Transforming Our Nuuyum: Contemporary

Indigenous Leadership and Governance

Stories told by Glasttowk askq and Bakk jus moojillth,
Ray and Mary Green

Translated, interpreted, and written by KUNDOQK, JACQUIE GREEN

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INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL / Volume 12 Issue 1 /2014

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34 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

In this article, I examine whether our Nuuyum and its philosophical under-
pinnings can intertwine and have a productive relationship with contempo-
rary forms of leadership and chief and council governance systems. I draw

governing responsibilities within contemporary community leadership. I

will illustrate how our cultural practices—such as knowledge of historical
places, cultural teachings from stories of place, and cultural teachings
derived through feasting—have all been affected and have shifted through
colonial encounters. I will argue that despite the effects of colonialism, the
philosophical underpinnings of our Nuuyum have remained at the core of
who we are as a community, clan, family, and self.

Hemas—Moosmagilth! Gukulu—Ungwa! Hkenuuk kundoqk, hkenuuk helk-

inew, hkenuuk hanaksila, kitselas, haisla. Wuh, Lekwungen and Esquimalt.

Hello Chiefs, Female Chiefs! People! I am Kundoqk, I am from the

Killer Whale Clan. I am from Kemano, Tmsishian, and Haisla territory.
Thank you Lekwungen and Esquimalt people for allowing me to be
a visitor on your territory.

Wuh! (Haisla language), Hychka (Hul’q’umi’num language), Thank you!

My traditional name was gifted to my parents on their wedding day for their

Nyce from Haisla, Kitselas territory, and my paternal grandparents are the
late James and Agnes Green from Xanaksiyala, Haisla territory. Hereditary

father’s grandfather and was the hereditary chief for the Xanaksiyala people.

wa’wais

who is my father’s brother, Jim Green.

Haisla Nuuyum translates into a “Haisla way of life and its laws.” The
 35
1

father or by my mother. One central aim of this essay is to reinterpret and

paper are Haisla laws.

la territory.3

oolichan grease, or oolichans.4 Haisla territory is known to many people

Village.

Social Organization of the Haisla of BC

Makuk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations

36 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

of fatal illnesses in Kemano,

and
Xanaksiyala amalgamated with the Haisla people as well.

her children and grandchildren. To her, Xanaksiyala meant a “place of many

Nuuyum jiis

Kitlope is a Tsimshian word meaning “People of the Rocks”, which de

peaks.
His name was T’ismista. He was travelling by canoe with his two dogs and went
to a place where young men learned to mountain-climb. Mountain climbing was
important so that they could hunt for mountain goat. T’ismista and his two dogs
beached the canoe and started walking towards the mountain. Once they got
out of the canoe, they left their foot imprints on the rocks of the shore. When
T’ismista arrived at the top of the Mountain, he stopped to rest and whistle for
his dogs. When he stopped, he turned to stone. Some say he is standing and
others say he is sitting down. Some people say his dogs turned to stone within
that territory. Some say that every once in a while you can still hear T’ismista
whistling for his dogs. Our people say that it is very dangerous to climb the
mountain to see T’ismista. But, if you are travelling by boat in this territory and
you are with someone who is knowledgeable about this story, you can see the
man who turned to stone.

html>.
supra note 1.
 37

practiced today goes like this:

everyone who enters the Kitlope Valley is required to wash their face in the gla-

acquainted with you.

8
These wa’wais

A Xanaksiyala person living in Haisla territory who passed away would still be
buried at Xanaksiyala. When you travel by gill-netter, this journey can take any-

pany the family of the deceased and all would stop at the boundary between
Haisla and Xanaksiyala. When they were stopped, my great-grandmother would
sing the “crying song” in the Xanaksiyala language. The crying song indicated
the loss of the loved one and that during the burial all those who were present
were to cry and mourn with the family.

supra note 1 at ii.

38 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

When we arrived on the shore of Kemano Village, I was surrounded by the land-
scape of ancestral stories. There were many logs on the beach as we pulled onto
shore. My father pointed out one particular log and shared that during playtime
as children, that particular log had appeared very huge for them. He shared that
they did not have many toys, but that their playtime was playing on logs, climb-
ing mountains, and gathering rocks with his granny.

the same place as it had been when my father was little, and second, how the

in one plot.

plot.
 39

settlers and missionaries who wanted to show them a different life.

ing system, I know some Haisla

Hemas Mus Magthl

10
Historically, there were ad
11

[Link] .
10

11 supra note 3; Olson, supra note 3; J. Pritchard, Economic Development and the Disin-
tegration of Traditional Culture among the Haisla
40 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

scholarship has been informed by and adapted to philosophies embedded

contemporary forms of leadership.

