A COASTAL BC FIRST NATION DISPOSSESSED FROM THEIR LAND FOR DECADES BY COLONIALISM IS PART OF A GROUNDSWELL OF INDIGENOUS NATIONS DECLARING PROTECTED AREAS BASED ON THEIR OWN SOVEREIGNTY.

IN NOVEMBER 2021 ELECTED CHIEF COUNCILLOR JOHN POWELL LED THE NATION IN UNILATERALLY DECLARING AN INDIGENOUS PROTECTED AND CONSERVED AREA AT GWAXDLALA/NALAXDALA (LULL BAY/HOEYA SOUND) HE SAID THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE IPCA IS PART OF A LONGER PATH OF HEALING FOR BOTH THE LAND AND THE MAMALILIKULLA.

MAMALILIKULLA’S PROTECTED AREA INCLUDES 2,000 HECTARES OF OCEAN IN KNIGHT INLET, WHERE RARE SHALLOW CORAL LIVE BENEATH THE SURFACE.

OCEAN PROTECTION WILL SAVE EXTREMELY RARE SHALLOW CORAL LIKE THIS PRIMNOA CORAL SAMPLE PRESERVED AT THE ROYAL BC MUSEUM.

(LEFT TO RIGHT) PAM MOUNTAIN, CAROLYN DAWSON, AND MAE FLANDERS WERE SOME OF THE FIRST PEOPLE TO DANCE ON MAMALILIKULLA TERRITORY IN 100 YEARS AT THE IPCA DEDICATION CEREMONY. “IT WAS BEAUTIFUL,” FLANDERS SAID.

THE NATION INVITED CONSERVATION GROUPS, MEMBERS OF GOVERNMENT, AND MEDIA TO JOIN IN THE IPCA CELEBRATION.

ALSO KNOWN AS VILLAGE ISLAND, ‘MIMKWA̱MLIS MEANS “VILLAGE WITH ROCKS OUT FRONT.” THE LAST PERSON LIVING AT ‘MIMKWA̱MLIS LEFT IN 1972. TODAY IT IS USED AS A HOME BASE FOR THE MAMALILIKULLA GUARDIANS TO MONITOR AND PROTECT THEIR TERRITORY.

PRAWN FISHING BOATS WERE IN HOEYA SOUND THE SAME DAY THE MAMALILIKULLA HELD THEIR DEDICATION EVENT. THE NATION HOPES TO REACH AGREEMENTS WITH PRAWN AND CRAB FISHERIES TO STOP FISHING IN RARE CORAL GARDENS OUTSIDE OF COLONIAL GOVERNMENT REGULATION.

MAMALILIKULLA TERRITORY IS HOME TO RARE SHALLOW CORALS AND SEA SPONGES, LIKE THIS DRIED CLOUD SPONGE AT THE DISCOVERY PASSAGES AQUARIUM IN CAMPBELL RIVER, B.C. CLOUD SPONGES ARE SENSITIVE TO BEING DESTROYED BY PRAWN TRAPS, AND THEY DISSOLVE AS THEY COME TO THE SURFACE, MAKING IT HARD TO KNOW HOW MANY ARE DAMAGED.

BERT BOUCHER (LEFT) AND ANDY PUGLAS LAUGH AT THE RAINY CELEBRATION, WHERE PEOPLE WERE ALL SMILES DESPITE THE COLD.

BIRDS FLY IN MAMALILIKULLA TERRITORY

THE MAMALILIKULLA PROTECTED AREA, DECLARED IN NOVEMBER 2021, IS OVER 10,00 HECTARES OF LAND AND OCEAN. THE AREA IS HOME TO SALMON, GRIZZLIES AND BLACK BEARS.

A DRIED SAMPLE OF PRIMNOA CORAL SIMILAR TO A SPECIMEN NOW PROTECTED BY THE IPCA DECLARATION. PRIMNOA CORAL WHEN CUT SHOWS RINGS OF AGE LIKE A TREE WOULD.

GREGORY PUGLAS HANDS HIS FATHER CEDAR WOVEN HATS.

HEREDITARY CHIEF AMOS DAWSON LOOKS OUT THE WINDOW ONTO PART OF MAMALILIKULLA TERRITORY HE HAS NEVER SEEN BEFORE, WHICH IS NOW PROTECTED BY THE NATION’S IPCA.

MANY PEOPLE’S ANCESTORS GREW UP ON ‘MIMKWA̱MLIS, WHICH IS CLOSE TO THE PROTECTED AREA, BUT THEY HADN’T BEEN TO THE AREA THEMSELVES. ONE OF MAMALILIKULLA FIRST NATION’S GOALS IS REVITALIZING PEOPLE’S CONNECTION WITH THEIR TERRITORY.

SASHA PERRON (LEFT) AND KEVIN CRANMER DRUM VISITORS INTO THE MAMALILIKULLA’S IPCA DEDICATION CEREMONY AS PEOPLE DISEMBARK FROM THE BOAT.

HOT CLAM CHOWDER WAS SERVED TO ALL IN ATTENDANCE.

KEVIN CRANMER DRIED HIS DRUM BY THE FIRE AND PEOPLE WARMED UP WITH SEAFOOD CHOWDER WHEN MORE THAN 100 PEOPLE GATHERED FOR THE MAMALILIKULLA’S IPCA DEDICATION CEREMONY, INCLUDING REPRESENTATIVES FROM THE B.C. GOVERNMENT. BUT THE FEDERAL GOVERNMENT STILL HAS NOT FORMALLY RECOGNIZED THE PROTECTED AREA.

FELICIA BARNES DANCING AT THE MAMALILIKULLA IPCA DEDICATION CEREMONY.

DANIELLE BARNES (LEFT) AND EVIE BARNES DANCE IN THEIR REGALIA AROUND THE FIRE, WHERE MANY MAMALILIKULLA CITIZENS WERE VISITING THIS PART OF THE TERRITORY FOR THE FIRST TIME.

KING CRAB IS ANOTHER SPECIES THAT WILL BE PROTECTED UNDER THE IPCA

CHIEF ROBERT JOSEPH SAID AT THE HEART OF THE IPCA DECLARATION IS THE IDEA OF INDIGENOUS PEOPLES COMING HOME.

ANDREW PUGLAS JR., WHO WORKED AS A GUARDIAN FOR YEARS, LOOKS OUT TOWARDS ‘MIMKWA̱MLIS WITH HIS SON GREGORY. PUGLAS WANTS TO SEE MORE PROTECTION OF MAMALILIKULLA TERRITORY.

A COPY OF THE FIRST PERMIT ISSUED BY THE MAMALILIKULLA FIRST NATION FOR A SPECIAL EVENT ON THEIR TERRITORY.