0:00:10 > 0:00:14In 1774, a Spanish exploration vessel
0:00:14 > 0:00:17arrived on the uncharted Pacific Coast of North America.
0:00:20 > 0:00:24The next morning, dozens of war canoes approached the ship.
0:00:27 > 0:00:32Aboard were strange figures wearing thick robes and animal masks,
0:00:32 > 0:00:35the likes of which the Spanish had never seen.
0:00:35 > 0:00:40RHYTHMIC CHANTING, DRUMS
0:00:42 > 0:00:45These were the peoples of the Northwest Coast of America.
0:00:48 > 0:00:52They had lived along these 1,400 miles of rugged,
0:00:52 > 0:00:56rain-swept coastline for over 10,000 years.
0:00:59 > 0:01:03And their future was about to be transformed.
0:01:08 > 0:01:11Within 100 years of contact with Europeans,
0:01:11 > 0:01:14they had suffered a near extinction-level catastrophe.
0:01:16 > 0:01:20Their lands were occupied. Their population, decimated.
0:01:24 > 0:01:28An entire culture faced extinction, and yet, the people left
0:01:28 > 0:01:33standing didn't simply survive, they adapted, they endured.
0:01:33 > 0:01:37They stand out as one of the most successful and resilient cultures
0:01:37 > 0:01:39anywhere on Earth.
0:01:41 > 0:01:45We've always been such a capable and hard-working people,
0:01:45 > 0:01:49we've just had no other option than succeeding.
0:01:49 > 0:01:52This is the story of how a culture adapted to
0:01:52 > 0:01:54a clash with another,
0:01:54 > 0:01:57of how it used its physical and spiritual
0:01:57 > 0:02:01connection to the environment as a source of strength, and of
0:02:01 > 0:02:07how a unique society and its people defied the odds and survived.
0:02:25 > 0:02:27The Northwest Coast of North America.
0:02:28 > 0:02:321,400 miles of windswept rocks,
0:02:32 > 0:02:35forests and archipelagos.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43The first humans to colonise the Americas travelled down this coast,
0:02:43 > 0:02:46and these islands have been permanently settled
0:02:46 > 0:02:48for more than 10,000 years.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52In summer, this is a spectacular landscape.
0:02:52 > 0:02:57But for much of the year, it can be a cold, wet, harsh place.
0:03:01 > 0:03:03Despite this tough environment,
0:03:03 > 0:03:07the people here established enduring, complex communities.
0:03:08 > 0:03:12And they broke conventional Western understanding of how a society
0:03:12 > 0:03:16develops by doing so without using agriculture.
0:03:20 > 0:03:22Instead, their populations grew
0:03:22 > 0:03:25and a sophisticated culture developed,
0:03:25 > 0:03:29because of a different kind of relationship with the environment
0:03:29 > 0:03:33which underpinned their ability to harvest its resources
0:03:33 > 0:03:37as well as providing the basis for their spiritual beliefs.
0:03:37 > 0:03:41Our people had a great respect for everything - the land, the sky,
0:03:41 > 0:03:44the ocean, everything around us.
0:03:44 > 0:03:48I've inherited a responsibility to look after our lands and
0:03:48 > 0:03:53waters and to be open to the supernatural and spiritual worlds.
0:03:55 > 0:03:59It's an immense, beautiful and resource-rich environment,
0:03:59 > 0:04:03and it's the key to understanding how Northwest Coast culture
0:04:03 > 0:04:05has thrived here for thousands of years.
0:04:06 > 0:04:10The territories we now know as the Alaskan Panhandle,
0:04:10 > 0:04:12the Canadian coast of British Columbia
0:04:12 > 0:04:15and Washington State in the US
0:04:15 > 0:04:18have been home to hundreds of distinct nations and
0:04:18 > 0:04:22communities with their own languages and traditions for more
0:04:22 > 0:04:24than 10,000 years.
0:04:24 > 0:04:27They've traded, fought and prospered here.
0:04:31 > 0:04:35The vibrant culture and sophisticated art they created
0:04:35 > 0:04:39ranks alongside any of the great civilisations around the world.
0:04:44 > 0:04:48Our ancestors developed a wonderful culture and art form.
0:04:48 > 0:04:53They would always come back to the nature and how to look after things.
0:04:53 > 0:04:56These are the symbols that help tell the story,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57that help retain the history.
0:05:01 > 0:05:06When Christopher Columbus landed in the Bahamas in 1492, 3,000 miles in
0:05:06 > 0:05:10that direction, the peoples of the Northwest Coast were flourishing.
0:05:10 > 0:05:13And they continued to do so for almost another 300 years,
0:05:13 > 0:05:15uncontacted by Europeans.
0:05:17 > 0:05:21Once the Americas had been discovered by Europeans,
0:05:21 > 0:05:23they set about colonising this new world.
0:05:25 > 0:05:29Native cultures were devastated by the arrival of the incomers.
0:05:29 > 0:05:33Entire civilisations, like the Aztec and the Inca, were destroyed.
0:05:38 > 0:05:41However, something very different happened here.
0:05:41 > 0:05:44With a barrier of mountain ranges to the east
0:05:44 > 0:05:46and the wild Pacific Ocean to the west,
0:05:46 > 0:05:48the communities of this coast
0:05:48 > 0:05:50were initially unknown to the outside world.
0:05:52 > 0:05:55By the time the Spanish and British arrived in the 1770s,
0:05:55 > 0:05:59the people here were among the last of the indigenous
0:05:59 > 0:06:01American cultures they encountered.
0:06:05 > 0:06:08When Europeans first made contact with indigenous peoples elsewhere
0:06:08 > 0:06:12in the Americas in the 16th and 17th centuries,
0:06:12 > 0:06:17the relationship was dominated by their motivation to seize land
0:06:17 > 0:06:19and wealth, dominate local populations
0:06:19 > 0:06:21and colonise new territories.
0:06:21 > 0:06:24But when they arrived here in the late 18th century,
0:06:24 > 0:06:27the situation was completely different.
0:06:27 > 0:06:30For a start, the British and French were involved in costly wars
0:06:30 > 0:06:33elsewhere, not least the American War of Independence.
0:06:33 > 0:06:36And so the idea of getting involved in yet another war
0:06:36 > 0:06:39with the powerful chiefdoms of the Northwest Coast
0:06:39 > 0:06:41was extremely unappealing.
0:06:41 > 0:06:44It was this that fundamentally changed the nature
0:06:44 > 0:06:46of their relationship.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53This was a time of burgeoning international commerce.
0:06:53 > 0:06:55And when Europeans and Russians realised
0:06:55 > 0:06:59a thriving and diverse trade network already existed here,
0:06:59 > 0:07:02they saw the native population as potential partners.
0:07:05 > 0:07:08Within a decade or so, native North Americans all along
0:07:08 > 0:07:12this coastline were busily trading with the new European arrivals,
0:07:12 > 0:07:15and this trade significantly altered the economies
0:07:15 > 0:07:17of the communities here.
0:07:18 > 0:07:22What surprised the local population about the European traders
0:07:22 > 0:07:24was what they wanted to obtain.
0:07:26 > 0:07:27Sea otter fur.
0:07:31 > 0:07:32The animals were so abundant,
0:07:32 > 0:07:36their fur had little value between the communities.
0:07:36 > 0:07:39But with the arrival of foreign traders,
0:07:39 > 0:07:41places like South Baranof Island in Alaska became
0:07:41 > 0:07:44major international trade hubs.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50This is traditional territory of one of the Northwest Coast's
0:07:50 > 0:07:52biggest tribes, the Tlingit.
0:07:55 > 0:07:59Their lands once stretched across 500 miles of the Alaskan Panhandle.
