First Nations
Culture, issues, and interests of northern First Nations.
Colour of the Water
Sometimes adventures take a strange turn and, when they do, they etch themselves firmly in your memories—including the colours. Paul Glover takes us on a trip down the Nass, and the proverbial memory lane.
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Colouring the Map
You know when a place is named for a colour? Blue River, Red Bluff, etc. etc. Sometimes the reason why is not as obvious as you’d think. Jo Boxwell checks out a few colourful northern BC locales.
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Creative Space
Whatever we create, the environment we are in leaves an imprint on our work. Many artists crave isolation during the creative process, but some encourage outsiders to interrupt and even influence the direction of the pieces. Six northern BC artists discuss their creative spaces and what makes them so significant to the work they produce.
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Haida Gwaii: The Board Game
Incorporating Haida cultural history, Nang K’uulas develops a new strategy game
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On Ancient Ice
Tatshenshini-Alsek Park is iconic Canadian wilderness. It’s rugged, remote, and truly remarkable. Perched on a confluence of borders—BC, Yukon, and Alaska—the park is part of a UNESCO World Heritage Site, the largest protected natural area in the world.
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Edge of the World
The beginning of a thing is often not recognized as such until long after, or indeed until an ending appears on the horizon. Such was the case in the fall of 1994, when four dirtbags pooled their limited resources and headed north from Vancouver and the Kootenays to undertake a month-long sea-kayak trip in Gwaii Hanaas National Park Reserve.
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The Crawl
Patrick Williston lives in Smithers in a mountainside home with a dark and spidery crawl space. When days are longer, you will find him and his family gunkholing around the Chatham Sea in an old sailboat. This is his first piece of fiction for Northword.
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Beginnings
Check out Northword's latest publication, a collection of northern stories and amazing images.
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The Future of LNG
In wake of Petronas decision, northerners agree: It’s time to work together.
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Simbiyez Wilson
Her name means “child of the stars.” And Witsuwit’en singer-songwriter Simbiyez Wilson seems to be living up to the name.
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Fishing for Future
Opening day on the Skeena came late this year. Kitsumkalum fish monitors were there working with recreational anglers to gather data. Britta Boudreau takes us to the river, and gives us a glimpse of what’s at stake if the salmon stop swimming, and who is working to protect the resource.
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The Last Salmon Stronghold
Salmon are a way of life in northern BC. This season’s closures of the sockeye and Chinook fisheries on the Skeena River are causing ripples of fear for a future with no fish in the rivers. Dan Mesec investigates the issues, and the potential cultural implications of declining stocks.
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Caribou Conundrum
The Telkwa caribou herd has dwindled down to just over a dozen animals. Here, we explore different perspectives on the issue. First, Emily Bulmer takes us back to her childhood and looks at a Witsuwit'en perspective. Then, Amanda Follett Hosgood gives us a glimpse of what's being done at a government level.
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In Retrospect
JRP chair Sheila Leggett on due process, yoga and the search for common ground
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Cultural Conservation: A Tahltan fights to preserve his first nation’s language
It’s a well-worn cliché that the Inuit have dozens of words for snow.
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“It’s All About the Caribou” How the Gwaii Haanas Agreement inspired a national park
John “Muffa” Kudlak was born and raised in Paulatuk, NWT, a hamlet of just over 300 residents and one of the most northerly permanent settlements on the Canadian mainland.
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Smokin’ Good Fish: Many ways to smoke a salmon
A slight breeze rustles the aspen leaves, and on it drifts the distinct scent of a northern summer. It could be a campfire or a Bar-B-Q, but when the days are long and when the salmon are running, the smell of smoke carries with it the flavour of curing fish and the promise of good eating throughout the winter.
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Leadership Development on the Land
It was more than a decade ago that I was backpacking in the remote and isolated Spatsizi in the heat of the day and the weight of the pack was taking its toll.
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Growth in aboriginal tourism means cultural opportunities for visitors
Anyone who considers Canada a dull and uncultured country clearly hasn’t experienced the rich heritage of northern BC, where hundreds of First Nations communities provide the region with a history rooted several millennia into the earth and traditions that significantly pre-date European arrival on the continent.
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How Raven found his lunch: Stories across cultures of an eternally hungry bird
Corvus corax. We-gyet. Trickster.
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Nass Valley volcano: Tseax crater and Nisga’a Memorial Lava Bed Provincial Park
As a child, I was terrified of volcanoes.
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Gwaii Haanas Legacy Pole—First monumental pole in 130 years celebrates Haida past and future
I first visited Haida Gwaii nearly 20 years ago with three friends, before the temporary moniker Queen Charlotte Islands was returned to BC
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Excavating Wu’dat
In 2010, the Lake Babine Nation and the University of Northern British Columbia (UNBC) joined forces to excavate an archaeological site at the north end of Babine Lake.
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One hundred years wiser Reflecting on our joint kungax during Smithers’ centennial
In the Witsuwit’en language, “yin tah” is the word for “land,” but it carries more weight and more context than its English equivalent.
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Two poles, Two Stories, Two Carvers…One Cultural Destiny
Without a breath of wind, the low January clouds seemed skewered by the pointed treetops. Beneath so close a ceiling, nothing moved or flew over the still surface of Minette Bay.
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The Salmon Cycle: Keeping Salmon sustainable and close to home
It’s unknown exactly how long the Lake Babine people have relied upon salmon. For countless generations, ocean-run sockeye made its way from the Pacific, up the Skeena River, to the Babine River and its spawning grounds at Babine Lake, sustaining the nation while also providing a resource to trade with other nations.
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Silence on the Sacred Headwaters: What happens next?
As the clock winds down on the province’s moratorium on coalbed methane drilling, the Ministry of Energy and Mines remains tight-lipped about its plans for northern BC’s Sacred Headwaters.
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Digging up the past: Archaeology in a cultural context
Issues around the dead—whether recently deceased or ancient ancestors—are seldom simple.
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From the flames: Burns Lake seeks a stronger future in the ashes of its past
Robert Charlie speaks in slow, deliberate prose, as if people have always listened to the former Burns Lake Band chief, and he sees no need to rush. It’s hard to imagine this imposing figure ever being the target of racial insults.
READ MORE➦Winter 2018-19: Slow
Slow repairs, slow pace, slow recovery, and much more.
