Haisla

Haisla carver Sam Robinson on 1 July 2006 celebrating the homecoming of G'psgolox Totem Pole to Kitamaat from Sweden's Museum of Ethnology. Haisla Territory was not invaded by large numbers of Euro Americans until the 1950s, when Alcan Aluminum Inc. built one of the world's biggest aluminum smelters on the estuary of the Kitimat River, across from the Kitamaat Indian Reserve. Photo: Lars Erik Barkman

Haisla

Kitilope

"We, the Henaaksiala (Haisla people) of Husduwachsdu (the Kitlope), have known, loved and guarded the Kitlope Valley for untold, uncounted centuries. Here, our people have been born, have lived out their lives, and returned to the Earth, at one with the land. For we do not own this land so much as the land owns us. The land is part of us; and we are part of the land. It is given to us not only as a trust: to live within its boundaries in beauty and harmony; to nourish our bodies and our spirits with its gifts; and to protect it from harm" Chief Councillor Gerald Amos on behalf of the Haisla Nation, Kitlope Declaration (Na Na Kila Institute).

Kitilope.
Photo: Adrian Dorst

Haisla Territory and Totem Pole Location.
Map: EcoTrust