0:08:05 > 0:08:09Teri Rofkar is a traditional Tlingit weaver who
0:08:09 > 0:08:13has studied the role of sea otter fur in the history the coast.
0:08:15 > 0:08:17My name is Chaas' Koowu.
0:08:17 > 0:08:20In Tlingit, I am a Raven
0:08:20 > 0:08:22of the T'ak dein taan.
0:08:22 > 0:08:24I am the daughter of an Englishman
0:08:24 > 0:08:25and the granddaughter
0:08:25 > 0:08:26of Kaagwaantaan Wolf.
0:08:30 > 0:08:33- These are the sea otter pelts over here?- These are the sea otter pelts.
0:08:33 > 0:08:36- So I am one of the hunters for the tribe.- Wow.
0:08:36 > 0:08:38And you can see that they're quite large.
0:08:38 > 0:08:42When they're in the ocean, it doesn't always look that big.
0:08:42 > 0:08:45- And it's just HUGE.- Yeah.
0:08:45 > 0:08:47You're going to want to check that out.
0:08:47 > 0:08:49That's absolutely beautiful.
0:08:50 > 0:08:54The Pacific sea otter is endemic to the icy water of the Siberian
0:08:54 > 0:08:58and North American coast, for which it is perfectly suited.
0:08:59 > 0:09:03Unlike most marine animals, it has no blubber to keep it warm,
0:09:03 > 0:09:06but it's fur is the densest of any creature on Earth.
0:09:08 > 0:09:11- That's incredibly thick. - Yeah, really thick.
0:09:11 > 0:09:16It's supposedly 300,000 hairs per one square inch.
0:09:16 > 0:09:18And I just love the texture that it...
0:09:18 > 0:09:20How do you process them? Do you clean them?
0:09:20 > 0:09:24Yes, you've got to flesh off, fletch off all of this,
0:09:24 > 0:09:26- the meat back here.- Yeah.
0:09:27 > 0:09:32Exotic fur had a huge global market in the 18th century,
0:09:32 > 0:09:35and the Russians were particularly keen to exploit their
0:09:35 > 0:09:38lucrative position as key suppliers to Imperial China.
0:09:43 > 0:09:44And as a material, like, what,
0:09:44 > 0:09:46they were one of the most valuable objects
0:09:46 > 0:09:49- in those early contacts? - They really were.
0:09:49 > 0:09:54Some of them were fetching like 300, 500, 1,000 for one pelt.
0:09:54 > 0:09:57So it was a tremendous amount of money.
0:09:57 > 0:10:00And the Russians were primarily harvesting them.
0:10:00 > 0:10:03And they were not taking them back to Russia,
0:10:03 > 0:10:05they were selling them to the emperors in China.
0:10:05 > 0:10:10And it was that window that the otters were really so,
0:10:10 > 0:10:12so important.
0:10:12 > 0:10:16Communities which had operated within the coastal trade network
0:10:16 > 0:10:20adapted to this new and profitable international exchange.
0:10:21 > 0:10:25They bartered furs for new goods arriving with European and
0:10:25 > 0:10:29Russian merchants and found themselves in high demand.
0:10:29 > 0:10:32Their knowledge of the lands and waters and their hunting
0:10:32 > 0:10:34expertise were of immense value.
0:10:37 > 0:10:40The peoples of the Northwest Coast were in a strong position,
0:10:40 > 0:10:45and often Europeans had to trade with them on unfavourable terms.
0:10:45 > 0:10:49Not only that, Europeans were acting as individuals rather than as
0:10:49 > 0:10:53a state, and this gave the native populations the upper hand.
0:10:55 > 0:10:59The sudden demand for sea otter fur had dramatic impact,
0:10:59 > 0:11:04not just upon hunting patterns but on the economy of the coast
0:11:04 > 0:11:08because new products, from firearms to wheelbarrows,
0:11:08 > 0:11:10altered the system of value.
0:11:11 > 0:11:15The influx of goods, however, tended to reinforce existing social
0:11:15 > 0:11:19hierarchies rather than put power in new hands,
0:11:19 > 0:11:23not least because of one item offered in exchange for furs
0:11:23 > 0:11:27was the material societies here had always prized above all else.
0:11:29 > 0:11:30Copper -
0:11:30 > 0:11:34for thousands of years, one of the very few naturally occurring
0:11:34 > 0:11:38and workable metals available to local crafts people.
0:11:42 > 0:11:46Metalwork has an interesting history here on the Northwest Coast.
0:11:46 > 0:11:49The earliest evidence of it comes from copper ornaments found
0:11:49 > 0:11:52that date back about 3,000 years.
0:11:52 > 0:11:55But it was the arrival of quality copper from Europe that led
0:11:55 > 0:11:58to the transformation of techniques and styles.
0:12:07 > 0:12:11Juneau, Alaska was once another Tlingit stronghold,
0:12:11 > 0:12:14and it's where the art of copper making is being continued
0:12:14 > 0:12:15by Tlingit craftsmen.
0:12:17 > 0:12:22- Hey, how are you doing?- Greetings. Welcome to Juneau, Alaska.
0:12:22 > 0:12:24My Tlingit name is...
0:12:29 > 0:12:31I'm a twin brother to the guy
0:12:31 > 0:12:32sitting next to me,
0:12:32 > 0:12:35and he is four hours older than I am.
0:12:35 > 0:12:37My Tlingit name is...
0:12:43 > 0:12:46Rick and Mick have been working with copper in the traditional
0:12:46 > 0:12:48Tlingit way for 20 years.
0:12:50 > 0:12:54They're well-versed in the history of local metalworking and how,
0:12:54 > 0:12:58before European contact, tribes would seek out copper nuggets
0:12:58 > 0:13:00along the banks of streams in winter.
0:13:01 > 0:13:05They would look for the green spots where the oxidation has come
0:13:05 > 0:13:08up through the snow, and then they plop a stick there,
0:13:08 > 0:13:10and then they go back when it's melted,
0:13:10 > 0:13:13and that's how they'd collect them.
0:13:13 > 0:13:15It is a valuable commodity because they're quite rare things in
0:13:15 > 0:13:18- the past?- At the time. - Yeah?- At the time.
0:13:18 > 0:13:21- It was like gold.- Yeah. - Like gold today.
0:13:21 > 0:13:25It was a valuable resource, but it was the material,
0:13:25 > 0:13:27they needed to get the material.
0:13:27 > 0:13:28That was the hard part.
0:13:30 > 0:13:34Europeans brought large quantities of high-quality sheet copper
0:13:34 > 0:13:36to the Northwest Coast.
0:13:38 > 0:13:40This fuelled a step up in the production
0:13:40 > 0:13:44of these shield-like items that are known simply as coppers.
0:13:46 > 0:13:48Coppers had no practical function
0:13:48 > 0:13:50but were central to the coastal economy.
0:13:52 > 0:13:55They would make these shields
0:13:55 > 0:13:58and the shields represented money,
0:13:58 > 0:14:00and you could buy canoes,
0:14:00 > 0:14:04you could buy property, rights to streams.
0:14:04 > 0:14:08- Yeah.- It was an extremely valuable early trade item.
0:14:08 > 0:14:12- And they used this shape up and down the whole coast.- Yeah.
0:14:12 > 0:14:13All the different tribes.
0:14:13 > 0:14:18And they're all basically the same, and they all involve a raised T.
0:14:18 > 0:14:20Yes. And so what do you do? What's the process?
0:14:20 > 0:14:21You throw it on the fire.
0:14:21 > 0:14:23- In one of these?- Yeah. And you get it soft.
0:14:23 > 0:14:25- Why don't you take the gloves? - Thanks so much.
0:14:25 > 0:14:28- And then you'll help Rick set that on there.- Love it.
