Three figures wearing high hats are often found carved at the top of Haida totem poles — the watchmen, as they’re known, once loomed over Haida villages, protecting them from danger. So it makes sense that the Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program recalls this ancient symbol, protecting the natural and cultural treasures of some of the most remote parts of western Canada.
Across Canada many governments are working to enlist Indigenous groups in the management of wildlife — one study in particular found that Indigenous monitoring was key in identifying changes in the health of wild animals.
Haida Gwaii, a Pacific island chain, is the westernmost point of Canada. There, the Haida Nation, Parks Canada, and Fisheries and Oceans Canada work together to cooperatively manage Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. Since the late 1970s, Haida citizens stay in the protected area as Haida Gwaii Watchmen — spending their summers at five key cultural sites in Gwaii Haanas to protect the villages and share their history and experiences with visitors, if they choose.
Across the rest of Haida Gwaii, many levels of government collaborate to manage the lush natural resources and renowned cultural features of the archipelago. This partnered work includes an agreement among the provincial, federal, and Haida governments to prioritize Indigenous monitoring and assessment. The Haida Guardian Program provides training in GPS collection, data analysis, and reporting tools to community members who work in the field. As the Haida are a coastal people, much of the Guardian’s work has centered around important fishery stocks — salmon, halibut, herring, and shellfish have been key species for countless generations of Haida citizens. But these fish are now endangered due to pollution, climate change, ecosystem collapse, and overfishing. The Haida Fisheries Program monitors fisheries and marine issues off the island and guides the Council of the Haida Nation on decisions surrounding traditional use of the marine environment. In practice, this means using tactics like a counting fence along the Copper River during salmon spawning season. The Haida Fisheries Program shares the collected data with the Haida community in Skidegate in real time.
The Watchmen Program takes different forms down the Pacific coast of British Columbia, with different First Nations arranging independent agreements with various local, provincial, and national governing bodies. In Haida Gwaii, where the fishery program works well, the Watchmen have still struggled to prosecute overfishing. Similarly, in the coastal community of Klemtu located on the central coast of British Columbia, the Kitasoo/Xai’xais fishery program struggles with reporting data to the Department of Fisheries and Oceans and seeking punishment for violators.
“We need to do everything we can to keep an eye on the food source for future generations,” says Ernie Mason, who works with the Klemtu fishery. Mason has come face-to-face with crab fishermen who set their traps for hundreds of days beyond what is allowed, endangering the local supply. So he began to attach waterproof tags to traps himself, letting the fishermen know they’re being monitored.
Part of a Haida Guardian’s job is monitoring fish stocks in traditional villages throughout the remote set of islands. Guardians are working alongside their colleagues at the Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program in Gwaii Haanas and other governments on-island to make sure both fisheries resources and cultural resources are protected by the two programs. There are many places on Haida Gwaii where monumental and memorial poles both ancient and new are standing. These poles are just one of the things that the Watchmen and Guardians protect. In the past, visitors have been caught taking precious cultural items such as poles, pole parts or artifacts away from these special places. The Watchmen, it seems, continue to find themselves watching the watchmen perched on top of the poles as well as their land and sea.
— Lyndsie Bourgon