Mamalilikulla Guardian Watchmen: Fulfilling Ancestral Responsibilities for the Benefit of Future Generations
Press Release
The Mamalilikulla Guardians are re-asserting the Nation’s presence in their territories, conducting research and restoration, monitoring industrial and recreational activity, and protecting cultural assets. With the Nation’s 10-year stewardship vision, they are mapping a path forward to do even more.
At a Glance
The practice of maya’xala, a Kwak’wala word meaning “respect,” is a guiding concept for Mamalilikulla First Nation. Practicing maya’xala is a commitment to fulfilling their ancestral responsibility to steward the lands, waters, and animals of their territory as they have done for thousands of years.
The Mamalilikulla Guardian Watchmen program is one way in which the Nation is fulfilling that responsibility and resisting centuries of colonial impact. Over six years of operation, the Guardians have reasserted a strong presence on their lands and waters. They monitor recreational and industrial activity, conduct research and restoration work on marine and terrestrial species, and undertake public communication and outreach. The Guardians are more than the Nation’s “eyes and ears,” they are stewards, actively caring for and restoring the well-being of their homelands for the benefit of current and future generations of Mamalilikulla.
In the short time since the program was established, and with limited access to self-determined stewardship funding, the Guardians have made significant positive impacts in their territory. But there is much more the Nation would like to accomplish. In 2020, Mamalilikulla First Nation documented its 10-year stewardship vision, outlining its commitment to grow its stewardship authority. Today the Nation is fundraising to fulfill that vision and has set itself on a path to uphold Mamalilikulla’s inherent rights and responsibilities to practice maya’xala.
A Thriving, Forward-Thinking, Progressive Nation
“It is our responsibility to steward our territory in a manner that supports our natural resources, sustains our people, and enhances the public respect for our marine, terrestrial, and cultural resources that has been lacking in recent decades.” – Former elected Chief Councillor Richard Sumner
The traditional territory of Mamalilikulla First Nation is in the heart of what is today known as the Broughton Archipelago, an area renowned for its rich cultural and ecological diversity. Their territory lies between the north-east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland of British Columbia, extending from Matsui Creek and ‘nalaxdłala Hoeya Sound in Knight Inlet, through Black Fish Sound, into Johnstone Strait. It includes, among others, Compton, Gilford, and Village Islands.
But the heart of the Nation’s territory is ‘Mimkwa̱mlis Village Island. ‘Mimkwa̱mlis was historically the main winter village for the Nation, and it is the place of the Mamalilikulla creation story. It is here that the creator gave a blind man sight and the name Mama̱liliḵa̱la. He then built a house at the place called Two-Headed on ‘Mimkwa̱mlis, and from that time until 1972 the village was occupied by Mamalilikulla First Nation, the descendents of Mama̱liliḵa̱la.
Leading up to 1972, the long, painful arm of colonialism pushed Mamalilikulla citizens from their ancestral home. “It goes back into the early 1900s when children were taken away and brought to residential schools,” says Jake Smith, a Mamalilikulla hereditary Chief and the manager of the Nation’s Guardian program.
Between the residential schools that separated children from their families and their culture, and the Potlatch ban that made cultural and political practice illegal, the people who lived on ‘Mimkwa̱mlis found no reason to stay on the Island. “Elders that lived there slowly moved away,” says Smith. “They couldn’t teach their children. They had nothing to pass on to their children.”
When the people of ‘Mimkwa̱mlis left their territory, they settled in communities and cities across the province, including Port Hardy, Campbell River, Victoria and Vancouver. For a long time, separation from their lands and waters coloured the Nation’s ability to fulfill its ancestral stewardship responsibilities and prevented them from benefiting from much of the economic activity taking place in their territory.
“For a long time, we didn’t have eyes and ears in our territories, the way many Nations do,” says John Powell, Chief Councillor of Mamalilikulla First Nation.
But the Nation is whole, and they are actively resisting the legacy of colonization.
“People think we’re some sort of lost and forgotten people,” says Richard Sumner, former elected Chief Councillor of Mamalilikulla First Nation. “We’re not. We’re a thriving, forward-thinking, progressive Nation that is directly involved with our lands and resources in a number of ways.”
“We’re a thriving, forward-thinking, progressive Nation that is directly involved with our lands and resources in a number of ways.”
In 2016, when Mamalilikulla Nation won the right to elect their own leaders following a lengthy court case, Sumner was compelled to run for Chief Councillor in the election.
In the five years he was Chief Councillor, Sumner led the Nation through many successes. “We started with nothing,” Sumner recalls “No staff, no money, no work plan. Nothing.” But today, the Nation has all of that and much more. It is on a path to self-determination, a path to uphold their inherent rights and responsibilities. A critical element of that path is the Nation’s stewardship vision and Guardian Watchmen program.
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