0:14:30 > 0:14:31Great.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Tlingit metal smiths would heat the copper,
0:14:33 > 0:14:38then drop it in water to tighten the metal before working on it.
0:14:42 > 0:14:47- You're trying to find a solid spot. - Yeah.- Where you can hit it.- Yeah.
0:14:47 > 0:14:50And you're actually thinning the metal.
0:14:50 > 0:14:54And what I'm trying to do is, more or less, create a tunnel here,
0:14:54 > 0:14:56- a rounded tunnel.- Yeah.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Once the sheet is hammered into the iconic T-shape that adorned
0:15:05 > 0:15:09all coppers, the metal is returned to the fire and coated with
0:15:09 > 0:15:10a resin from spruce trees.
0:15:12 > 0:15:16- That's good. Wow. - That's pure pitch there.
0:15:16 > 0:15:20- So you tapped into the tree and got some of that sap out?- Yeah.
0:15:22 > 0:15:23And once that patina's on there,
0:15:23 > 0:15:26- then that sort of gives it a glowing shine.- Yeah.
0:15:26 > 0:15:29And does it protect the metal against corrosion or is it...?
0:15:29 > 0:15:32- It would.- Yeah?- Yeah, it would. - Yeah.
0:15:32 > 0:15:35- We just want to melt it on there. - Yeah.
0:15:35 > 0:15:39- And not sizzling.- Smell it? - Yeah, beautiful smell.
0:15:39 > 0:15:40That's great.
0:15:42 > 0:15:46- It's good there's two of you, it's a two-man job.- Oh, yeah.
0:15:46 > 0:15:48Two bodies, one mind.
0:15:48 > 0:15:50- We'll just let that cool off.- Yep.
0:15:55 > 0:15:59The modest size of most coppers belies their value in
0:15:59 > 0:16:01Northwest Coast society.
0:16:01 > 0:16:03What could one of these be worth?
0:16:03 > 0:16:05I mean, if we started to think about...
0:16:05 > 0:16:08- Well, supposedly, they were worth, you know, a couple canoes.- Wow.
0:16:08 > 0:16:09A long time ago.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11- So that would be like a couple cars. - Yeah.
0:16:11 > 0:16:14So, sort of, yeah, they're a symbol of power,
0:16:14 > 0:16:16- they are a symbol of control...- Yes.
0:16:16 > 0:16:17..that really sort of projects out
0:16:17 > 0:16:20- and that other people in the community respect.- Yes.
0:16:20 > 0:16:24- Congratulations, it's a beautiful, beautiful object.- Thank you.
0:16:24 > 0:16:27The huge increase in the production of coppers,
0:16:27 > 0:16:29enabled by European sheet metal,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32vastly enriched the tribes that traded with the outsiders...
0:16:37 > 0:16:40..and in turn, led to a flourishing of what
0:16:40 > 0:16:44has become known as perhaps the most iconic element of Northwest Coast
0:16:44 > 0:16:49culture - a ceremony unique to the people here, known as a potlatch...
0:16:50 > 0:16:54..something that played a key role in the story of European contact.
0:16:58 > 0:17:02To understand what potlatches were and how the influx of foreign copper
0:17:02 > 0:17:04affected their role in society,
0:17:04 > 0:17:08I'm flying to the remote archipelago of Haida Gwaii.
0:17:13 > 0:17:17These islands are to this day the homeland of the Haida people,
0:17:17 > 0:17:21one of the most powerful of the Northwest Coast nations.
0:17:22 > 0:17:25We are just flying down to Haida Gwaii.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28Coming out of Alaska, down the coast,
0:17:28 > 0:17:31the landscape for hundreds and hundreds of miles is covered
0:17:31 > 0:17:33in this thick, impenetrable forest.
0:17:33 > 0:17:37It gives you the sense of what it means to live in a wilderness.
0:17:40 > 0:17:43Potlatches have been at the heart of communities here
0:17:43 > 0:17:45for at least 1,000 years.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51On one level, the potlatch is simply a great feast and gathering
0:17:51 > 0:17:52of the clans.
0:17:53 > 0:17:57Yet, among scholars, it has been the subject of perhaps more
0:17:57 > 0:18:00debate than any other aspect of Northwest Coast culture.
0:18:03 > 0:18:07From a European point of view, power and wealth is about
0:18:07 > 0:18:12accumulation, acquiring more money or commodities than your rival.
0:18:12 > 0:18:15But in the Northwest Coast, it's completely different -
0:18:15 > 0:18:18power and wealth are gained by literally giving it away.
0:18:31 > 0:18:34When Europeans first observed potlatches,
0:18:34 > 0:18:36they couldn't understand
0:18:36 > 0:18:39that powerful chiefs would willingly hand out huge swathes of
0:18:39 > 0:18:42their wealth to their rivals,
0:18:42 > 0:18:45which seemed to be a complete inversion of European notions
0:18:45 > 0:18:47of paying tribute.
0:18:47 > 0:18:49Old Massett, on Haida Gwaii,
0:18:49 > 0:18:53is home to Haida chief Jim Hart, who has held potlatches of his own.
0:18:57 > 0:18:59My Haida name is...
0:19:01 > 0:19:04And my clan name is...
0:19:06 > 0:19:07And I'm the chief of our clan.
0:19:11 > 0:19:15And what does the potlatch ceremony mean within the Haida community?
0:19:15 > 0:19:17Potlatch is a Chinook name.
0:19:17 > 0:19:20Chinook is a language that was invented
0:19:20 > 0:19:23with all the coastal tribes'
0:19:23 > 0:19:27languages, and they figured out all these different types of words
0:19:27 > 0:19:31so that a trader or... We could talk to each other.
0:19:31 > 0:19:35So we use that word, that common language called Chinook.
0:19:36 > 0:19:41This footage shows a potlatch held by the Kwakwaka'wakw in the 1950s.
0:19:41 > 0:19:45The dances and ceremonies differed along the coast,
0:19:45 > 0:19:47but the core aspects were shared.
0:19:48 > 0:19:52Potlatches often marked an important occasion - a birth,
0:19:52 > 0:19:54marriage or naming of a new chief.
0:19:56 > 0:20:00The ceremonies could last for days or even weeks.
0:20:02 > 0:20:04Chiefs could be invited from hundreds of miles away.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09These events were the foundation of the tribe's economic,
0:20:09 > 0:20:15political, spiritual and legal systems.
0:20:15 > 0:20:20Potlatches were a place to validate your laws, you know,
0:20:20 > 0:20:24and who you were, where you stood in this world.
0:20:24 > 0:20:27You talk about your history and all your achievements with your family,
0:20:27 > 0:20:30your clan. And it was about laws too.
0:20:30 > 0:20:33So you would reinforce your laws there.
0:20:33 > 0:20:35NATIVE SINGING
0:20:35 > 0:20:37Among the people here,
0:20:37 > 0:20:41the opportunity to host a potlatch was the highest goal in life,
0:20:41 > 0:20:45but it was the practice of bestowing gifts of great value
0:20:45 > 0:20:48onto the invited guests that baffled outsiders.
0:20:48 > 0:20:53European society, often like chiefs or people who have power,
0:20:53 > 0:20:56accumulate wealth, they bring wealth to themselves and they hoard it,
0:20:56 > 0:20:59- and that's, like, how you become powerful.- Yeah.
0:20:59 > 0:21:02But the potlatch is a very different perspective on wealth because
0:21:02 > 0:21:04you seem to give away wealth.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Yeah, so I invite you all to come to meet
0:21:08 > 0:21:10or to witness the event.
0:21:10 > 0:21:15And so what I do as the host is pay you for that,
0:21:15 > 0:21:19and I start giving you gifts for being there to witness that.
