Fulfilling our ancestral rights and responsibilities to take care of our lands, waters, wildlife and food sources for future generations
Fulfilling our ancestral rights and responsibilities to take care of our lands, waters, wildlife and food sources for future generations
We are a collective of First Nations working to fulfill our stewardship responsibilities within our traditional areas on North Vancouver Island and mainland coast, off the Pacific coast of what is now British Columbia, Canada.
I'm happy to report that the cedar tree climate change story has been published on CBC's Unreserved! Click Here To See The Article
Read MoreNanwakolas Council Guardians describe their monitoring and research activities as part of implementing the North Vancouver Island Marine Plan, under the Marine Plan Partnership for North Pacific Coast (MaPP). 2019.
Read MoreThe Nanwakolas member First Nations and their research partners are giving a new meaning to the term "bear watching," using new data gathering and analysis methods to track the movements of grizzly bears in the territories. If you're camping on northern Vancouver Island and a grizzly bear...
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The 2019 annual gathering of the Ha-ma-yas Stewardship Network involved watershed planning, “deep time” archaeological surveys, eDNA, the ICO, story-telling, karaoke and more. A gathering on Quadra The latest gathering of the Ha-ma-yas First Nations Guardians took place over four days in May this...
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The giant and bull kelp plants that grace British Columbia’s waters are not only beautiful to look at; they are important indicators of the province’s coastal ecosystem health. First Nations Guardians are part of the vital and exciting work taking place to learn more about them. “Some of the areas...
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Visitors hosted in the Nanwakolas First Nations’ territories by the Guardians are awed and inspired by seeing what’s happening out on the land and water. Between October 1 and 4 this year, a privileged group of individuals from the provincial government, Tides Canada and the Hakai Institute toured...
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How understanding BC’s ancient coastal heritage sites better will help protect them for future generations to cherish. Imagine for a moment scenes like this: Ross Bay Cemetery in Victoria—where many of British Columbia’s settlers are buried—with its graves dug up, bones scattered haphazardly or...
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For the twenty-six graduates of Vancouver Island University’s innovative and ground-breaking 2015—2018 First Nations Stewardship Technicians Training Program, the future is unlimited. “What do you feel was your greatest success in the program?” “Learning about myself, and gaining the confidence...
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“The information in our archaeological sites is very important for the First Nations,” says Wei Wai Kum member Christine Roberts. “It helps us keep track of our history. It’s evidence, it tells us where we came from.” In 2017 Christine was part of a Wei Wai Kum team researching and updating...
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It’s not hard to do things the right way, says long-time K’òmoks Guardian Watchman Cory Frank. “Based on my experience,” says Cory, “the best thing to do if you have a project or something you want to do in the territory, is come and talk to us.” It’s a pretty simple formula for best practice on...
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