Heiltsuk Nation
Heiltsuk Nation
Haíɫzaqv | |
---|---|
Pacific Time Zone (PTZ)) | |
• Summer (DST) | DST |
Postal code span | V0T 1Z0 |
Area code | 250 |
Website | Official Website |
PO Box 880, Bella Bella, BC, Canada |
The Heiltsuk Nation (
The present day Heiltsuk First Nation is an amalgamation of 5 tribal groups who inhabited an area approximately 6000 square miles of the
The 1997 Supreme Court of Canada decision in
A fire destroyed the only food store in the village recently. As a stop-gap measure the United Church became the "United Store" while a new building was constructed. This response occurred very quickly and managed to provide services to the community during a difficult time.[when?][citation needed]
The Heiltsuk have been opposed to the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines proposal, with some well-publicized hearings in Bella Bella.[3][4]
The Heiltsuk became involved in early efforts in the 1990s to conserve the Great Bear Rainforest. On January 29, 2016, in the Heiltsuk community of Bella Bella—along with representatives from other First Nations, industry, government and NGOs—they celebrated the completion of the final accord to protect the largest coastal temperate rainforest in the world.[5]
Archeologist Alisha Gauvreau, a PhD student from the University of Victoria and a scholar with the Hakai Institute, discovered a site on Triquet Island on British Columbia's Central Coast which appears to confirm Heiltsuk oral tradition. The archeological team have excavated a settlement in the area — in traditional Heiltsuk Nation territory — and dated it to 14,000 years ago, during the last ice age where glaciers covered much of North America.[6]
Chief and Councillors
The Heiltsuk Nation elects a chief and 11 councillors who serve a 2-4 year term. Elections are conducted through a custom code based on the Indian Act. The most recent election was in 2018.
The current council composition is as follows:[7]
Title | Name |
---|---|
Chief | Marilyn Slett |
Councillor | Jaimie Harris |
Councillor | Ayla Brown |
Councillor | Megan Humchitt |
Councillor | Jess Housty |
Councillor | Louisa Housty Jones |
Councillor | Lorena White |
Councillor | Randy Carpenter Jr. |
Councillor | Denise Carpenter |
Councillor | Leona Humchitt |
Councillor | Reginald Moody-Humchitt |
Councillor | Travis Hall |
Language
The Heiltsuk, are speakers of
The Heiltsuk also knew and used the
Economic Development
Established by the Heiltsuk Tribal council in 2006, the Heiltsuk Economic Development Corporation (HEDC), manages the business affairs of the Heiltsuk people. HEDC was developed to create an effective separation between business and politics in support of achieving the communities economic development goals.
Education and Cultural Institutions
The Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre is located in the Bella Bella Community School (Right, High school wing). Founded in 1975, the Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre marked the Heiltsuk (then known as the Bella Bella Indian Band) determination to ensure the preservation and revitalization of Heiltsuk culture.[8]
For over twenty years, the Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre has been devoted to researching, preserving, and revitalizing the history, language and cultural traditions of the Heiltsuk Nation, located on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. Heiltsuk Cultural Centre website.
Revival of ocean-going canoes. The Heiltsuk hosted a major ocean-going canoe festival in Bella Bella in July 2014. Some 60 canoes from as far away as Washington State, as well from Nations all up and down the coast traveled to Bella Bella for the Qatuwas Festival.
The Heiltsuk were subjected to the
Great Bear Rainforest
The Heiltsuk "territory is located at the heart" of the largest intact old-growth forest in the world, the Great Bear Rainforest. The Great Bear Rainforest was officially recognized by the
On October 13, 2016, an American tugboat, the Nathan E Stewart, holding approximately 200,000 litres of industrial oils including diesel, while attached to a massive empty American oil barge, ran hard aground on a reef off Athlone Island near Bella Bella when the tugboat missed its turn into Seaforth Channel while transiting in Canadian waters on its return trip from Alaska.[14][15]
Heiltsuk Herring Rights, R. v. Gladstone and Dispute with DFO
The Heiltsuk have a long history and relationship with herring. The 1997
Since the Gladstone decision was rendered the Heiltsuk have been in a dispute with Canada regarding implementation of the ruling as well as with the science used by DFO. The dispute boiled over in 2015 with the Heiltsuk occupying the local DFO office.[16][17]
Notes on Nomenclature
The Heiltsuk are not well known among non-Aboriginal people. Part of this is due to the confusing terminology applied to First Nations over time. The Heiltsuk have been subsumed, inaccurately, as 'Northern Kwakiutl', Kwakiutl, and have also been known as Bella Bella (Indians), Milbanke Indians and by tribal terminology that applies to smaller tribal groups of the Heiltsuk.
See also
- Aboriginal peoples in Canada
- Bella Bella, BC
- Chinook jargon
- Old Bella Bella
- Fort McLoughlin
- Heiltsuk
- Northwest coast art
References
- ^ "The virtual village project". Simon Fraser University. Retrieved 29 April 2014.
- ^ "Heiltsuk Cultural Education Centre". Retrieved 29 April 2014.
- ^ Heiltsuk Nation responds to Federal Government decision on Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project
- ISBN 978-0-307-40199-1
- ^ Hunter, Justine (February 1, 2016). "Final agreement reached to protect B.C.'s Great Bear Rainforest". The Globe and Mail. Bella Bella, BC. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
- ^ "14,000-year-old archeological find affirms Heiltsuk Nation's ice age history". CBC News. Retrieved 2017-04-10.
- ^ "Chief and Council". Heiltsuk Nation. Retrieved 10 October 2018.
- ISBN 1-55054-556-6.
- ^ Bella Bella, National Film Board of Canada, 1975
- ^ a b c Hunter, Justine (November 15, 2016). "Clark promotes Great Bear Rainforest in U.K. while First Nations battle oil spill". The Globe and Mail. Victoria, British Columbia. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
- ^ Morrow, Fiona (1 February 2016). "Great Bear Rainforest agreement creates 'a gift to the world'". CBC News. Retrieved 2 February 2016.
- ^ "Royals endorse Great Bear Rainforest as part of Queen's Commonwealth Canopy". CBC. September 26, 2016. Retrieved September 26, 2016.
- ^ "Proposed 2015 Great Bear Rainforest Order and Potential Biodiversity, Mining and Tourism Areas / Conservancy Designations". BC Strategic Land and Resource Planning. 2015. Archived from the original on March 24, 2016. Retrieved November 15, 2016.
- ^ Zada, John (November 16, 2016). "Canadian First Nation cleans up latest fuel spill mess: Fuel spill in Canada's Great Bear Rainforest adds to pressure to cut fuel transport lines on Pacific Coast". British Columbia: Al Jazeera. Retrieved November 24, 2016.
- ^ Tug's diesel spill a ‘nightmare’ for Heiltsuk Nation in British Columbia
- ^ Prystupa, Mychalo Heiltsuk take over DFO office. National Observer. March 29, 2015. accessed March 28, 2016.
- ^ Shore, Randy BC First Nations vows to stop herring roe fishery in its territory. Vancouver. The Vancouver Sun. March 3, 2016.
- Heiltsuk Cultural Education Center website
- The Virtual Village Project - Heiltsuk, SFU website
- Heiltsuk Nation responds to Federal Government decision on Enbridge’s Northern Gateway Pipeline Project