Related Research Articles
Haida are an indigenous group who have traditionally occupied Haida Gwaii, an archipelago just off the coast of British Columbia, Canada, for at least 12,500 years.
Haida Gwaii is an archipelago located between 55–125 km (34–78 mi) off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecate Strait. Queen Charlotte Sound lies to the south, with Vancouver Island beyond. To the north, the disputed Dixon Entrance separates Haida Gwaii from the Alexander Archipelago in the U.S. state of Alaska.
Graham Island is the largest island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago, lying off the mainland coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is separated by the narrow Skidegate Channel from the other principal island of the group to the south, Moresby Island. It has a population of 3,858, an area of 6,361 km2 (2,456 sq mi), and is the 101st largest island in the world and Canada's 22nd largest island.
Princess Royal Island is the largest island on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located amongst the isolated inlets and islands east of Hecate Strait on the British Columbia Coast. At 2,251 square kilometres (869 sq mi), it is the fourth largest island in British Columbia. It was named in 1788 by Captain Charles Duncan, after his ship Princess Royal.
The North Coast Regional District is a quasi-municipal administrative area in British Columbia. It is located on British Columbia's west coast and includes Haida Gwaii, the largest of which are Graham Island and Moresby Island. Its administrative offices are in the City of Prince Rupert.
Masset, formerly Massett, is a village in Haida Gwaii in British Columbia, Canada. It is located on Masset Sound on the northern coast of Graham Island, the largest island in the archipelago, and is approximately 50 km (31 mi) west of mainland British Columbia. It is the primary western terminus of Trans-Canada Highway 16 and is served by Masset Airport, with flights to Vancouver and Prince Rupert. During the maritime fur trade of the early 19th century, Masset was a key trading site. It was incorporated as a village municipality on May 11, 1961.
Port Clements is an incorporated village situated at the east end of Masset Inlet in Haida Gwaii off the coast of the Province of British Columbia in Canada. Known as Gamadiis in HlG̱aagilda X̱aayda kil, it is one of seven village sites that flourished in the rich waters at the mouth of Yakoun River, where an estuary shelters nine Pacific salmonid species and many kinds of birds. Founded by Eli Tingley in 1907, it was once known under the name Queenstown, but renamed to Port Clements in 1914 after Herb S. Clements, the local MP at the time, when the name "Queenstown" duplicated and therefore became unusable for the post office.
The Yakoun River is the largest river of Haida Gwaii, in the province of British Columbia, Canada. Located on Graham Island it flows about 58 km (36 mi) from Yakoun Lake north to Masset Inlet, a large saltwater bay located in the heart of the Graham Island and connected to the Pacific Ocean at Dixon Entrance via a long narrow inlet called Masset Sound.
Masset Inlet is a large saltwater bay located in the heart of the lowland of northern Graham Island, the northernmost and largest island of the Haida Gwaii islands on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is fed by several rivers, the largest of which is the Yakoun River, and is connected to the open sea of the Dixon Entrance by the narrow Masset Sound and Masset Harbour, which opens onto McIntyre Bay. The communities of Port Clements and Sewall are located on the shores of Masset Inlet. The community of Juskatla is located on Juus Ḵáahlii, the largest of Masset Inlet's arms. There are several islands in the inlet, the largest of which is Kumdis Island, at the inlet's egress to Masset Sound and just north of Port Clements. Masset Inlet helps form the isthmus of the Naikoon Peninsula.
Masset Sound is a 38-kilometre (24 mi) saltwater inlet on Graham Island, the largest and northernmost of the Haida Gwaii islands of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada, connecting Masset Inlet in the island's interior with the open sea via Masset Harbour and McIntyre Bay to the Dixon Entrance. It averages 1.5 kilometres (0.93 mi) in width and is less than 750 metres (2,460 ft) width in certain spots. The town of Masset is located on the east bank of Masset Sound's northern end.
Gold Harbour was a historic gold and silver mine in Haida Gwaii, on the north coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is notable as the location of the first lode mine worked in what is now British Columbia.
