Funeral expenses for Scwicwèye-Bethany

It is with heavy hearts that we are making this gofundme to support funeral expenses for the family of Bethany Sunday Shortt, traditional name Scwicwéye. Our communities have suffered a great loss of one of our young front line leaders. Scwicwéye fought to defend her homelands of Secwepemculecw, the communities of the DTES, and Indigenous lands everywhere from state violence, pipelines, deforestation, gentrification, land theft, and industrial devastation. She faced arrest and incarceration to hold the line against industry and demonstrate her commitment to futures where Indigenous lands and bodies are not secondary to profit. She believed in land protection by any means necessary and unapologetically defied settler colonial land destruction. Scwicwéye’s work reflected a future without prisons and pollution. Her warrior spirit and visionary mind fed movements, questioned colonial authority, mobilized youth, shut down financial offices, tended fires, and connected her to many within our communities who hold her as family. She found joy and belonging in Secwepemculecw; She spoke of building pithouses, fishing, wild horses, and dreams for her homelands. Her journey to connect to her lands and peoples reflects what it means to be learning and growing as a queer Secwepemc youth. Scwicwéye demonstrated the importance of solidarity between queer/2S youth within Indigenous resistance. She knew that the work she was doing would bring great personal pain, but did so in defence of future generations. It is in these moments that we reckon with the struggle and great personal toll it takes being a young Indigenous land defender fighting courageously for futures we may never know. Our community is struggling to come to terms with this loss, and we need to reach out to the wider world for support. Bethany’s / Scwicwéye’s family is now in need of funds to bring her home safely, and put her to rest in a good way that honours her Secwepemc ancestral belonging. Please donate generously, and share widely. Her work benefits each and every one of us, and so now it’s time to thank her by ensuring her next transition is peaceful.