FEASTING ON THE AAM OF HEAVEN: THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE NISGA’A, 1860-1920 by Nicholas Paul May A thesis submitted in conformity with the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy Graduate Department of History University of Toronto Copyright © 2013 by Nicholas Paul May ii Abstract FEASTING ON THE AAM OF HEAVEN: THE CHRISTIANIZATION OF THE NISGA’A, 1860-1920 Doctor of Philosophy 2013 Nicholas Paul May Graduate Department of History University of Toronto The Nisga’a of British Columbia’s rugged Pacific Coast have long forged their spirituality from both a relationship with the supernatural and other beings with whom they share the Nass Valley, and practices and beliefs brought in from abroad. In the latter half of the nineteenth century the Nisga’a began a period of intense engagement with the different Christianities that began to appear at the margins of their world. British and later Canadian missionary societies set their sights on the inhabitants of the coast while the Nisga’a themselves were exploring the newly available religious rituals and ideas they found in the emerging settler society. By 1905, the year after which ninety percent of the Indians of British Columbia were reported to be Christian, the long-serving Anglican missionary to the Nisga’a James McCullagh jubilantly declared that there was “not a heathen left” on the Nass River. This dissertation explores the process of Christianization that lay beneath such observations, focusing on how the Nisga’a understood this change in their religious life. Using missionary and government sources, as well as interviews conducted with contemporary Nisga’a, I argue that Nisga’a iii Christianization was a much more complex and multi-stranded endeavour than conventional framings of the subject allow. Nisga’a eagerly sought out the new Christianities on offer after mid-century, and began a long engagement with their ideas, rituals and forms. Their response is best understood as being informed by a Nisga’a cultural stance that valued new knowledge with the potential to improve their lives and respected the ability to create wealth. The religious change that occurred through their interaction with Protestant Christian forms and their promoters was marked by contingencies, the discovery and negotiation of both congruencies and differences, as well as impositions. Effects of this period of Christianization were far-reaching; the Nisga’a’s incorporation of Christianity into their religious framework significantly changed it. Influences also went both ways. As Nisga’a engaged with them, the particular forms, practices and meanings of the Christianities transplanted from Anglo- Canadian societies were tweaked and even transformed. Through this dialogical process, Christianity became a Nisga’a religion. Finally, this dissertation draws on contemporary Nisga’a memories of Christianization gleaned from interviews to examine the different ways this historical process is remembered in the Nass today, and how these understandings shape current cultural projects—including this one—that require plausible pasts. iv For Melissa, for so many reasons Acknowledgements While I am responsible for the words that follow, I would not have been able to undertake this study without the significant help I received from numerous people and institutions along the way. Firstly, t'ooyaksiý ńiin to the many Nisga’a who supported and participated in this study of their past. The Board of the Wilp Wilxo’oskwhl Nisga’a Institute saw merit in my desire to research a period of religious change in Nisga’a history and gave their approval at the inception of this project. Deanna Nyce has been particularly helpful in ensuring that I avoided some of the clumsiness that comes with trying to find one’s way around in a different culture. Irene Seguin drew on her expertise in Sim’algax to provide some much-needed help with translations. I am appreciative to William Anderson, the current bishop of Caledonia, for granting the approval of this project that the Nisga’a sought. My indebtedness to the Nisga’a in their four villages and beyond who shared their knowledge with me is great, and I thank them all. My hope is that this history, drawing on their insights as it does, can offer something valuable in return. Sadly, a number of my interviewees have passed away before seeing this work. It would be remiss of me to not acknowledge Nita Morven and Gary Tait at Nisga’a Lisims Government, who through conversations both heavy- and light-hearted offered perspectives on Nisga’a life past, present and future. I would like to thank the members of my dissertation committee, whose support and intellectual stimulation have been instrumental in helping this dissertation along. Allan Greer agreed to take me on even if my interest in native and colonial history led me to British Columbia, and offered sage advice and important nudgings, even if I was sometimes