, allegedly from Colville, Washington but living in the mountains beyond the Head of the Lake, were left out completely.

The nominal census presented here was taken by Baudre in mid-July and was enclosed in a letter dated August 14, 1877. He wrote:

"This list has been obtained with the greatest difficulty. Several [Natives] refused to give the information that I needed and I had to pull it out piece by piece... I would say that the list of children is not complete and that several familes have been forgotten. I have done my best. Since the list was prepared three of the Indians are dead."

>He goes on to identify three persons who had died since the census was taken, a male of forty some years who he identified as Tanamous (Andre or Kolatsimkam, number 53 of Head of the Lake?), a male of twenty some years named Pierre-Paul (number 7 of Head of the Lake?), and a child of three months who he had not placed on the list.

The OMI census was taken for church purposes and the priest was preoccupied with the Natives' religious state, whether or not they have been married or baptised in the Church, and whether or not they were following church precepts such as refraining from gambling or fulfilling promises which they have made to the priest. Some of the comments were insulting but it should be remembered that this census was meant for the eyes of the Bishop and is more a reflection on the values of the enumerator than on the individuals being enumerated.