0:21:19 > 0:21:21Different types of gifts for if you are
0:21:21 > 0:21:27a chief or if you really respect somebody, so it reinforces bonds.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30What is traditionally the most valuable item that could be
0:21:30 > 0:21:34- given away at a potlatch? - I think the copper.
0:21:34 > 0:21:36Coppers were, in my mind,
0:21:36 > 0:21:38probably the biggest thing you could give away at a potlatch.
0:21:40 > 0:21:44This apparent generosity came with a significant catch.
0:21:45 > 0:21:48Whatever the host gave to his guests,
0:21:48 > 0:21:49whether coppers or other valuables,
0:21:49 > 0:21:52the gifts could not be declined.
0:21:54 > 0:21:57The recipient would then be personally indebted to the host,
0:21:57 > 0:22:01increasing the host's power and standing.
0:22:01 > 0:22:04Only when the recipient held a potlatch of their own and
0:22:04 > 0:22:07bestowed gifts of greater value on their previous host would
0:22:07 > 0:22:10they be released from their bond.
0:22:10 > 0:22:14This could be a way of humiliating a rival, who might spend years,
0:22:14 > 0:22:18even decades, saving enough to repay in kind.
0:22:18 > 0:22:22Europeans were astonished that chiefs would even deliberately
0:22:22 > 0:22:27ruin objects, forcing a rival to publicly sacrifice an equal
0:22:27 > 0:22:29amount or lose face.
0:22:29 > 0:22:33And that included the most valuable items of all.
0:22:33 > 0:22:36I heard that sometimes people destroyed coppers...
0:22:36 > 0:22:38- Yep.- ..as sort of like a public ritual.
0:22:38 > 0:22:41- What's the story behind that? - Well...
0:22:41 > 0:22:45War-manship, I'm having a war with you in a sense. I'm showing you
0:22:45 > 0:22:49that I've got more wealth than you, I can destroy my wealth like that.
0:22:49 > 0:22:51There was a lot of trickery to all that stuff too, though.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54There was a guy in a canoe out there in the water throwing coppers
0:22:54 > 0:22:57over, trying to show off to these people on shore,
0:22:57 > 0:22:58showing his wealth.
0:22:58 > 0:23:02But what was going on at that moment,
0:23:02 > 0:23:06this guy was pulling up coppers with rope, like a line. Right?
0:23:06 > 0:23:07So he's throwing them over,
0:23:07 > 0:23:11but he also had them attached to this line and he made it
0:23:11 > 0:23:14look like he had all these coppers, and he was busted.
0:23:14 > 0:23:17You know what I mean? His whole show was busted then.
0:23:25 > 0:23:29Early interaction with Europeans resulted not in a dilution
0:23:29 > 0:23:32of coastal culture but an efflorescence.
0:23:34 > 0:23:39After European contact, potlatches gained an even greater significance
0:23:39 > 0:23:40because they were essential for
0:23:40 > 0:23:44maintaining social hierarchies and keeping the links between
0:23:44 > 0:23:46different communities alive.
0:23:46 > 0:23:50This was so important during a time of such great transformation.
0:23:51 > 0:23:56The sense of identity, so vital to coastal culture, was strengthened
0:23:56 > 0:24:00in the decades following European contact in other ways too.
0:24:00 > 0:24:02Before the arrival of the Europeans,
0:24:02 > 0:24:06only a handful of tribes carved the iconic totem pole.
0:24:06 > 0:24:10But as more chiefs grew wealthy in the transformed economy,
0:24:10 > 0:24:13more carvers were commissioned and totem poles were raised all
0:24:13 > 0:24:14along the coast.
0:24:16 > 0:24:19This wasn't a reaction to the presence of the Europeans.
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Greater wealth had made rivalries fiercer amongst the communities.
0:24:23 > 0:24:27Totem poles were statements of strength, and more clans and
0:24:27 > 0:24:31tribes now had the means to assert their status and display
0:24:31 > 0:24:32their power to others.
0:24:36 > 0:24:40Artistic expression was used by the peoples of the Northwest Coast
0:24:40 > 0:24:43to encode that precious cultural knowledge,
0:24:43 > 0:24:45hidden in plain sight.
0:24:48 > 0:24:52Being able to maintain their cultural traditions while
0:24:52 > 0:24:55trading peacefully with Europeans was an illustration of the
0:24:55 > 0:25:01strength of Northwest Coast society and its ability to adapt.
0:25:01 > 0:25:05These peoples, after all, had learned how to understand
0:25:05 > 0:25:09their environment and make the most out of it for thousands of years.
0:25:09 > 0:25:12And the presence of outsiders merely altered that environment.
0:25:12 > 0:25:15It wasn't a threat to their way of life...
0:25:15 > 0:25:19until one group of newcomers tried to change the game.
0:25:25 > 0:25:29Russian fur traders first arrived in the Americans along the
0:25:29 > 0:25:31Aleutian Islands in the mid-18th century.
0:25:34 > 0:25:36They established trading posts along the island chain,
0:25:36 > 0:25:42and in 1799, built a permanent settlement on Baranof Island,
0:25:42 > 0:25:45territory controlled by the powerful Tlingit.
0:25:51 > 0:25:54The Russians brought with them Aleutian slaves to hunt otters.
0:25:55 > 0:25:58This cut the Tlingit out of the trade.
0:25:58 > 0:25:59In retaliation,
0:25:59 > 0:26:04Tlingit clans attacked the Russian settlement at Sitka.
0:26:04 > 0:26:08It was the first war between the peoples of the Northwest Coast
0:26:08 > 0:26:09and the newcomers.
0:26:11 > 0:26:16This conflict forced the Tlingit to adapt to this new threat, and an
0:26:16 > 0:26:20example of how they did it is found in the workshop of a Tlingit chief.
0:26:27 > 0:26:29My name is Tommy Joseph.
0:26:29 > 0:26:30I'm Kaagwaantaan.
0:26:30 > 0:26:34Kaagwaantaan is the name of my clan, which means I'm of the Eagle Moiety.
0:26:34 > 0:26:36My clan crest is a wolf.
0:26:41 > 0:26:45Tommy is a wood carver and armourer who has painstakingly recreated
0:26:45 > 0:26:48sets of traditional Tlingit battle gear.
0:26:48 > 0:26:51So this is some of the armour that would've been used to fight
0:26:51 > 0:26:53- the Russians, then? - Absolutely, yeah.
0:26:53 > 0:26:55Over here, we have the wood-slat armour
0:26:55 > 0:26:57which went over the hide armour.
0:26:58 > 0:27:03Tommy has studied how Tlingit armour changed during conflict with Russia.
0:27:03 > 0:27:06The Tlingits were able to trade with merchants,
0:27:06 > 0:27:09and they obtained the Chinese coins here.
0:27:09 > 0:27:14Beautiful. And so these were, like, being traded into the area anyway,
0:27:14 > 0:27:16and they were sort of then taking these and using them?
0:27:16 > 0:27:19Yeah, they were used in different art works, but also for the armour,
0:27:19 > 0:27:23to replace the slat armour, because it was very time-consuming
0:27:23 > 0:27:26working the sinew and they were sewing them to a bit of hides.
0:27:26 > 0:27:29They would sew on several hundred of them on some of the pieces.
0:27:32 > 0:27:34- That's great.- They were quite heavy.
0:27:34 > 0:27:38I have one piece in another museum here in Sitka that's got
0:27:38 > 0:27:40a few hundred coins, and it's got some weight to it.
0:27:40 > 0:27:41- Yeah.- This is really thick hide.
0:27:41 > 0:27:45- I've seen them where they overlapped, like that.- Mm-hm.
0:27:45 > 0:27:48Just row after row, overlapping.
0:27:48 > 0:27:50Muskets have been fired at these guys
0:27:50 > 0:27:52and have bounced off of them.
