Beyond Being Silenced: Gyaa Isdlaa

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In BEYOND BEING SILENCED: Gyaa Isdlaa, world-famous Haida artist Robert Davidson stages a potlatch acknowledging centuries of Indigenous abuse by government and colonists, but celebrating the newfound spirit of cultural and societal renewal and reconciliation.

Robert Davidson was born in Hydaburg, Alaska in a time when the traditional law-giving social ceremony of the North Coast Native culture – the potlatch - had been outlawed by governments anxious to prevent the original inhabitants from asserting title to their land. Years later the ban was lifted, but much damage had been done. The majority of traditional ceremonial objects had been confiscated, the language and cultural practices had been heavily discouraged, the youth were on the verge of losing connection to their heritage. In 1969, young Haida artist Robert Davidson decided to carve a totem pole for his now home village on Haida Gwaii – as one last homage to what appeared to be a fading culture. The response was explosive. It sparked the rebirth of the culture, catalysing its extraordinary comeback.

Fifty years later, in 2019 Robert became aware that a number of the clans in his birth home in Alaska had lost their tribal crests – which are a fundamental part of a clan’s identity. Robert decided to re-create these crests in the form of giant wall hangings and gift them to his brother clans. To celebrate this revitalization, Robert decided to stage a potlatch in Hydaburg, Alaska. Filmmakers Charles Wilkinson and Tina Schliessler, the creators of multiple award-winning feature documentary film Haida Modern: the art and activism of Robert Davidson filmed that potlatch. The result: BEYOND BEING SILENCED: Gyaa Isdlaa.

"Beyond Being Silenced: Gyaa Isdlaa is a spirited example of visual storytelling that honors the complex meanings of the potlatch today. Following Haida artist Robert Davidson and his family's enactment of responsibilities and reciprocity inherent in the hosting of a potlatch in Hydaburg, Alaska, this film offers viewers a celebration of enduring resilience of intergenerational traditions mixed with new practices to ensure the place of the potlatch in the future." Carmen Robertson, Professor of Art History, Chair in North American Indigenous Visual and Material Culture, Carleton University

"This is a very beautiful and powerful film that highlights the vital living culture of the Haida people. It also addresses the role of artists such as Robert Davidson in lifting up the Haida people and culture." Maria Williams (Tlingit), Professor, Alaska Native Studies Program and Dept. of Music, University of Alaska Anchorage

"Leitmotifs of community and generosity subtly underlie this beautiful film on the Haida potlatch. Master Haida artist Robert Davidson and members of his family explain the deep meaning of this culturally essential ceremony, its profoundly enduring history, ongoing strength and, especially, remarkable art. Throughout the film, young people - like youth everywhere who live in the world of media and technology - sing and dance, wear ceremonial clothing that embodies clan history, serve food, and express cultural pride. Beyond Being Silenced: Gyaa Isdlaa eloquently demonstrates how the values inherent in heritage and contemporaneity can coexist." Aldona Jonaitis, Director Emerita, Museum of the North, University of Alaska, Author, Art of the Northwest Coast

"Beyond Being Silenced is an important contribution towards understanding the complexities of a Potlatch. In weaving together art, oral history and living culture, this documentary clearly communicates the roles and responsibilities of the hosts and of the witnesses of a Potlatch." Cori Savard, Haida artist

"Through the art and cultural leadership of Robert Davidson and Terri Lynn Williams-Davidson, Beyond Being Silenced touches on the colonial history which effected our people, while showing the continued, living and breathing practice of our way of life." Jaalen Edenshaw, Haida Carver, Canoe Builder, and Copper Maker

"This is an expertly crafted film taking on a complex subject: the preparation of the once banned Potlatch - Wáahlaal. I found the three different unfolding perspectives illuminating and engaging as they speak of its integral importance to the ancestors' way of being - that is becoming a 'new reality.' This story will lift many up." April SGaana Jaad White, Haida artist

