Newsletter of the Council of the Haida Nation April 2016 Superstar Basketball Players Cenita Sankey, Zoey Collinson and Xiil
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REPORTING OUT: THERE ARE ALL NATIVE WINTER SESSION STORIES WE BASKETBALL pg 5 MUST TELL TOURNAMENT pg 7 pg 18 HAIDA LAAS Newsletter of the Council of the Haida Nation April 2016 Photo: Haida Laas/Rhonda Lee McIsaac Photo: Superstar basketball players Cenita Sankey, Zoey Collinson and Xiila Guujaaw braving the freezing wind in Williams Lake while representing the Nation at the Junior All Native Basketball Tournament. Haida Laas - Newsletter of the Council of the Haida Nation Newly elected Kaa Dllxaaws Naay Skidegate Band Council Photo: Barbara Stevens Barbara Photo: HAIDA LAAS NEWSLETTER of the COUNCIL OF THE HAIDA NATION published by the Council of the Haida Nation Managing Editor Simon Davies Layout & Web Development Mare Levesque Writer Graham Richard Rhonda Lee McIsaac [email protected] p.250.559.4468 Newly elected Kaa Dllxaaws Naay Chief and Council. (l-r): Chief councillor Kuuhlaans Billy Yovanovich, Jutkungits Lyndale George, Wah gwii hla gaay Duane Alsop, Naajuuwa Michelle McDonald, Nankil‘slas Trent Moraes, Michelle Pine- ault, Taaiixou Robert Russ. Missing from photo: David Crosby. The Council was elected on March 15, 2016. Council of the Haida Nation Administrator Box 589, Old Massett Haida Gwaii the University of Northern British V0T 1M0 Columbia. Rhonda is a traditional p.250.626.5252 Jingle Dress dancer. Her most recent f.250.626.3403 1.888.638.7778 research is sharing the leadership [email protected] perspectives of Self Governing Yukon First Nation women chiefs. She works as a graduate student teaching Council of the Haida Nation assistant, grader and tutor with the President Box 98, Queen Charlotte First Nations Studies department at Haida Gwaii UNBC. She has extensive experience V0T 1S0 working with indigenous organizations, p.250.559.4468 post secondary institutions, the f.250.559.8951 1.877.559.4468 Public Service (INAC and Work [email protected] BC), non-profit organizations, social service agencies, and in the service Goose Eyes Girl sector before coming to the Council April 2016 Rhonda Lee McIsaac, Goose Eyes of the Haida Nation, Communications Girl (Way Way Sh key zhi gook) Program. She lives with her partner www.haidanation.ca Weweshkiinzhigook, Caribou clan, is in HlGaagilda and has two children a member of the Ojibways of Saugeen in Vancouver, British Columbia, First Nation #97. She is a graduate unceded Coast Salish Territories student in the Masters of Education, and in Nanaimo, British Columbia, Multidisciplinary Leadership Program Snuneymuxw traditional territory. 2 April 2016 Photo credit: Haida Laas/Graham Richard Haida Laas/Graham Photo credit: Size of Earth (l) in relation to Planet 9. FAR freakin’ out The solar system’s eight official planets have Fisheries Guardians graduates (l-r): Guud Kyagangs Ava Williams, ‘Laanas St’ang Richard Matthews, Rob Brown, Yaqvalalis been joined by a ninth with the discovery of a Stacey Humchit, Shawn Edgars, Xaahlk’wii Sdaansing Naas Morgan Pollard, Chris Hans and Gwaay Dal Gaay Gins Mark planet way beyond the orbit of Pluto. Grinder. Missing from photo: Nigel Pearson. Astronomers called upon the most exotic muses from the farthest reaches of their imaginations to conjure a nickname for the solar system’s newest family member: ‘Planet Hooked on learning Nine’. Based on the composition of Neptune and Uranus, scientists speculate that the far- Nine new Fisheries Guardians graduated from Aboriginal Communal Fishing License flung sojourner is likely an ice giant slathered three weeks of intensive training this past Regulations, the Species at Risk Act, and with an ocean of liquid gas. January. The first Canada-wide course held the Sanitation Program. The students also The planet probably traces an elliptical years ago trained over 200 guardians, three of practiced skills like public speaking and 10,000 to 20,000 year orbit around the sun whom were Haida. Now an additional eight firearms safety. ranging between 200-700AU*, placing it fully trained Guardians join them. A colleague from Heiltsuk territory, well beyond Neptune’s 30.1AU* range. “We’ve done a lot of work on the Yaqvalalis Stacey Humchit, joined the Haida Based on the gravitational behavior of land,” said kil tlaats ‘gaa Peter Lantin, students. And, as one of the graduates, he will nearby, observable Kuiper-belt objects, President of the Haida Nation. “The story be taking his new knowledge back to Heiltsuk scientists estimate Planet Nine to weigh in on the water is next. What’s exciting to territory, to help to build coast-wide capacity. at 10MU **. Although astronomers are still me is that both people, the Haida Nation The graduates include Yaqvalalis Stacey scrambling for a first look at the object, and Canada, are working together. These Humchit, ‘Laanas St’ang Richard Matthews, mathematical models have conclusively are going to be exciting times, and there Gwaay Dal Gaay Gins Mark Grinder, confirmed