0:27:54 > 0:27:56As well as metal-reinforced armour,
0:27:56 > 0:27:58the Tlingit had muskets and cannons
0:27:58 > 0:28:01obtained from British and American traders.
0:28:04 > 0:28:07Using these, they attacked and destroyed the Russian trading post
0:28:07 > 0:28:08at Sitka.
0:28:11 > 0:28:16Two years later, in 1804, Russian ships returned with several hundred
0:28:16 > 0:28:20militia and bombarded the Tlingit fort, which stood in this clearing.
0:28:24 > 0:28:26When it's low tide, the boats had to stay way out there,
0:28:26 > 0:28:29there was no way for them to come in.
0:28:29 > 0:28:33So it was a strategic point here that kept the boats at bay.
0:28:33 > 0:28:34And then the wall,
0:28:34 > 0:28:39the fortress wall, was young trees that were kind of slanted so that
0:28:39 > 0:28:44the cannonballs would deflect off and land beyond the river here.
0:28:44 > 0:28:47GUNSHOTS
0:28:52 > 0:28:55The Russian siege was effective, however.
0:28:55 > 0:28:58With there ammunition supplies exhausted after another battle,
0:28:58 > 0:29:01the Tlingit abandoned their positions.
0:29:01 > 0:29:03But they weren't gone forever.
0:29:10 > 0:29:13They were gone for about 16 years before they came back.
0:29:13 > 0:29:16And when they came, the Russians by that time had totally built
0:29:16 > 0:29:19their town right at the same spot where the village was.
0:29:19 > 0:29:22They put up a big wall.
0:29:26 > 0:29:31The Russians tried to assert their authority by naming the town
0:29:31 > 0:29:35New Archangel and making it the capital of Russian America.
0:29:38 > 0:29:42Yet they failed to displace the Tlingit as the area's main
0:29:42 > 0:29:45traders, who remained a prominent force.
0:29:50 > 0:29:54Native North American communities can often be perceived as
0:29:54 > 0:29:56victims in the face of colonial force,
0:29:56 > 0:30:00so it's so great to chat to Tommy and hear the pride with which
0:30:00 > 0:30:04he talks about how the Tlingit warriors fought on this peninsula.
0:30:15 > 0:30:19The Tlingit tenacity in battle was matched by their tenacity in
0:30:19 > 0:30:21refusing to be displaced by the Russians.
0:30:29 > 0:30:33This was a sign of the resilience they would need to see them
0:30:33 > 0:30:34through what was to come.
0:30:41 > 0:30:45The return of an uneasy peace allowed the Russians to
0:30:45 > 0:30:47enforce a trade monopoly,
0:30:47 > 0:30:49extending the length of the Alaskan Panhandle.
0:30:52 > 0:30:55By the 1820s, British traders similarly controlled the
0:30:55 > 0:30:59fur trade to the south in what is now British Columbia.
0:31:02 > 0:31:06But decades of intensive otter hunting took its toll.
0:31:09 > 0:31:12Gathering resources sustainably had been the hallmark of
0:31:12 > 0:31:16a society that had existed for 10,000 years,
0:31:16 > 0:31:19but along the coast, otter populations collapsed.
0:31:21 > 0:31:25And when European interests turned to other natural resources,
0:31:25 > 0:31:27the consequences were catastrophic.
0:31:34 > 0:31:38In 1850, a group of Haida, from Haida Gwaii,
0:31:38 > 0:31:41arrived in Fort Victoria, on Vancouver Island.
0:31:42 > 0:31:46The British traders were astonished to find they had in their
0:31:46 > 0:31:48position large gold nuggets.
0:31:52 > 0:31:55Little did the islanders know that they had set in motion
0:31:55 > 0:31:58a chain of events that would devastate their people.
0:31:59 > 0:32:02Because when news of what they had found spread,
0:32:02 > 0:32:05gold fever came to the Northwest Coast.
0:32:08 > 0:32:12Through the 1850s, several gold strikes were made along the coast.
0:32:15 > 0:32:20Within years, as many as 30,000 Europeans had flocked to the region,
0:32:20 > 0:32:24marking the beginning of mass European settlement.
0:32:27 > 0:32:31But the promise of gold didn't just bring foreign settlers,
0:32:31 > 0:32:33it also brought foreign diseases.
0:32:47 > 0:32:51The greatest danger the peoples of the Northwest Coast ever faced
0:32:51 > 0:32:54was a threat they couldn't even see.
0:32:54 > 0:32:58It wiped out entire communities and even the surviving tribes
0:32:58 > 0:33:01were transformed beyond recognition.
0:33:07 > 0:33:10Smallpox was a virulent disease,
0:33:10 > 0:33:14particularly devastating on populations that had never
0:33:14 > 0:33:17encountered it before and therefore had no immunity.
0:33:18 > 0:33:21In 1862, it swept up the Northwest Coast
0:33:21 > 0:33:25with Europeans chasing the gold rush.
0:33:25 > 0:33:29The Haida bore the brunt and were very nearly extinguished altogether.
0:33:30 > 0:33:33On the tip of the Haida Gwaii archipelago
0:33:33 > 0:33:34is the island of Kunghit,
0:33:34 > 0:33:37where the thriving village of Sgan Gwaii once stood.
0:33:40 > 0:33:43So we're just coming into the village. It's incredibly remote.
0:33:43 > 0:33:47It's right on the south of the peninsula of Gwaii Haanas.
0:33:47 > 0:33:49Tucked away.
0:34:11 > 0:34:14So this is where the village would have been, lined up round the cove.
0:34:14 > 0:34:17Here, you can see one of the old long houses here.
0:34:17 > 0:34:18Those were the big structures
0:34:18 > 0:34:20which would've gone all the way down both sides.
0:34:20 > 0:34:23And the door would have faced out to sea.
0:34:27 > 0:34:31Sgan Gwaii was abandoned in the mid-1880s.
0:34:31 > 0:34:34Captain Gold is a Haida chief,
0:34:34 > 0:34:37who, over 40 years ago, was entrusted with safeguarding
0:34:37 > 0:34:40the remains of this village as a living memorial.
0:34:44 > 0:34:48My name is Captain Gold and my Haida name is...
0:34:50 > 0:34:52Being Haida and being able
0:34:52 > 0:34:54to honour the ancestors,
0:34:54 > 0:34:57to me, that is the greatest story of it all.
0:34:58 > 0:35:01Do we know what the people experienced then,
0:35:01 > 0:35:03when smallpox arrived here in 1862?
0:35:03 > 0:35:08It's like, say a family of 12,
0:35:08 > 0:35:12almost overnight, there was only three left.
0:35:12 > 0:35:15If you can picture that inside each house,
0:35:15 > 0:35:17and there's, like, 22 homes here.
0:35:17 > 0:35:22Overnight, almost 3/4 of the population,
0:35:22 > 0:35:2580% of the population, would be gone.
0:35:25 > 0:35:28Just overnight. Just like that.
0:35:28 > 0:35:33So I imagine the sadness in this place here was pretty terrible.
0:35:43 > 0:35:47And so this line here is all memorial poles representing
0:35:47 > 0:35:51- chiefs, so high-ranking individuals. - Burial poles.- Burial poles.
0:35:51 > 0:35:56That tall one there is a memorial, but all these others here,
0:35:56 > 0:35:57they're all burials.
0:35:57 > 0:36:02And do you think that what we're looking at today
0:36:02 > 0:36:04is simply how the village was abandoned
0:36:04 > 0:36:06- back in the 19th century?- Yeah.
0:36:06 > 0:36:09This whole place here is a living graveyard,
0:36:09 > 0:36:11the way we look at it.
0:36:11 > 0:36:14So we're allowing everything to go back with dignity.
