Search results

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Kingcome Inlet, de Menil Collection
Description: Gwa'yi village, also known as Kingcome, is the home of the Dzawada’enuxw (Tsawataineuk) People or “People of the oolichan place”. It is located a few kilometers up the Kingcome River from the head of Kingcome Inlet.

Gwa'yi holds special significance because it became a refuge for the practice of potlatching during the Canadian government's ban on
Show moreGwa'yi village, also known as Kingcome, is the home of the Dzawada’enuxw (Tsawataineuk) People or “People of the oolichan place”. It is located a few kilometers up the Kingcome River from the head of Kingcome Inlet.

Gwa'yi holds special significance because it became a refuge for the practice of potlatching during the Canadian government's ban on the gift giving ceremony between 1885 and 1951. During the winter months when these ceremonials occurred, the village of Gwa'yi was especially difficult to access and was situated in such a way that the authorities could not approach by day or night without being seen or heard.

Gwa'yi is also the setting for the book I Heard the Owl Call My Name".
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Alert Bay, de Menil Collection
Description: Alert Bay or 'Yalis, meaning "Spreading Leg Beach" was an ancient resource site and has been a traditional home of the 'Namgis people for several thousand years. It is located on Cormorant Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait. In 1860 the site was renamed "Alert Bay" after a British naval gunship. Colonial entrepreneurs set up a fish saltery at
Show moreAlert Bay or 'Yalis, meaning "Spreading Leg Beach" was an ancient resource site and has been a traditional home of the 'Namgis people for several thousand years. It is located on Cormorant Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait. In 1860 the site was renamed "Alert Bay" after a British naval gunship. Colonial entrepreneurs set up a fish saltery at 'Yalis in 1870 and persuaded the 'Namgis people to relocate there from Xwalkw to provide labour for the new factory.

The Namgis Burial Grounds at Alert Bay is an old native cemetery and one of the few remaining locations on the BC coast where totems remain undisturbed on their original site. The grounds of the cemetery are now closed to the public, but the totem poles can be viewed from the roadside.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Alert Bay, de Menil Collection
Description: Alert Bay or 'Yalis, meaning "Spreading Leg Beach" was an ancient resource site and has been a traditional home of the 'Namgis people for several thousand years. It is located on Cormorant Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait. In 1860 the site was renamed "Alert Bay" after a British naval gunship. Colonial entrepreneurs set up a fish saltery at
Show moreAlert Bay or 'Yalis, meaning "Spreading Leg Beach" was an ancient resource site and has been a traditional home of the 'Namgis people for several thousand years. It is located on Cormorant Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait. In 1860 the site was renamed "Alert Bay" after a British naval gunship. Colonial entrepreneurs set up a fish saltery at 'Yalis in 1870 and persuaded the 'Namgis people to relocate there from Xwalkw to provide labour for the new factory.

The Namgis Burial Grounds at Alert Bay is an old native cemetery and one of the few remaining locations on the BC coast where totems remain undisturbed on their original site. The grounds of the cemetery are now closed to the public, but the totem poles can be viewed from the roadside.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Village Island, de Menil Collection
Description: Located at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December
Show moreLocated at the mouth of Knights Inlet, between the north east coast of Vancouver Island and the mainland, the Mamalilikala band have inhabited this site for centuries.

Mimkwamlis was once the largest village on the coast and it is also where the government and First Nations met head to head in the final crushing blow to potlatching. In December 1921 Chief Dan Cranmer hosted a large potlatch that had taken seventeen years of planning and preparation. By having the potlatch at ‚Mimkwamlis, Chief Cranmer hoped to avoid notice, but Indian Agent Halliday knew of it and arrested forty-five people confiscating the cultural treasures associated with the potlatch ceremony. The people were charged with making speeches, dancing and gift-giving, and were taken to Alert Bay where they awaited trial. It would be almost 60 years before the objects were returned to their rightful owners.
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

Title: Kingcome Inlet, de Menil Collection
Description: Gwa'yi village, also known as Kingcome, is the home of the Dzawada’enuxw (Tsawataineuk) People or “People of the oolichan place”. It is located a few kilometers up the Kingcome River from the head of Kingcome Inlet.

Gwa'yi holds special significance because it became a refuge for the practice of potlatching during the Canadian government's ban on
Show moreGwa'yi village, also known as Kingcome, is the home of the Dzawada’enuxw (Tsawataineuk) People or “People of the oolichan place”. It is located a few kilometers up the Kingcome River from the head of Kingcome Inlet.

Gwa'yi holds special significance because it became a refuge for the practice of potlatching during the Canadian government's ban on the gift giving ceremony between 1885 and 1951. During the winter months when these ceremonials occurred, the village of Gwa'yi was especially difficult to access and was situated in such a way that the authorities could not approach by day or night without being seen or heard.

Gwa'yi is also the setting for the book I Heard the Owl Call My Name".
Show less
Date: 1967, 1967

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