leadership positions. In her book Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revital-

izing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions,12

13
Yet an important consideration, and site

12 C. Coté, Spirits of Our Whaling Ancestors: Revitalizing Makah and Nuu-chah-nulth Traditions

13 Ibid
 41
14

within Haisla feasting systems.

tion of new technologies. Keith Basso has researched the relationship of the
18

closely linked to knowledge of the self, to grasping one’s position in the larger

14 T. Alfred, Peace, Power, and Righteousness: An Indigenous Manifesto

supra Red Pedagogy: Native American Social
and Political Thought Lighting
the Eighth Fire: The Liberation, Resurgence, and Protection of Indigenous Nations
Dancing on Our Turtle’s Back: Stories of Nishaa-
beg Re-creation, Resurgence, and New Emergence
Alfred, supra

18 K. Basso, Wisdom Sits in Places: Landscape and Language among the Western Apache
42 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

sense of who one is as a person.

Indian Act

tices. The responsibility of my generation, then, is to appropriately centre the

apology concerns my reference to historians, anthropologists, and ethnogra

identify the resistance and resiliency of my people for withstanding the on

Ibid at 34.
 43

20

21

22

knowledges.

Power, as both a concept and an operation, has been deployed as a repres

23

In Discipline and Punish,24

20 J. E. Chamberlin, If This Is Your Land, Where Are Your Stories? Finding Common Ground

21 Life Lived Like a Story: Life Stories of Three Yukon Native Elders
The Social Life of Stories: Narrative
and Knowledge in the Yukon Territory
P. Nadasdy, Hunters and Bureaucrats: Power, Knowledge, and Aboriginal-State Relations in the
Southwest Yukon
22

23 Power/Knowledge Power

24 Discipline and Punish: The Birth of the Prison

44 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

discipline,” controlling and enforcing dominant societal norms. Forms of

within society. The Potlatch

Papers: A Colonial Case History,

knowledges and ways of life.

Ibid
Ibid
C. Bracken, Potlatch Papers: A Colonial Case History
 45

ments of power at the end of the classical age. For the marks that once indicated

28

peoples’ relationships.

pedagogy.

respecting the space of tradition as it intersects with the linear time frames of the
30

31

28 supra note 24.

Grande, supra
30 Ibid at 28.
31 supra note 4; D. Harris, Fish, Law, and Colonialism: The Legal Capture of Salmon in
British Columbia
46 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

and in their homes.32

Makúk: A New History of Aboriginal-White Relations

33

Chinese people to work in the canneries and the state granted independent
34

ing within mainstream societies.

32 supra
33 Ibid
34 Ibid at 203.
 47

Roads and rail

people had to ask permission to enter the town of Kitimat, and if permission

tected their lands and people.

38
Missionaries were

J. Kendrick, People of the Snow: The Story of Kitimat

C. Helin, Dances with Dependency: Indigenous Success through Self-Reliance

D. Newell,

38 T. Bolt, Thomas Crosby and the Tsimshian: Small Shoes for Feet Too Large
A Narrow Vision: Duncan Campbell Scott
48 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

their traditions with the establishment and consolidation of Christian ideology

people in meetings referred to as Haisla Gou, meaning that only Haisla peo

The United Church became a central meeting place in our community. In the old
days, and every Easter, the entire Village would attend church. Everyone was

was in church, one person waited by the river to watch for oolichans. When this
person spotted the oolichan run, he went to the church, made the announcement,
and everyone left the church and canoed, while still in their best clothing, to the

and the Administration of Indian Affairs in Canada

Bolt, supra note 38 at 22.

 49

oolichan.

40

41

42
Rather

43

44
In

Indian Act

40

41

42 Harris, supra note 31.

43 supra note 4.
44 Ibid
50 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

different reasons: a memorial, a traditional naming, a tsookwa

parents shared:
When a person who was in a high-ranking clan position passed on to the Spirit
World, it was customary that this name would be passed on to the oldest sisters,
oldest son. For a woman, the name would go to the oldest sisters, or the oldest
daughter of the deceased. It would be the responsibility of the name receiver
to cover the expenses for the burial of the deceased, including expenses for a
headstone, and all expenses involved in hosting a feast. Usually this feast would
take place one year after the deceased had passed.

In the early stages of planning and organizing a feast, the person or family

of
the reason for the feast, and together the family and chiefs
 51

intent and date of the feast. The cohosts will speak on behalf of the family and

In the initial meetings, members will declare their donations. The cohosts,

feasting protocols.