0:36:22 > 0:36:26All of these trees have re-grown since the smallpox epidemic and
0:36:26 > 0:36:30it really gives the sense that the forest is reclaiming the village.
0:36:42 > 0:36:46More than 80% of the entire Haida Nation was wiped out by
0:36:46 > 0:36:49the 1862 smallpox outbreak.
0:36:49 > 0:36:52If you imagine the population which must've been here then
0:36:52 > 0:36:54in sort of the early 19th century and, you know,
0:36:54 > 0:36:58the whole island must've been alive with villages and communities,
0:36:58 > 0:37:00people moving through the sound,
0:37:00 > 0:37:02and it would have been alive with people.
0:37:02 > 0:37:05You look at this little stretch right here, there'd be 50,
0:37:05 > 0:37:0930 canoes moving around, people gathering.
0:37:09 > 0:37:12And there's a village over there. And a village here.
0:37:12 > 0:37:15And just on the point over here, on that island.
0:37:19 > 0:37:24The memory of the epidemic is still raw for Haida like Captain Gold.
0:37:25 > 0:37:29He believes the disease was intentionally spread by Europeans.
0:37:30 > 0:37:35He believes a British explorer called Francis Poole was paid
0:37:35 > 0:37:37by the colonial government of Canada to take
0:37:37 > 0:37:41a volunteer infected with smallpox around the Haida villages.
0:37:44 > 0:37:47He got hired by the mining interest to come along,
0:37:47 > 0:37:49in the Fort Victoria,
0:37:49 > 0:37:52- and move along the coast to Chilcotin country...- Yeah.
0:37:52 > 0:37:55- with a volunteer and a doctor. - Right.
0:37:55 > 0:37:59And before they get to the Chilcotin area,
0:37:59 > 0:38:02they inoculate the volunteer with smallpox and
0:38:02 > 0:38:05he breathes on every person in the village.
0:38:05 > 0:38:08And then he goes on to the next village.
0:38:08 > 0:38:11If one person caught that smallpox in the village,
0:38:11 > 0:38:13it takes a long time to spread,
0:38:13 > 0:38:18but if they breathe on every person, overnight, everybody was gone.
0:38:18 > 0:38:20That's interesting. So you feel that, you know,
0:38:20 > 0:38:22he may have been intentionally doing it?
0:38:22 > 0:38:24It's clear their intention
0:38:24 > 0:38:27and with the approval of the governor of BC at the time.
0:38:30 > 0:38:34Historians have debated the accuracy of the Poole story for decades.
0:38:34 > 0:38:38But what is certain is that the colonial authorities did little
0:38:38 > 0:38:43to prevent the spread of smallpox amongst the native population.
0:38:43 > 0:38:46They expelled sufferers from European settlements,
0:38:46 > 0:38:50knowing that they would return to their villages and infect others.
0:38:51 > 0:38:54And it wasn't just the Haida who were hit by smallpox,
0:38:54 > 0:38:56but all the tribes.
0:38:58 > 0:39:02When the Europeans had arrived on the Northwest Coast in the 1770s,
0:39:02 > 0:39:06the total native population ran into the hundreds of thousands.
0:39:09 > 0:39:13Around 130 years later, after several disease epidemics,
0:39:13 > 0:39:17the population dwindled to around 35,000,
0:39:17 > 0:39:20a fraction of the original figure.
0:39:24 > 0:39:28I think of the Black Death as being a terrible plague in Europe,
0:39:28 > 0:39:29but in terms of numbers,
0:39:29 > 0:39:32the smallpox epidemic here on the Northwest Coast
0:39:32 > 0:39:34was even more deadly.
0:39:34 > 0:39:37Families, villages, entire communities were wiped out.
0:39:37 > 0:39:41And the viability of a culture that relied on those relationships
0:39:41 > 0:39:44across the landscape was called into question.
0:39:49 > 0:39:54The land itself, tribal territory for thousands of years,
0:39:54 > 0:39:55was being annexed.
0:39:56 > 0:40:01By the 1860s, Britain and the United States had divided up the
0:40:01 > 0:40:05southern territories, creating British Columbia in Canada
0:40:05 > 0:40:08and the territory that would become Washington State.
0:40:09 > 0:40:12Further north, the collapse in the fur trade meant
0:40:12 > 0:40:15Russian America was now seen by the Kremlin
0:40:15 > 0:40:17as an unprofitable liability.
0:40:19 > 0:40:25In 1867, the United States purchased Russia's American territories
0:40:25 > 0:40:27and renamed them Alaska.
0:40:28 > 0:40:31The price paid was 7.2 million.
0:40:34 > 0:40:38No native communities were consulted and the lands they had settled
0:40:38 > 0:40:43for more than 10,000 years were sold at less than two cents an acre.
0:40:43 > 0:40:46The survivors of the epidemics became citizens of foreign
0:40:46 > 0:40:49governments and faced a bleak new world.
0:40:55 > 0:40:59But the threat of extinction and the unsettling changes to their
0:40:59 > 0:41:03territory and their independence revitalised
0:41:03 > 0:41:05a defining aspect of their culture.
0:41:12 > 0:41:15After the 1862 smallpox epidemic,
0:41:15 > 0:41:19there was a resurgence of European interest in Northwest Coast
0:41:19 > 0:41:23art and objects, and this was a catalyst for sharing new materials
0:41:23 > 0:41:26and the cross-fertilisation of new ideas.
0:41:33 > 0:41:36Among the collection at the Museum of Anthropology
0:41:36 > 0:41:40in Vancouver is evidence of how material culture thrived
0:41:40 > 0:41:42despite the desperate circumstances.
0:41:44 > 0:41:46Nika Collison is of the Haida Nation.
0:41:49 > 0:41:51My name is...
0:41:52 > 0:41:56I belong to the Ts'aahl clan of the Haida Nation.
0:41:56 > 0:41:58My English name is Nika Collison.
0:42:02 > 0:42:05So, do you see an explosion in material expression after the
0:42:05 > 0:42:08sort of smallpox epidemics of the 19th century?
0:42:08 > 0:42:10Sure, in a different form.
0:42:10 > 0:42:15After contact, there was a plethora of iron, so to speak.
0:42:15 > 0:42:20So much so that the European traders were dubbed
0:42:20 > 0:42:23Yets-Haida, or iron men, right?
0:42:23 > 0:42:27So that changed a lot of our art.
0:42:27 > 0:42:33It enabled our art to become finer through the access to more
0:42:33 > 0:42:37iron and iron tools that were actually adapted for Haida carving.
0:42:37 > 0:42:41Then what happened is the epidemics hit.
0:42:43 > 0:42:47As Europeans prospectors and settlers poured into what is
0:42:47 > 0:42:50now Vancouver, Victoria and Seattle,
0:42:50 > 0:42:54the surviving tribes found a new market for their crafts.
0:42:56 > 0:42:59This new economy opened up,
0:42:59 > 0:43:02and you will find pieces like this,
0:43:02 > 0:43:05which are capturing
0:43:05 > 0:43:09a much more European way of life.
0:43:09 > 0:43:13This would be a Haida woman dressed in European clothing.
0:43:15 > 0:43:17This figure is carved from black slate,
0:43:17 > 0:43:20a form of the sedimentary rock argillite,
0:43:20 > 0:43:22only found on Haida Gwaii.
0:43:24 > 0:43:28Carvers used it for new imagery as well as traditional forms.
0:43:28 > 0:43:30This is a depiction of a European ship,
0:43:30 > 0:43:34and they've got the European men on it and a dog.
0:43:34 > 0:43:36It is representing the cabin of the ship.
0:43:36 > 0:43:39You can see some of the influence of different, you know,
0:43:39 > 0:43:42European style of decoration.
