All That We Say is Ours

Guujaaw and the Reawakening of the Haida Nation

Ian Gill

• Publisher: Douglas & McIntyre
• Year: 2022
• Print ISBN: 9781771623278
• eBook ISBN: 9781771623322
• Topic: Ciencias sociales
• Subtopic: Biografías de ciencias sociales

Haida Gwaii, the ancient territory of the Haida people, is a West Coast archipelago famous for its wild beauty and rich species diversity. But that natural bounty, since European contact, has also been a magnet for industry. In the mid-1970s, the Haida rallied with environmentalists to end the rapacious logging of their monumental old-growth forests—and to reassert their title and rights to their homeland.

Combining first-person accounts with his own vivid prose, Ian Gill traces the struggle from its early days. The battle became epic, stretching from the backwoods of British Columbia to the front benches of Canada's parliament and uniting a colourful cast of characters. There were many setbacks, but also amazing victories, including the creation of Gwaii Haanas, a world-renowned protected area, and landmark legal decisions. Perhaps the fiercest champion of the Haida's visionary new stewardship ethic has been Guujaaw—artist, orator, strategist and four-term president of the Council of the Haida Nation.

In 2004, the Haida laid claim to their entire traditional territory: the land, seabed and waters of Haida Gwaii. It was an audacious move, and one that set a benchmark for indigenous rights around the world. In telling this incredible story of political and cultural renaissance, Ian Gill has crafted a gripping, ultilayered narrative with far-reaching reverberations.

Notes

A book of this nature is an amalgam of myriad sources. Some are archival, others are first- or second-hand accounts gleaned from interviews and yet others are my own observations based on my own readings and recollections from more than a quarter of a century of interest in and visits to Haida Gwaii. Piecing together many of the events in this book has been as much forensic science as historical research, because a great deal of the narrative of Haida Gwaii isn’t written down. When it is, there are sometimes contradictory accounts, conflicting spellings, jumbled dates and mixed messages. I have tried to resolve these through multiple cross-referencing and fact-checking, but I have not presumed to write a definitive historical account, since I have neither the qualifications nor all the data to do so.

Where there are language variations between different dialects and old and new forms, I have relied on linguist Robert Bringhurst to provide most current usage.

A great deal of the book relies on interviews conducted over a three-year period beginning in 2006. Some of the scenes I describe are further reconstructed from documentary film accounts, especially the events in Gwaii Haanas. In the notes that follow, I have attempted to give a comprehensive although not exhaustive summary of the sources that have informed this work.

Readers will also note that I refer to Guujaaw even when, chronologically, he had not yet abandoned the name Gary Edenshaw. Guujaaw has on occasion expressed a wish that the issue of his name not be assigned any great importance. I have attempted to honour that wish, limiting references to Gary Edenshaw to instances where I feel it is required to make sense of his story.

Quotes in the text: Unless stated otherwise, quotes from Guujaaw or other members of the Haida Nation, along with others on and off the islands, are from interviews I conducted, from numerous emails, or from notes I took at public events over a period of several years. Quotes taken from documented sources are noted in the text or in these notes.

One: Then and Now

page 2 Robert Davidson’s totem pole: Prior to Robert Davidson’s pole raising in 1969, there hadn’t been a totem pole raised in Old Massett in more than a hundred years, and there was only one ancient pole still standing at the time in the other principal Haida village, Skidegate. Davidson’s pole raising was an important turning point in what the Haida call the “taking out of concealment” of their songs and ceremonies. A short account of the importance of the pole raising can be found in a companion booklet in the compact disk anthology: Reg Davidson, Robert Davidson, Guujaaw, Marianne Jones, Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson, Songs of Haida Gwaii: Haida Gwaii Singers Anthology (Surrey: Haida Gwaii Singers Society and Haida Nation, 2008), 5–6. A more detailed account of the carving and raising of the pole is in Ulli Steltzer and Robert Davidson, Eagle Transforming: The Art of Robert Davidson (Vancouver and Seattle: Douglas & McIntyre and University of Washington, 1994), 21–25.

page 2 Chief ʔIdansuu’s potlatch: Chief ʔIdansuu’s house-front raising and potlatch, along with Christian White’s totem pole raising and potlatch, took place on the weekend of August 19–20, 2006.

page 6 Painted house fronts were rare among the Haida: George F. MacDonald, Haida Art (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1996), 105.

page 7 The potlatch law: In 1884, federal legislation made it a misdemeanour, punishable by imprisonment, to engage or assist in a potlatch: Canada, An Act to Further Amend the Indian Act, 1880, S.C. 1884, 47 Vict., c. 27, s. 3. See also Jean Barman, The West Beyond the West: A History of British Columbia (Toronto: University of Toronto Press, 1991), 160.