slow to follow. I am grateful to Heidi Bohaker for agreeing to join my supervisory team at a critical juncture and for showing me that the studied articulations we produce along the way are an integral part of the never-ending process of deepening one’s historical interpretation. Kenneth Mills’s arrival at the University of Toronto at the v vi start of my doctoral course of study was one of those fortuitous coincidences whose significance to this study has been such that it is difficult to imagine things unfolding differently. I am indebted to Sean Hawkins for introducing me to a rich historiography on some of the challenging themes through which a project such as this navigates. A number of friends and fellow scholars enriched this journey with their conversation and friendship, and I single out a few by name here: Maureen Atkinson, Jenny Clayton, Hugh Gordon, Christian Lieb, Sylvia Van Kirk and Patricia Vickers. I would also like to express my appreciation to the many people in the Hazeltons who so warmly welcomed Melissa and me when we made northern British Columbia our home. This project was also smoothed by the knowledgeable archivists and librarians I encountered at the British Columbia Archives, the Bob Stewart Archives, and the libraries at Northwest Community College and the University of Toronto. I would like to express my gratitude for the generous financial support I received from the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council and the Department of History at the University of Toronto. A Jeanne Armour Graduate Scholarship in Canadian History awarded by the latter greatly facilitated my interview work in the Nass Valley. Family has played an important role in sustaining me while I worked on this dissertation. I am particularly grateful to my parents, for believing in the value of education and supporting my endeavours, even if my decision to study history was a little puzzling. Thank you also to Mom and Bab for taking me in when Toronto was not my home. Finally, I wish to thank my partner, Melissa Lem. For supporting this project in so many ways—from the hours of editing and transcription work to moving to where I needed to be—and for in turn taking me to the diverse northern communities across this vast country that you have been drawn to, thank you. Contents List of Figures viii List of Appendices ix 1 Introduction 1 2 Changing Nisga’a Worlds: From Beginnings to the Long Nineteenth Century 32 3 Mottled Daylight: The Coming of the Law and Heavenly Things 80 4 The Christianization of Aam 128 5 Revivals, Armies and Bands: Expressing a Nisga’a Christianity 187 6 Making the Heart Good: Nisga’a Memories of Christianization 235 Conclusion 302 Manuscript Sources 308 Printed Primary Sources 310 Newspapers, Missionary Periodicals and Annual Reports 316 Sound Recordings 317 Theses and Dissertations 318 Secondary Sources 320 vii List of Figures 1.1 Map of Nisga’a villages, circa 1860-1900 42 viii List of Appendices A. List of Nisga’a Interviewees 341 ix Chapter 1 Introduction At first there were many people that did not accept this new Christianity . why accept a second Christianity when we already had one? . It wasn’t different, but it was how [the missionaries] taught it was different, because we believed already of the Creation, and how God has given us this valley to be stewards of.1 Gary Davis’s words, spoken during the first of my interviews with Nisga’a in the Nass Valley, are an eloquent reminder of the diverse ways in which we might remember religious changes like the Christianization of Nisga’a society that began after the mid- nineteenth century. Our understanding of the historical phenomenon of Christianization, in both its local and global dimensions, remains deeply incomplete. One great challenge to fleshing out these histories more fully is our dependence in many cases on sources penned largely by outside observers about the religious experiences of others. Knowledge that Aboriginal peoples today have of their own history has the potential to offer valuable insights, enriching and complicating the larger narratives of empire and globalization in which their past has been cast. While not available for every historical reconstruction, the histories and memories through which Aboriginal societies relate to their past remain vastly underutilized by historians practising in the Western tradition—to their impoverishment. 1 Gary Davis (Wii Gilax Namk’ap), interview by Nicholas May, New Aiyansh, 27 June 2007. 1 2 The Davis quote offers a window onto how differently scholars might write Aboriginal histories if they consider the available native accounts of their own pasts. From a Nisga’a perspective we are invited to envision a world of Christian ancestors, of “second Christianities” made to appear disparate by their purveyors from one already in place. In this brief example we also see a hint of tension and an initial reluctance to accept this new Christianity.