Naden Harbour is a harbour on the north coast of Graham Island on Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. The locality of Naden Harbour, British Columbia is located on its western shore. Cape Naden is the point on the west side of the entrance to Virago Sound, which is at the entrance to Naden Harbour.
Ḵung is a Haida village, located on the west side of Alexandra Narrows on Graham Island, the largest and northernmost island of Haida Gwaii alongside British Columbia, Canada. Alexandra Narrows, known on some old maps as Mazzaredo Sound, connects Naden Harbour and Virago Sound. An earlier village located at the current village site was named ‘Nightasis’ by the fur trader John Work, and records that in 1840 there were 15 houses with 280 residents.
The Hiellen River is a river on Graham Island in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia, Canada. It flows north into McIntyre Bay to the east of Tow Hill, and is entirely within Naikoon Provincial Park, which covers most of the peninsula of the same name. At the mouth of the Hiellen River is Hiellen Indian Reserve No. 2, which is on the site of Hiellen, a once-large Haida village whose remaining families located to Masset during the 19th Century.
The Skidegate Band Council, also known as the Skidegate First Nation, is a band government of the Haida people, one of two of the Haida Tribal Society aka the Council of the Haida Nation. Its offices are located in Skidegate, British Columbia.
Old Massett, named G̱aw in X̱aad kíl, is an Indigenous Canadian village on Graham Island in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia. It lies on the east side of Masset Sound close to the town of Masset; the area of land it is on is legally designated Masset Indian Reserve No. 1, or Masset 1. The original name of the settlement was Uttewas, meaning "white-slope village" in the Haida language. It is populated by Haida people of both Ḵuustak, the Eagle matrilineage, and Ḵayx̱al, the Raven matrilineage. The town is administered by the Old Massett Village Council. Its population has fluctuated over the last one hundred and fifty years; smallpox, especially the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic, drastically reduced its numbers in the late 1800s, but in 1968, it had over 1,000 people and was the largest village in Haida Gwaii. In 2009, the Village Council counted 2,698 band members in the area; the 2016 census counted 555 living at the Old Massett townsite.
Hiellen, anglicized from the Haida name Tlielang, and also spelled in various ways such as Hliiyalang (Bringhurst) and Łi'elᴀñ (Swanton), was a historic Haida village located on the northern shore of Graham Island, at the mouth of the Hiellen River, across the river from Taaw Tldáaw, in Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada.
Kiusta located on Haida Gwaii is the oldest Northern Haida village: and the site of first recorded contact between the Haida and Europeans in 1774. Haida lived in this village for thousands of years, due to the sheltered nature of its location it was used for boats offloading, especially in rough waters. Kiusta is one of the oldest archeological sites of human use in British Columbia, and continues to be a site for cultural revitalisation.
Various Imperial and colonial actions against Haida Gwaii Authorities have been undertaken since the 19th century. The indigenous peoples of Haida Gwaii often reacted violently to European and American ships which trespassed in their waters and lands. From the 18th to 19th centuries, various skirmishes took place between Haida authorities and European and American merchantmen and warships. Canadian settlers did not arrive on Haida Gwaii islands until 1900, and many Canadian colonial police actions attempted to assault the Haida Gwaii authorities and citizens. The indigenous Haida population was decimated by diseases such as smallpox which were introduced accidentally by way of Fort Victoria. The presence of foreign diseases, to which the Haida had no immunity, along with some colonial hostility, meant that the numbers of Haida citizens was reduced from tens of thousands to 588 by 1915. This erosion of Haida cultural institutions was essential to open the way for subsequent British and Canadian incursions and jurisdictional claims.
References
- Old Massett Village Council, First Nation Profile, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada
- Old Massett Village Council, A-Z First Nations Listing, Government of British Columbia
- Old Massett Village Council, Official website
 | This British Columbia-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |
 | This First Nations in Canada-related article is a stub. You can help Wikipedia by expanding it. |