Exploring the Indigenous heartland of Northwest BC

I’m wandering through one of the oldest communities in northern British Columbia, looking for the house once occupied by acclaimed artist Emily Carr when a woman stops me on the street. Pulling a jar out of a backpack, she asks if I’d like to buy some moose meat.

The woman is Indigenous, from the near-by village of Kispiox — People of the Hiding Place — where I visited earlier to see an impressive array of totem poles but couldn’t find anyone around to ask about them.

In this remote and sparsely populated part of British Columbia, it seems easier to find poles than people, so I’m happy to meet this woman — who tells me her name is Erica Marks — and learn more about this place.

“We go in a truck,” she says, referring to herself and her father, when I ask about the moose. “We’ve got a big sleigh. We put the moose on there and drag it out.”

Erica and her father eat a lot of traditional food, including fish, which they catch and cook, or can for winter. Even though she’s 39, she’s been living with her dad for the last three years after fleeing her husband. “He was abusive after I said, ‘I do’,” she relates matter-of-factly.

Now, she’s just completed a six-week, online course in “building computers”. I’m not sure exactly what she means, but I find it fascinating that she’s ably straddling two worlds — the traditional and the modern.

Exploring this region is to travel through time, as a tourist brochure suggests. For centuries, it was the home of the Gitxsan and Wet’suwet’en people and a vital trade route. The Skeena River allowed First Nations people from the coast to paddle their 20m-long cedar canoes almost 300km inland to trade with people in ancient villages including Gitanmaax, close to where Erica and I are standing in the modern village of Hazelton.

Beginning in the early 19th century, non-native people arrived here in droves by sternwheeler, looking for gold or taking up farming in the fertile river valleys. The old village of Gitanmaax with its longhouses and towering totem poles is now gone, but the Gitxsan — People of the River of Mist — are still here, living in half a dozen communities along the river.

These days, the area — known as the Hazeltons is an easily accessible, yet off-the-beaten-path destination to enjoy spectacular wilderness, enduring Indigenous cultures, outdoor recreation and trophy salmon fishing.

I’m here for the Indigenous culture. I began my journey in Jasper, Alberta, where I boarded the VIA train for BC’s coast. I could have arrived there in two days, but I wanted to see more of the Hazeltons than possible through the train window, so I got off in Terrace and rented a car.

Saying goodbye to Erica, I drive to the nearby Ksan Historical Village, where longhouses and totem poles replicate a traditional village. Inside, artefacts reveal that people lived with such an abundance of natural resources that they had time to develop skills to make tools and objects that weren’t only functional but were also beautiful. In Frog House, for instance, there’s an enormous wooden ‘feast’ bowl carved from wood to resemble a frog.

I’m especially intrigued by a display of whistles and rattles that a chief dancer would have used in ceremonies, including this tantalising tidbit about raven rattles. “They were held upside down because sometimes they came alive and flew off,” reads the description. Imagine watching a dancer wearing a carved mask, or maybe a headdress made with grizzly bear claws, and shaking a rattle in the half-light of a fire inside a longhouse. Riveting!

Of course, it wasn’t all fun and games. I learn that first century BC was a period of intense tribal warfare in this region, and stone clubs were a weapon of choice. Interestingly, the largest single collection ever found was by a Gitxsan chief who discovered 34 elaborately carved clubs, decorated with animal and human figures, while digging a hole for a house pole in 1888. Five more clubs were found later.

Leaving Hazelton, I drive south on Highway 16 and turn west at Gitwangak — People of the Place of Rabbits — where 12 cedar poles, some more than a century old, stand next to modern houses, their carved figures and faces cracked and weathered but still arresting.

Further on, I reach Gitwangak Battle Hill, once a fortified hilltop village where a renowned warrior named Nekt led raids against neighbouring nations for food, slaves and control of the lucrative trade route on the Skeena and other nearby rivers. Today, it’s a National Historic Site, and as peaceful a spot as you can imagine, surrounded by lush meadow and the sound of flowing water from the Kitwanga River.

Another 15 minutes by car along the Kitwanga is Gitanyow, home to some of the oldest-known and most intricate collection of totem poles in British Columbia. This is where painter Emily Carr visited for six days in 1928, later producing several canvases including Kitwancool, which last year sold for almost $CAD2 million ($2.15m).

Back on Highway 16, my final destination is Kitselas Canyon, also a National Historic Site for its significant cultural value. The Gitselasu — People of the Canyon — belong to the Ts’msyen (shim-SHEE-un) First Nations and have lived here for at least 5000 years. Their long continuous presence is evident in petroglyphs, culturally modified trees and totem poles. Older poles have fallen into the Skeena River but the community has erected nine new ones as well as four longhouses.

Tour guide Darren Bolton proudly shows me a mask he recently carved but explains the Gitselasu are in a race against time to pass on their traditional ways. “Because right now, LNG come and take off everybody,” he says, referring to the nearby gas pipeline which offers lucrative jobs.

While Indigenous communities everywhere have lost more of their culture than they’ve been able to retain, here in the Pacific Northwest, there’s still much to be seen, heard and tasted. I declined Erica’s moose meat but hope to return to fly fish for salmon.

+ Suzanne Morphet was a guest of Destination BC, which has not influenced or read this story before publication.

fact file

+ The VIA train between Jasper and Prince Rupert on BC’s coast runs three days a week year-round. viarail.ca/en

+ The city of Terrace offers the best choice of accommodation, restaurants and car rental companies to explore the region. visitterrace.com