page 7 Performances throughout the evening: Although the author was present and witnessed the songs and dances at Chief ʔIdansuu’s potlatch, a further explanation of their importance and their meaning was provided by Nika Collison. The Haida take songs—their creation, their ownership and their performance—very seriously. The use of songs is governed by an evolving Song Protocol, according to the companion booklet to Songs of Haida Gwaii. It says the Protocol “is the set of rules about when certain kinds of songs may be used and what kind of dance or ceremony accompanies a song. It also encompasses who may use certain songs and the need to obtain permission to sing songs and to acknowledge song owners and teachers. It even embraces new rules such as what kinds of songs—based on the essence of the song—may be used in present day ceremonies”: Davidson et al., Songs of Haida Gwaii, 9.

page 9 The legendary candlefish: Oolichans, or eulachons (Thaleichthys pacificus) are small, short-lived, anadromous smelts (like sardines) that can be found from the southern Bering Sea to northern California. Within British Columbia, they have been documented spawning in thirty-three rivers, but in only fourteen or fifteen rivers on a sustained basis. Oolichans are so high in oil content that they can be dried, fitted with a wick through the mouth and used as a candle. The oil is unique among fish oils in that it is a solid at room temperatures, with the consistency of soft butter and with a golden hue. It can also be rendered as a grease. In whatever form, the oolichan is an important part of a traditional First Nations diet—but it is an acquired taste, to say the least.

Two: Land Troubles

page 18 A compromise with Canada: The reference to a “compromise” with Canada, as opposed to the United States, Russia or Japan, comes from an interview conducted by Ian Lordon in SpruceRoots, a magazine that for several years chronicled events on Haida Gwaii but is now defunct: “Reconciling Differences and Inspiring Change,” SpruceRoots, Queen Charlotte, Haida Gwaii: Gowgaia Institute, February 2000.

page 20 The Haida describe their homeland: Council of the Haida Nation, Haida Land Use Vision: Haida Gwaii Yah’guudang [respecting Haida Gwaii], April 2005.

page 22 Immune from attack: Christie Harris, Raven’s Cry (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1966), 92.

page 23 A language isolate: Nancy J. Turner says in Plants of Haida Gwaii (Winlaw, B.C.: Sono Nis Press, 2004), 37, that “Haida has no demonstrable relationship with any other language, and is thus considered a Language Isolate.” The Haida have their own oral histories of their islands, cultures and traditions. For a summary of Haida oral traditions see Ḵiiʔiljuus (Barbara J. Wilson) and Heather Harris, “Tllsda X̱aaydas Ḵ’aaygang.nga: Long, Long Ago Haida Ancient Stories,” chapter 7 in Daryl W. Fedje and Rolf W. Mathewes, eds., Haida Gwaii: Human History and Environment from the Time of Loon to the Time of the Iron People (Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press, 2005), 121–139. Robert Bringhurst, in A Story as Sharp as a Knife: The Classical Mythtellers and Their World (Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre, 1999), 13, notes that Haida is “one of the world’s richer classical literatures, embodying one of the world’s great mythologies.”

page 23 Calder, Sparrow, Van der peet, N.T.C. Smokehouse, Gladstone, Delgamuukw, Haida:

Calder v. British Columbia (Attorney General), [1973] S.C.R. 313, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/5113/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

Delgamuukw v. British Columbia, [1997] 3 S.C.R. 1010, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1569/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

Haida Nation v. British Columbia (Minister of Forests), 2004 SCC 73, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/2189/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

R. v. Gladstone, [1996] 2 S.C.R. 723, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1409/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

R. v. N.T.C. Smokehouse Ltd., [1996] 2 S.C.R. 672, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1408/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

R. v. Sparrow, [1990] 1 S.C.R. 1075, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/609/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

R. v. Van der Peet, [1996] 2 S.C.R. 507, https://scc-csc.lexum.com/scc-csc/scc-csc/en/item/1407/index.do (accessed January 28, 2022).

page 24 Cut and dried: Lordon, “Reconciling Differences and Inspiring Change.”

page 24 Indigenous peoples around the world: The estimate of the amount of land occupied by indigenous peoples, and their stewardship responsibility for so much of the world’s biodiversity and cultural diversity, is by Dennis Martinez, “Land Grab on a Global Scale,” Seattle Post-Intelligencer, April 2, 2008. Dennis Martinez is founder and co-chairman of the Indigenous Peoples’ Restoration Network of the Society for Ecological Restoration International.

page 25 A beehive of peo...

Table of contents

• Praise for All That We Say is Ours
• Half Title Page
• Title Page
• Copyright
• Dedication
• Epigraph
• Map
• Contents
• One: Then and Now
• Two: Land Troubles
• Three: The Spirit Rushes in the Blood
• Four: Out of Hand
• Five: Drum
• Six: The Same as Everyone Else
• Seven: They Say
• Eight: Pushing Back
• Nine: This Box of Treasures
• Ten: A Recognizable Culture
• Eleven: How the World Gets Saved
• Twelve: Yes, We Can
• Thirteen: What Is to Come
• Chronology of Events
• Notes
• Selected Bibliography
• Acknowledgements
• Index
• About the Author