In addition to the emcee, cohosts, and clan members, people with knowl
edge of Indian
yoxwa-
sayu
the feast, and greet them on the day of the feast. My father has shared with me
the way people were greeted and seated “in the old days”:
The Haisla Village hall was located on a very big hill. The men from the clan who
are hosting the feast were in place to greet guests and announce their arrival and
would start watching out for people as they made their way to the feast hall. One
person would wait at the bottom of the hill, another person would wait halfway
up the hill, another person at the top of the hill, and another person at the door
of the feast hall. The person at the bottom of the feast hall would announce the
Indian name and clan of the approaching guest to the person who is waiting half-
way up the hill, and this announcement would continue until the guest arrived at
the door of the feast hall. The feast hall is organized according to clans, so in this
case there would be four sections representing four clans. There would be host
52 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

men to greet the guest beside each clan section. By the time the guest reaches
the feast hall, the seat is ready for him/her. The guest is announced once he or
she arrives in the feast hall and they are seated according to their rank and clan.

cenud,

A clan chief was always accompanied by a second person whose responsibility

was to act on behalf of the chief. The second person sat on the chair before the

ensure the food was safe. He also spoke in the feast hall on behalf of the chief.
If there was a mistake made in his speech, then the repercussion was on him and
not the chief. In the old days, this was the cultural practice that was respected
and honoured. And although this person represented the chief, he was not ranked
as a chief.

of

late into the night.

 53

to one another.
An important ethical component of feasting is what we call “witnessing”.

done by the host, whether that refers to feeding the people, gifting them with

Gifting the people is categorized and organized according to ranks of chieftain-

ship and according to which Clan they belong to. A month or two weeks prior
to the feast, the Clan gathers at a meeting place to “tag” giveaway gifts. In this
process the Clan must know who the Chiefs are and which Clans they belong to.
They must remember past feasts and who were “newly” appointed Chiefs. They
must remember the babies or young people who received names. In so doing,
each person will be gifted accordingly. Chiefs receive comforters, cash, and
sometimes larger gifts such as a boat, motor, or trap line. Those who are ranked
second to Chiefs are gifted with comforters, blankets, large pots or bowls, and
cash. The remainder of Clan members are noted as “commoners” and receive
cake pans, bowls, towels, and small blankets. Young children are gifted with tea
towels, smaller dish sets and blankets. If there are guests who do not have a Clan
name, there are giveaway goods set aside for them. All guests receive a tea towel
(women) or socks (men). All guests are provided with a loaf of bread, a box of
crackers, oranges, and apples. The Chief ladies each receive a cake. Once these
gifts are distributed, the host will make cash payments. In the event of a memo-
rial feast, cash payments are for services provided to the family during the loss
of their loved one. People who receive payment typically are grave diggers and
people who provide food, prayers, and song for the grieving family, and there is
54 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

payment for the use of facilities like the church or the recreation center. Typically
the meal served is what our people refer to as “wedding stew.” There are certain
ladies in each Clan who cook a stock pot that is usually about 50 to 60 quarts.

During the day before the feast, the Clan members gather and cut vegetables
and stew meat. At the venue where they will work on vegetables, whoever is the
last person to arrive must cut onions for the stew, so people are usually on time,
as they do not like cutting onions. On the morning of the feast day, the stew is
cooked and simmered all day until it is time for feasting. The Clan hosts prepare
the feast hall by setting up tables, chairs, and a table for the giveaway, by setting
out baked goods, by preparing for speeches and name giving, and by generally

carries on until the feasting work is done.

changed with the economy.

or to plan and work for their feast. Rather than going

residential and day schools, Indian agents, and missionary work.

 55

demands.

it to a mechanical process.”

peace treaty between Haisla, Kitasoo,

other.

edge and respect for the water, land, and animals. They spoke of the impor

For This Land: Writings on Religion in America

supra note 1.
56 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

Colonial legacies and contemporary practices of disconnection, dependency and

48

ethical or transparent way.

ing system.

48 Being Indigenous: Resurgences against Contemporary Colonialism

Indigenous Struggle for the Transformation of Education and Schooling

 57

to the clan members in a feasting setting. By doing so from the inception of

58 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

to strategize.

Indian Act

simply create awareness of it, as well as transparency. This method is trans

an alternate space.
 59

someone refer to himself as a Kitlope person. This interaction stayed with me,

Basso, supra
60 INDIGENOUS LAW JOURNAL Vol. 12 No. 1

Haisla Nuuyum is our law.

Wuh, Hychka, Thank you.

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