Ha-ma-yas

Celebrating the 2023/2024 fourth cohort of the Stewardship Technician Training Program

In May we celebrated the completion of the STTP program by sixteen students. You can watch them talk about why this program is so important, and successful, here:

GUARDIAN GRADUATE SUCCESS

2021 graduates of the Na̲nwak̲olas and Vancouver Island University (VIU) Stewardship Technician Training Program (STTP), who completed the program in the middle of Covid restrictions, were finally celebrated in person on June 12 at the…

WHEN THE GOING GETS REAL, THE GUARDIANS GET GOING

The Ha-ma-yas Guardians have been practising responses to marine disaster scenarios for three years now in partnership with the Canadian Coast Guard and Western Canada Marine Response Corporation (WCMRC). When a fuel tanker carrying 17,000…

Guardian Gatherings: Cultural Connection, Learning, Sharing, Professionalism- And Togetherness

In the Kwak̓wala language, “ǥa̱lǥa̱poła” means “standing together,” or “lifting each other up.” Twice each year, that’s exactly what the Guardians of the six Nanwakolas Council member First Nations of the Ha-ma-yas Stewardship Network do…

We want to be everywhere

“Ten years from now,” says We Wai Kai Chief Ronnie Chickite thoughtfully, “I envision we’ll have at least eight, maybe even ten Guardians working full time for the Nation. They will be monitoring what is…

All Hands On Deck

Partnering on Emergency Environmental Response with the Canadian Coast Guard September 27, 2022, started out foggy and cool in Mamalilikulla First Nation territory. As the morning progressed, however, the fog gave way to glorious warm…

Needed Urgently: More Trained First Nations Guardians

The need for more energetic, eager, and dedicated First Nations’ youth to become land and water Guardians has never been more pressing. Right now, the work of monitoring resource use and activity in the Nanwakolas…

Reconnecting With The Homelands

On May 5, 2022-after more than 100 years of forced separation from their territory- the Mamalilikulla First Nation gathered to observe the dedication of the the Gwaxdlala / Nalaxdlala Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area (IPCA)…

Growing A Powerful Group Of Guardians

Their numbers may be small, but the twenty land and water Guardians of the six Nanwakolas Nations are achieving outstanding things together in the vast expanse of their territories. Imagine what they could do if…

Running out of time to keep doing things the same old way

“As Indigenous peoples, we look to the natural world for guidance on what we should be doing to protect it and manage its resources well, so that they remain healthy and abundant. The problem is…