The name I was given at birth was Liiaa Rosemary Skiljaadee Hart. In my elementary years, my mother, siblings and I were adopted into the Skedans Clan of the Haida Nation in a ceremony in Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. I was then blessed with my third Haida name Jaada K’yaalt’sii.

Skedans is a place found in 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. In a sheltered bay, nestled next to dense forest this village was home to a bustling community whose reminants are still found in the decaying carved trees. As well as inheriting a clan, I also descend from weavers fluent in a craft that utilizes wool, ts’uuii (spruce root) and ts’uu k’al (cedar bark).