0:43:44 > 0:43:47This carving is a stylised representation of
0:43:47 > 0:43:50a particular kind of vessel.
0:43:50 > 0:43:51A paddle steamer.
0:43:53 > 0:43:56These ships began running tourists up the newly colonised
0:43:56 > 0:43:58Northwest Coast from the United States
0:43:58 > 0:44:00in the late 19th century.
0:44:02 > 0:44:06Their passengers saw indigenous artwork as exotic curios.
0:44:06 > 0:44:09But continuing traditional techniques and designs
0:44:09 > 0:44:11provided employment
0:44:11 > 0:44:14and helps the Haida and others preserve skills and knowledge.
0:44:17 > 0:44:21The art was a way to survive in a new world,
0:44:21 > 0:44:25not only to carry our knowledge and culture forward, but
0:44:25 > 0:44:29in a cash economy, it was embraced
0:44:29 > 0:44:33by European people and by settlers.
0:44:33 > 0:44:38It's also a miraculous example
0:44:38 > 0:44:42of resilience and defiance and
0:44:42 > 0:44:46the need to maintain identity and heritage.
0:44:46 > 0:44:50So these works capture moments in time of great, you know,
0:44:50 > 0:44:53extreme change in our society.
0:45:14 > 0:45:18The explosion in material culture and artistic expression was
0:45:18 > 0:45:23a reaction to population collapse and cultural suffering.
0:45:23 > 0:45:26It was the way the peoples of the Northwest Coast could
0:45:26 > 0:45:29maintain their culture in the face of adversity.
0:45:33 > 0:45:35Northwest Coast art and material culture became
0:45:35 > 0:45:38a rallying call for the survivors of the epidemics.
0:45:40 > 0:45:44Their own values and identities could endure despite,
0:45:44 > 0:45:48in one sense, having been reduced to trinkets for tourists.
0:45:48 > 0:45:51But the colonial authorities were determined to westernise
0:45:51 > 0:45:55their new subjects and they put an attack on culture at the
0:45:55 > 0:45:57heart of their mission.
0:46:02 > 0:46:05They generally saw Northwest Coast society as an
0:46:05 > 0:46:09affront to European values, challenging their belief
0:46:09 > 0:46:13systems and undermining their ability to colonise and control.
0:46:13 > 0:46:15And so, it should be stamped out.
0:46:17 > 0:46:19By the turn-of-the-century,
0:46:19 > 0:46:21laws were passed allowing settlers
0:46:21 > 0:46:24to easily claim lands along the coast.
0:46:24 > 0:46:29So-called Indian agents were pointed to enforce colonial authority
0:46:29 > 0:46:30on the communities.
0:46:30 > 0:46:35Christian missionaries arrived en masse to discourage the pagan ways.
0:46:38 > 0:46:42But perhaps the most insidious aspect of colonial policy was that
0:46:42 > 0:46:44it targeted the custom that underpinned
0:46:44 > 0:46:49the hierarchical structures of coastal society -
0:46:49 > 0:46:52potlatches were banned in Canada and the United States.
0:46:54 > 0:46:57The traditional ceremonies were deemed unlawful because they
0:46:57 > 0:47:00promoted old traditions, wasted resources,
0:47:00 > 0:47:04but really because they challenged local and federal law.
0:47:07 > 0:47:12Potlatches continued in open defiance of the ban until 1921,
0:47:12 > 0:47:15when after a ceremony in the homelands of the Kwakwaka'wakw,
0:47:15 > 0:47:17the suppression reached a new level.
0:47:18 > 0:47:21Objects of great cultural value were confiscated,
0:47:21 > 0:47:25destroying a vital institution.
0:47:25 > 0:47:27The effects are still being felt.
0:47:39 > 0:47:42RHYTHMIC CHANTING
0:47:42 > 0:47:46Today, a ceremony on Quadra Island is marking the return of two
0:47:46 > 0:47:51house poles seized in the 1920s which the Museum of Canada
0:47:51 > 0:47:54has loaned back to be exhibited in one of the cultural centres
0:47:54 > 0:47:57that collects treasures confiscated during the potlatch ban.
0:48:02 > 0:48:05It's a special day for the Kwakwaka'wakw.
0:48:05 > 0:48:07There's a lot of people here despite the weather.
0:48:07 > 0:48:12Thank you all for attending on such a miserable West Coast day.
0:48:12 > 0:48:15HEAVY RAINFALL, APPLAUSE
0:48:19 > 0:48:22Among the guests is Chief Bill Cranmer.
0:48:22 > 0:48:25So, I'm here speaking on behalf of the U'mista Cultural Centre
0:48:25 > 0:48:27in Alert Bay,
0:48:27 > 0:48:31sister museum to the Nuyumbalees Cultural Centre.
0:48:31 > 0:48:35It houses the treasures that were taken away from our people.
0:48:38 > 0:48:41Bill's father, Dan Cranmer, was at the centre of
0:48:41 > 0:48:44a key moment in the suppression of cultural traditions here.
0:48:46 > 0:48:48Thank you, Bill.
0:48:50 > 0:48:55In 1921, he held a large potlatch 100 miles northwest
0:48:55 > 0:48:57on Cormorant Island.
0:48:57 > 0:49:00It became a turning point in Northwest Coast history.
0:49:03 > 0:49:05At the time of your father's potlatch in 1921,
0:49:05 > 0:49:06he knew it was outlawed,
0:49:06 > 0:49:09so what do you think was behind his thinking about having it?
0:49:09 > 0:49:12Well, there was a purpose for his potlatch.
0:49:13 > 0:49:15It was kind of like a divorce.
0:49:15 > 0:49:19In our language, we say gwast.
0:49:19 > 0:49:20That means you quit.
0:49:20 > 0:49:26It is a quit potlatch, where he divorced his wife,
0:49:26 > 0:49:29gave all the dowry back to the family,
0:49:29 > 0:49:31and that was the reason for his potlatch.
0:49:31 > 0:49:36Shortly after, the Indian agent and the police knew that there was
0:49:36 > 0:49:39a potlatch that happened, but they didn't have any details.
0:49:39 > 0:49:44There was an informant that spoke to the police and the Indian agent
0:49:44 > 0:49:49naming those people that were at the potlatch and even went
0:49:49 > 0:49:52as far as telling the police what they did at the potlatch,
0:49:52 > 0:49:56whether they distributed gifts or took part in the dances,
0:49:56 > 0:50:01and that's how they were able to charge people and arrest them.
0:50:01 > 0:50:0626 people were sentenced to go to Oakalla prison farm in Vancouver.
0:50:06 > 0:50:12And in order for more people not to be sent to prison, they
0:50:12 > 0:50:17agreed to give up their masks and everything else to the Indian agent,
0:50:17 > 0:50:21what we call the treasures which you see here.
0:50:21 > 0:50:24Did your find out who the informant was?
0:50:24 > 0:50:26Yep. Yep. One of our relatives.
0:50:26 > 0:50:28THEY LAUGH
0:50:28 > 0:50:32Sending people to prison for a potlatch was an unprecedented
0:50:32 > 0:50:36escalation in colonial oppression.
0:50:36 > 0:50:39Do you think they understood the impact that such a ban would have?
0:50:39 > 0:50:42I think so. I think it was...
0:50:42 > 0:50:47The purpose was to get rid of
0:50:47 > 0:50:50our...our history,
0:50:50 > 0:50:52get rid of our language.
0:50:52 > 0:50:57And our first prime minister actually made a statement that,
0:50:57 > 0:51:01you know, "You can teach these savages how to read and write,
0:51:01 > 0:51:02"but they are still savages."
0:51:02 > 0:51:06You know, that was the thinking of those days. And so, you know,
0:51:06 > 0:51:09they outlawed the potlatch.