"Haida creativity and resilience is beautifully documented through story, dance, and song in this visually rich film that highlights a contemporary wah'laal (potlatch) meant to reaffirm Haida people's abilities to overcome historical silencing." Jeane T'a'aw xi'waa Breinig, Professor Emerita of English, Associate Vice Chancellor of Alaska Natives and Diversity, University of Alaska Anchorage

"The Canadian and United States governments outlawed Native American languages and cultures, and for peoples of the Northwest Coast this meant a potlatch ban. Master Artist Robert Davidson explores the significance of language and cultural reclamations that have come with the re-establishment of the potlatch among the Haida peoples. This film and his carved masterpiece We Were Once Silenced are powerful statements of Indigenous power, resistance, brilliance, and resilience. The impacts of attempted genocide are hard to measure and are rarely examined publicly, which makes this film a critical part of the conversations around historical traumas and modern day Indigenous successes." X'unei Lance Twitchell, Assistant Professor of Alaska Native Languages, University of Alaska Southeast

"Gyaa Isdlaa is a brilliant look into the Haida practice of Potlatch, an ancient cultural gathering tradition, still practiced today, in which Indigenous communities of the Pacific Northwest convey and record their histories, not only in song and dance but within the art they create. This film is a fantastic resource for anyone interested in looking further into the meaning of Haida cultural identity and exploring this rich form of historical communication through the eyes of master craftsman, Haida artist, Robert Davidson." Seth Thomas Sutton (Odawa), Professor and Chair, Arts and Humanities, Montcalm Community College, Author, The Deconstruction of Chief Blackhawk and The Sacred Fire of the Odawa

"With powerful and provocative interviews and footage of the potlatch, Beyond Being Silenced reveals the central work that art continues to accomplish as a medium for conveying history among the Haida Nation. As Robert's daughter Sara explains in the film, potlatches continue to serve as an 'opportunity to live our culture as opposed to just remember it.'" Josh Reid (Snohomish), Associate Professor of American Indian Studies, Associate Professor of History, Director, Center for the Study of the Pacific Northwest, University of Washington

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Main credits

Wilkinson, Charles (film director)
Schliessler, Tina (film director)
Davidson, Robert (film producer)
Davidson, Robert (on-screen participant)
Williams-Davidson, Terri-Lynn (film producer)
Davidson, Sara Florence (film producer)

MARC Record See Worldcat record

Keywords

Robert Davidson,Haida Gwaii,Haida,First Nation,Indigenous peoples,Indigenous studies,native art,Haida art,indigenous art,Indigenous culture,potlatch,cultural practices,cultural identity,Hydaburg,Alaska; "Beyond Being Silenced: Gyaa Isdlaa"; Bullfrog Films

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[gentle ambient music]

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[waves lapping]

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[music continues]
[waves crashing]

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'Wáahlaal, as we call it in Haida,

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has been in practice long before contact

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up and down the coast from Alaska down to Washington

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for many generations.

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It is our Supreme Court.

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'Wáahlaal is our word for potlatch.

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[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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In October of 2018, we went up to Hydaburg, Alaska,

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to participate in a potlatch, or a gyaa isdlaa,

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that my father was hosting up there

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with his wife Terri-Lynn.

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My father tells stories about in the old times

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when they traveled directly from Old Masset to Hydaburg,

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and they would take the boat.

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So there is a close connection

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between those two communities geographically.

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In the old days, paddling canoe would take about 17 hours,

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and all the ancient villagers, as the population dwindled,

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the survivors moved to a new location called Hydaburg.

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So Hydaburg is really made up of, um,

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I think about six villages.

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[birds calling]

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[dog barking]

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My father was born in Hydaburg, and so I think for him,

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it was a really big deal to co-host this event

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with Terri-Lynn in Hydaburg.

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And I think that a lot of people will think

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that it's sort of this big party,

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but really it served a huge purpose.

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And so a distinction is that when we have a potlatch,

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it's always for a specific purpose.

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So the difference, kind of, if we think about a feast,

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there are lots of different reasons

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why we might have a feast.