Planet Nine’s existence. are a lot of opportunities emerging from Xaahlk’wii Sdaansing Naas Morgan Pollard, The discovery of this planetary recluse this relationship.” Ava Williams, Shawn Edgars, Rob Brown, is of little consolation to Pluto, which, in The course resulted from this cooperative Chris Hans, and Nigel Pearson. DFO staff 2005 was doomed by unyielding detractors effort and began with a trip to Ottawa two partnered with CHN to help with the course, at the International Astronomical Union years ago, when Haida Fisheries Manager including Beth Guptill, Kelly Aitken, Jeff and demoted to ‘dwarf planet’ status for Yaahl Iiwaans Brad Setso and Fisheries Quigley, Eric Zimmermann, and Cathy Sumi. the next 7.5 billion years. At that time, the Officer Beth Guptill started talking about dying-breaths of the ever-expanding Sun further training and capacity building. will cast the forsaken rock and it’s celestial Tyson Brown Tyson Experienced instructors provided students cousins into the fathomless indifference of with story-based instruction throughout the space. The fleeting beauty of the decrepit course along with instruction from a lawyer Sun’s nebula will offer little comfort to the and conservation and protection experts. sightless outcast. • Legal training covered the Fisheries Act, Pacific Fishery Regulations, Fisheries General *AU: one Earth distance, or 149,597,870,700 metres. Regulations, BC Sport Fishing Regulations, **MU : one Earth mass, or 5,972,000,000,000,000,00000,000kg 3 Haida Laas - Newsletter of the Council of the Haida Nation way to start off my archeology adventures; it was perfect for training, because every thing was so clean and clear in my first few days. We found rock alignments for fish traps and things like that. There was wooden stakes that created different weir-complexes. We found stone-tools, stone pile drivers that would drive in the wooden stakes. Hammer Hammer stones, cedar baskets stones. Yah, it was amazing.” Still, Haida Gwaii has a relatively low & intertidal pathways density of clam-gardens compared to the rest of the coast. This may be because Haida By Graham Richard ancestors were aware that sea levels in Haida Gwaii had been falling. Today some A walk down any beach on Haida Gwaii can less than 300 metres from the cabin were thousand-year-old rock-walls are at the mid- quickly turn into an archeological adventure. not one, but two clam gardens,” she said. In tidal region where they are too high above the These shores are peppered with signs of addition, the team immediately discovered water to produce. Haida Gwaii also has many our Haida ancestor’s use, which include the another two candidates on nearby beaches. exposed shorelines that are highly productive building of fish traps, fish ponds, canoe runs In 2008, archeologists had not listed for other species. Mussel shells dominate and intertidal pathways. From 2009 – 2012, any k’yuu kudhlk’aat’iija in Haida Gwaii. most of the middens in Gwaii Haanas. the Haida Nation and Parks Canada sent out However, between 2009 and 2011, teams Today, the large quantity of ancient Haida survey teams that identified dozens of cultural identified around a dozen candidates on aquacultural sites is slowly awakening features in Gwaii Haanas. islands off Haida Gwaii’s southeastern the academic world to how coastal people “That was an incredible project and what coast, especially near K’iid Xyangs K’iidaay managed the land and sea. Sustainable we found in the intertidal opened my eyes Burnaby Narrows. aquacultural practices in Haida Gwaii to the number of features that one can see Later in 2012, experts confirmed the included long-term, intergenerational farming when the tide drops and the intricate resource team had correctly identified the k’yuu and trapping areas that were backed by a management practices used by the Haida in kudhlk’aat’iija during a helicopter-flight. By strong and well-developed management the marine environment,” said archeologist the time the helicopter returned to its pad, system. This system was administrated and Nicole Smith of the Hakai Institute. the team had identified even more clam- overseen by the ‘waahlgahl potlatch, where It is easy to see sections of beach that gardens, cleared beaches, fish traps, canoe laws were enacted and witnessed. The appear beautifully manicured. These are runs, and tidal pools that hadn’t been noticed collective authority of the Haida community often the ‘front yards’ of a village site from boats. Now archeological teams have recognized and upheld the fishing rights each where ancestors moved stones out of the confirmed that there are dozens of clam family established through the ‘waahlgahl. way to encourage shellfish or sandlance gardens in Haida Gwaii, if not more. This collective knowledge was the foundation populations to grow. Clearing the shoreline As Gwaliga Hart describes, this abundance by which Haida aquaculture was governed. also improved the working of major fish trap of archeological sites has become the norm in “This shows that our ancestors managed complexes.