Sitting down with Miles Richardson, a past president of the Council of the Haida Nation and one of the few clear voices I hold to memory, he spoke to me about the creation of Gwaii Haanas, an area in the southern end of Haida Gwaii protected by a joint designation of the Haida Nation and Canada through an unprecedented nation-to-nation agreement. Gwaii Haanas, meaning “islands of beauty” in Xaad Kil (the Haida language), was created out of Haida initiative and Canadian cooperation. It’s an ecologically rich, biologically diverse place unique to the planet, or the visit of a lifetime.

Miles was elected President of the Haida Nation during the time Gwaii Haanas was created. “To say any one person did it would be wrong. So many people did so much….My role was leader of the Haida Nation; I was the elected President of the Haida Nation. The early 1980’s was when the Haida Nation was still forming. Really, it was just coming back into existence. I was thirty years old, as leader- one of my key challenges was to build the legitimacy of the Council of the Haida Nation(CHN) as the governing authority of the Haida people and of the President role as the leader of all Haidas…This legitimacy had to first be established amongst my own people-the Haida- then as the representative of the Haida Nation to the rest of the world.

“A key part of this process was developing a decision-making process as a nation, and having our people participate and trust their process: this was the beginning of developing our Constitution of the Haida Nation. ‘There were 100 issues,’ he recounts: ‘off shore oil, logging depleting our forests, the use of herbicides and pesticides for reforestation, fisheries issues, protecting cultural heritage sites, threats of gold mining in the Yakoun watershed, to name a few. ‘”Our  nations decision-making process had to identify these as issues, prioritize them for action, develop a clear Haida position, commit to a plan of  action to uphold this position and then pull together all the resources necessary to successfully follow through”. In his words, Miles tells me “ We had to deal with the powers that were oppressing us; powers that not only opposed us but denied our rightful authority and even our continued existence as a nation”. He was very certain we had to do this. But protecting the area from the logging industry was not a small challenge. As Miles tells me, “The forest industry was the most important industry in the province and they were not used to being told NO! They did not take it very well.” Another task he took on was motivating people to uphold decisions within the nation, before dealing with the rest of the world.

“Haida Title is to Haida Gwaii and is held by our people.”, he tells me. “We are an ancient people, as known human societies go. Our living generations inherit this Title and all the responsibilities and prerogatives that come with it. Haida Title includes the lands, seas and airspace: all that is Haida Gwaii. We have a responsibility to protect the fundamental balance amongst all things in Haida Gwaii, such as we understand it. Our culture holds and conveys these understandings through the generations. Our rightful title amounts to sovereignty; this sovereignty is only as good as our peoples will to uphold it. We have to figure out how to get along with other people, how to get along with Canada. We have a responsibility to all of Haida Gwaii. We have to look after that. Gwaii Haanas was just one issue”.

For hundreds of generations, thousands of years, things were generally going very well for our people here in our homelands. We developed a functional, highly creative and well-adapted society; I say at least as sophisticated as any in the history of humankind. Only in the last 330-odd years,since our ancestors came into contact with the forebears of  todays Canadians, has there been a dark wave of destruction rolling over Haida Gwaii and our people. As we entered the 1980’s, our very survival as a nation was in question. Our people had to act; first we had to act to protect our lifesource, and to uphold our responsibility to Haida Gwaii. Through the understandings conveyed through our culture, our Elders gave us direction and we turned that into political action. We had to choose where and when to make our stand: Gwaii Haanas was that stand.

“The most important thing we need to do is to continue to be who we are as Haidas while we embrace and adapt to an ever changing world on our own terms.

The most important thing our leaders today need to do is to continue to strengthen and clarify our collective voice as a nation: when we speak with one united voice we are unstoppable. We must continue to develop our constitution as the modern basis and framework for this process.” Miles went on to tell me how he didn’t see that work being done. He told me about the importance of speaking with one voice. He believes it’s in Haida power to get this done. He believes Haidas can pull together to develop our decision making process to a point where our people trust it as a matter of course. To establish appropriate transparency in Haida government and acceptable accountability for our leaders.

Our legitimate sovereignty  is written into our constitution. In 1981 we passed a law at Du Guusd. We stand violently or non-violently to uphold our position.

“Our nation had never done an initiative like this. We had to deal with Canada in a bold way. It tested our legitimacy as a modern nation both internally and externally. It tested my ability as a young leader to keep the Nation focused and together. I had to explain to people whose families were supported through logging. We needed a uniform message and people supported us. We needed one message. We had one clear voice.”