Our Land: Traditional Territory
We are in the land; the land is in us.
Since the beginning of time, the Kwakwaka’wakx people have occupied these lands that they call home and they have a connection with that land and all the things that are within their Territories. Our ancestors hunted, fished and trapped throughout this vast land and through time came to know the uses of the places that they applied names to. Within the wide range of habitats in our territories are diverse biological communities, a living world that has provided for generations the physical and spiritual foundations of our culture [see Traditional Use].
Many of the names that were applied to the geographic location are of great social and spiritual meaning to our people. The names that were used were often connected to the origin story of a tribe or clan or they could be used to describe some activity that took place at that point such as the “Hunwatti” river, the very name Hunwatti means the place to fish hump back or the name of one of our most important rivers, the Klina Klini which refers to the river of Tlina or eulachon grease, a great staple and trade commodity for the Kwakwaka’wakw people.
The place names often were specific to a certain tribe and would signify that a person was within the Territory of that specific tribe. A person of knowledge was able to identify that they we within a tribes Territory simply by recognizing the names and the origins of them.
Since contact, some of those names have remained but for the most part, the European settlers have taken the liberty, without consultation with the First Nations to renames all of the significant geographical landmarks for themselves as self-proclaimed explores and discovers of this land. The First Nations people paid no attention to the theory of discovering the part of the world because they were not aware that it had been lost. If one was to look at a map of the Territories of the Winalagalis tribes, they might draw the conclusion that prior to contact, that there was very little use or occupancy by the First Nations. This is not the case; the members of the Winalagalis tribes occupied or used the extremes of their Territories and had names for all of the locations in their Territories. They had names for bays, points, mountains, lakes, islands, rivers, and all other geographic landmarks.
We have always had and will always have the original place names of our Territories and it is important that those names be identified and we once again call them by their Kwakwaka’wakw names. It is also equally important that theses names be registered with the appropriate agencies and we can have our place names once again grace the beautiful locations that they were meant for.
Interest
The member tribes of the Winalagalis Treaty Group share a strong interest in reinstating Kwakwala place names within their respective Territories. These original place names should be registered with the proper authorities and references to the current names should be removed. See the Treaty page.