0:51:09 > 0:51:13So it was a design to take away our history.
0:51:13 > 0:51:16For me, it is quite a turning point because actually sending
0:51:16 > 0:51:19people to prison, you know, is really, like, it's drawing a line
0:51:19 > 0:51:22in the sand and saying, you know, "We are going to enforce this ban."
0:51:22 > 0:51:23That's right.
0:51:26 > 0:51:27At the time of the arrests,
0:51:27 > 0:51:30the head of the Department of Indian Affairs
0:51:30 > 0:51:31in Canada wrote...
0:51:42 > 0:51:46The banning of potlatches and the confiscation of cultural
0:51:46 > 0:51:49heirlooms was just one part of what a report
0:51:49 > 0:51:52by the Truth and Reconciliation Commission of Canada
0:51:52 > 0:51:55likened to cultural genocide.
0:51:56 > 0:51:59The most distressing aspect of this colonial programme were
0:51:59 > 0:52:01residential schools.
0:52:06 > 0:52:10These were mandatory boarding schools for native children
0:52:10 > 0:52:13funded by the government and run by the churches.
0:52:15 > 0:52:18They were an attempt to culturally reprogram
0:52:18 > 0:52:23an entire generation, to make them learn English,
0:52:23 > 0:52:27convert to Christianity and forget their traditional ways.
0:52:30 > 0:52:34Taking children away from families rips the heart out of a
0:52:34 > 0:52:38community, and it is a fast way to destroy a culture.
0:52:38 > 0:52:41At residential schools, native languages and customs were
0:52:41 > 0:52:44forbidden, enforced through corporal punishment.
0:52:47 > 0:52:50Haida chief Jim Hart who talked me through the customs of the
0:52:50 > 0:52:54potlatch earlier is recognised as a Master Carver.
0:52:55 > 0:52:59His latest work offers a window into not only the impact of
0:52:59 > 0:53:03residential schools but an understanding of how the
0:53:03 > 0:53:06culture here has survived in spite of them.
0:53:08 > 0:53:11His project is that most iconic of Northwest Coast carvings,
0:53:11 > 0:53:12a totem pole.
0:53:12 > 0:53:16- Hiya, Jim.- Good morning.- Wow. Quite the crew working out here.
0:53:16 > 0:53:17Yeah, we've got a whole gang here.
0:53:17 > 0:53:19- Good to see you. How are you doing?- Yeah.
0:53:19 > 0:53:23This work in progress draws upon Haida tradition to
0:53:23 > 0:53:26confront the legacy of the residential schools.
0:53:26 > 0:53:31So the story on here is to do with reconciliation.
0:53:31 > 0:53:35Reconciliation is our old residential school system
0:53:35 > 0:53:38that they imposed on our people across Canada.
0:53:38 > 0:53:40A lot of abuse happened at these schools.
0:53:40 > 0:53:44In fact, they just uncovered some documentation recently about
0:53:44 > 0:53:47how they used to starve the kids on purpose.
0:53:47 > 0:53:49They were just torture chambers, these schools.
0:53:49 > 0:53:52So that's what this pole is about.
0:53:54 > 0:53:59Entire communities of children were forced into the residential system.
0:54:01 > 0:54:05Conditions were terrible. Disease, rife.
0:54:05 > 0:54:08Mortality reached nearly 50% at some schools.
0:54:09 > 0:54:11Many children suffered sexual abuse.
0:54:14 > 0:54:17And so in terms of the pole then, there is a top -
0:54:17 > 0:54:19- that's the top - and then there is a bottom.- Yep.
0:54:19 > 0:54:23How does the story, how does the narrative unfold on the pole?
0:54:23 > 0:54:27So there's the bottom design, which is a bear mother and their cubs.
0:54:27 > 0:54:30And then we've got the residential school plumped on us,
0:54:30 > 0:54:31you know, poom.
0:54:31 > 0:54:34And this whole other system of taking kids away from those
0:54:34 > 0:54:37families, they're all struggling with that.
0:54:37 > 0:54:40And then above that, I'm going to have the kids and that in there,
0:54:40 > 0:54:42and they're all going to be dressed up.
0:54:42 > 0:54:44So it's about our family unit getting back together.
0:54:44 > 0:54:47We're figuring it all out now, we're analysing the whole darn show.
0:54:47 > 0:54:51And then above that, we're going to have the boats, like a canoe and
0:54:51 > 0:54:55a rowboat, representing us working together and going forward.
0:54:55 > 0:54:59We all have to figure this out and move forward,
0:54:59 > 0:55:01and that's what this is all about.
0:55:05 > 0:55:10The residential schools, potlatch ban and other colonial policies
0:55:10 > 0:55:14saw Northwest culture driven underground in the 1930s and '40s.
0:55:18 > 0:55:22But the indefatigable nature of the people and culture here
0:55:22 > 0:55:24ensured this didn't last.
0:55:26 > 0:55:29The suppression of an indigenous culture by those seeking
0:55:29 > 0:55:33political, economic and cultural control is nothing new.
0:55:33 > 0:55:36But I think the story here on the Northwest Coast is.
0:55:36 > 0:55:41Here, resilience is a state of mind passed down through the
0:55:41 > 0:55:45generations over thousands of years, and no law can stop that.
0:55:49 > 0:55:52Resilience isn't just about surviving.
0:55:52 > 0:55:56It's about adapting to change and transforming when
0:55:56 > 0:55:57circumstances demand it.
0:55:59 > 0:56:02That's what the peoples of the Northwest Coast managed to do to
0:56:02 > 0:56:06ensure European contact didn't mean annihilation.
0:56:08 > 0:56:14Decolonisation in the 1950s saw a resurgence in coastal culture.
0:56:15 > 0:56:17The potlatch ban was overturned.
0:56:18 > 0:56:22The influence of the civil rights movement in the US during
0:56:22 > 0:56:25the 1960s began to resonate.
0:56:25 > 0:56:30And native artists and carvers such as Bill Reid gained world renown.
0:56:31 > 0:56:35Communities came together to sue for their rights to territories
0:56:35 > 0:56:36and resources.
0:56:38 > 0:56:41And in 1998, the Canadian government made
0:56:41 > 0:56:44a formal declaration of regret for past treatment
0:56:44 > 0:56:46of the indigenous population.
0:56:51 > 0:56:55When any population is put under pressure and their way
0:56:55 > 0:56:59of life is under threat, it forces them to distil the essence of
0:56:59 > 0:57:04their identity as individuals, of their values as a society.
0:57:05 > 0:57:09The peoples of the Northwest Coast know their identity and they
0:57:09 > 0:57:11have the strongest of values.
0:57:11 > 0:57:14And it's these values that have allowed them to thrive
0:57:14 > 0:57:18in these beautiful territories for thousands of years.
0:57:27 > 0:57:30People have been here for more than 10,000 years.
0:57:31 > 0:57:35It's the sustainable, respectful relationships that really are
0:57:35 > 0:57:37the strength of who we are.
0:57:37 > 0:57:41You look at our history for the past 200, 300 years,
0:57:41 > 0:57:44the change that's taken from there to here.
0:57:46 > 0:57:50You think of smallpox and watching nine-tenths of your family
0:57:50 > 0:57:55die in front of you and then you're not allowed to be who you are.
0:57:55 > 0:58:01It's a miraculous example of resilience and defiance and
0:58:01 > 0:58:03the need to maintain identity.
0:58:05 > 0:58:10I see our future is hanging on to the old, and in that way too,
0:58:10 > 0:58:12keeping that alive.
0:58:12 > 0:58:15And really, we're getting stronger as a people all the time.
0:58:15 > 0:58:19Do we think that we will survive for another 10,000 years? Of course.