Sometimes, tragic events inadvertently bring understanding. As featured in a short film made by Gwaii Haanas, that’s what a group of researchers are finding in the aftermath of a hurricane-force storm in 2018 that struck the village of SGang Gwaay Llnagaay, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, and Haida Heritage Site.

Ironically, the storm and its devastation offered a glimpse into the daily lives and culture of Haida people of previous generations. SGang Gwaay was not year-round occupied after the 1880s largely because disease made life there unsustainable. The inhabitants left behind memorial and mortuary poles, longhouses, house pits and canoe runs. They moved to other villages to the north.

The 2018 storm blew down hundreds of trees, some of which damaged the remains of houses, upended floor-boards and opened the way for the exploration of the contents of those living quarters that were now exposed. Spiritual and cultural sensitivities had made in-depth archeological work difficult on a site sacred to the Haida, but the high winds made fieldwork easier.

“It’s like opening the trunk to a goodie box,” says Paul Rosang, a Senior Watchman, in an interview in the film.

“You never know what you’re going to find.”

As they sifted through the peeled-up floorboards, members of the Living Landscapes team found musket plates, buttons, beads and an argillite carving. Bit by bit, over the course of the next two years, the fieldwork is expected to throw more light on the daily life of the people who once made SGang Gwaay their home. And, of course, add to the story of Haida people on the islands since time immemorial.

In the film, James McGuire of the Haida Gwaii Museum delights in seeing “the continuity of culture”- of how the past lives on in the present.

“I really love seeing a button that I could have on my blanket coming out of a floorboard of a longhouse. My mind flew directly to the potlatch that happened in that house where the person was dancing and the button came off and I picture that and that feels so good!”

You can see the 10-minute documentary film about the first year of the project at www.youtube.com/watch?v=hYsYY-wbE0XU.

For more information about the project: https://www.pc.gc.ca/en/pn-np/bc/gwaiihaanas/nature/conservation/restauration-restoration/vivants-living.

Photos by Parks Canada and Silent Rapids Productions