The 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, also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between 55–125 km (34–78 mi) off the northern Pacific coast in the Canadian province of British Columbia. 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.
Queen Charlotte Sound is a sound of the Pacific Ocean in British Columbia, Canada, between Vancouver Island in the south and Haida Gwaii in the north. It merges with Hecate Strait in the north and Queen Charlotte Strait in the south.
The Dixon Entrance is a strait about 80 kilometers (50 mi) long and wide in the Pacific Ocean at the Canada–United States border, between the U.S. state of Alaska and the province of British Columbia in Canada. The Dixon Entrance is part of the Inside Passage shipping route. It forms part of the maritime boundary between the U.S. and Canada, although the location of that boundary here is disputed.
North Coast-Haida Gwaii is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of British Columbia, Canada.
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area, and Haida Heritage Site, usually referred to simply as Gwaii Haanas, is located in southernmost Haida Gwaii, 130 kilometres off the mainland of British Columbia, Canada. Gwaii Haanas protects an archipelago of 138 islands, the largest being Moresby Island and the southernmost being Kunghit Island. "Gwaii Haanas" means "Islands of Beauty" in X̱aayda kíl, a southern dialect of the Haida language.
The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada along the Pacific Ocean is in the province, it is synonymous with being the West Coast of Canada.
Masset is a village in the Haida Gwaii archipelago 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.
Daajing Giids, known as Queen Charlotte City from 1891–2022, is a village municipality in the Haida Gwaii archipelago in the province of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the southern end of Graham Island at Skidegate Inlet and is a member municipality of the North Coast Regional District.
Robert Charles Davidson, is a Canadian artist of Haida heritage. Davidson's Haida name is G̲uud San Glans, which means "Eagle of the Dawn". He is a leading figure in the renaissance of Haida art and culture. He lives in White Rock, British Columbia.
Lyell Island, known also in the Haida language as Athlii Gwaii, is a large island in the Haida Gwaii archipelago on the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on the east side of Moresby Island, just south of Laskeek Bay. The island is a part of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site.
Florence Edenshaw Davidson (1896–1993) was a Canadian First Nations artist from Haida Gwaii. She created basketry and button blankets and was a respected elder in her village of Masset, Haida Gwaii, British Columbia.
Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas is a visual artist, author, and public speaker. His work has been seen in public spaces, museums, galleries and private collections across globe. Institutional collections include the British Museum, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Seattle Art Museum, Vancouver Art Gallery, and the Humboldt Forum.
The 2012 Haida Gwaii earthquake occurred just after . The shock had a moment magnitude of 7.8 and a maximum Mercalli Intensity of V (Moderate). The earthquake's epicentre was on Moresby Island of the Haida Gwaii archipelago. This was the second largest Canadian earthquake ever recorded by a seismometer, after the 1949 Queen Charlotte Islands earthquake, about 135 kilometres (84 mi) away. One person died due to a car crash related to the tsunami in Oahu, Hawaii.
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.
Skidegate Inlet is a broad inlet on the east coast of the Haida Gwaii archipelago of the North Coast of British Columbia, Canada. It is the easternmost of a series of waterways separating Graham Island to the north from Moresby Island to the south.
Gudangaay Tlaats'gaa Naay Secondary, formerly George M Dawson Secondary School, is a public high school in Masset, British Columbia. It is one of two secondary schools and one of six schools in School District 50 Haida Gwaii. George Mercer Dawson Secondary officially opened on October 19, 1970, and was named after George Mercer Dawson, a Canadian scientist, surveyor and eminent authority on ethnology and archeology who undertook the Canadian Governments Geological Survey of Haida Gwaii, formerly named Queen Charlotte Islands. In September, 2016 the school was renamed to Gudangaay Tlaats'gaa Naay Secondary by unanimous decision of the SD50 School Board.
Dadens (daa.adans), also referred to as Tartenee and Tatense by some early European settlers and Tatense Reserve 16 under the Indian Act is village on the southern coast of Langara Island belonging to the Haida Nation on the archipelago Haida Gwaii, British Columbia, Canada. Dadens was once a popular trading post for the North Pacific fur trade among European traders in the late 18th century, due to its size and accessibility. Dadens no longer continues to be used by families year round, but it was used as a fishing village during the summer months by many Haida up until the 1950s and 1960s, and is still used to a limited extent today. There have been multiple migrations of families from Dadens to South East Alaska and these people are now known as the Kiagani Haida.
The Council of the Haida Nation is the elected government of the Haida Nation, the Indigenous occupants of the Haida Gwaii archipelago in the Canadian province of British Columbia. The council consists of a president and vice-president elected by popular vote, twelve regional representatives from four electoral regions, and one appointed representative from each of the Old Massett Village Council and Skidegate Band Council.
Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson is a Canadian First Nations lawyer, artist, activist, and author and a member of the Raven Clan from the Haida Nation. As a lawyer, Williams-Davidson specializes in Indigenous and environmental law, having represented the Haida Nation at all levels of court since 1996 and notably participating in the litigation of the Haida Nation's TFL39 Case to protect the old-growth forests of Haida Gwaii, a case that effectively altered the government's stance on the consultation and accommodation of Aboriginal Rights.