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But a potlatch, there are specific protocols,

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and I think one way to think about it

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is that it is an actual ceremony.

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We're gonna begin with an ancient song from Skidegate.

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It's the host welcome song to the house.

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You may then be seated. Thank you.

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And those attending have an important role.

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They witness the business that is conducted,

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and they can be called upon in the future

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to say that on this date,

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this certain business was conducted,

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and it was conducted right.

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And that is how our oral histories

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are carried on into the future is through the potlatch.

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And in that sense, it is a court.

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We will receive the dancers

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as they come into the building.

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Does that form a link in the...

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[wood scraping]

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I remember being at a Nuu-chah-nulth potlatch.

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A friend of mine was hosting it,

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and his uncle got up and spoke.

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He bellowed it out to the guests,

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"If anybody has anything wrong to say

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about what's happening tonight,

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I want you to say it here, not after you leave the hall."

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It happens to be here in our own home,

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and I'm just glad that the kids have continued...

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Potlatches are a place to bring out our history.

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They bring us back to certain time periods,

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certain moments in our history

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when we acquired the right to wear a certain crest.

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[group singing in Haida]

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They were either earned through warfare,

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or sometimes crests are claimed through an experience.

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For example, my dad's clan, the Yahgu'laanaas.

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The story is, from an Elder in Hydaburg,

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one day a person from the Yahgu'laanaas

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was down on the beach at low tide,

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and he was taking care of nature,

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is how she said it [laughs].

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[laughing]

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So, and when he was done, he could hear a sound,

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and it sounded like a chant.

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So he went to explore what it was,

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and then there was a shark in the last throes of its life,

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like it got caught in a outgoing tide.

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And he pushed it out to safety,

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and since then took it as their crest.

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[seabirds calling]

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[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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And so potlatches are a place

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to bring out those privileges.

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I like to use the word "privilege" instead of "right"

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because a privilege can be taken away.

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And so I personally may have a privilege

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to wear a certain crest, and my clan has those privileges,

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and I might be privileged

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to have responsibilities to certain areas.

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If I don't uphold those responsibilities,

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then I lose that privilege.

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It's very different from a right in Canadian society,

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where you purchase a right to own a certain property

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and that's your property to do whatever you want with it

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until the end of time.

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But our privileges carry with them responsibilities.

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They're not outright rights, but they're a responsibility

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to take care of the place.

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And that's where art becomes really important

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because it ties us back to the place,

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it ties us back to Haida Gwaii,

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and it ties us back to our responsibilities

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to take care of those islands.

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[peaceful ambient music]

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[seabirds calling]

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But on this date,

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this was a very different kind of potlatch.

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This wasn't a potlatch where someone

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brings out all of their rights and responsibilities

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and have people affirm that.

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Instead, it was a gifting to the community

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new privileges, the privilege to display

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certain crests on a dance screen.

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And so it's a very unusual and very unique kind of potlatch.

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[group cheering and applauding]

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There were a few clans from Hydaburg

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that there's no identification marker for that clan,

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so I decided to commit to giving a dance screen

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to each clan, and so the potlatch

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really gave meaning to that knowledge.

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[group cheering and applauding]

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I commissioned several artists to do the dance screens,

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Ben Davidson, Tyson Brown, Cori Savard,

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Reg Davidson, myself, TJ Young.

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Quite often in the old days, they gave out blankets,

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they gave out objects, but in this case

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the dance screen was the object.

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[group cheering and applauding]

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[ominous ambient music]

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Our history is that the Canadian government

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enacted the potlatch prohibition

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to keep us from assembling in large numbers

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so that we could then formulate broader strategies

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to bring forward the issue

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of Indigenous title and Haida title.

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They wanted to stop that, really that whole social cohesion

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that kept us together through the potlatch.

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[crow cooing]

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Because the potlatch ban began in the late 1800s,

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I had this sort of belief that it had sort of taken place

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a long time ago, and so as I was working on the book

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I had this moment where I realized

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that my father was alive during this potlatch ban.

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He was there as a boy.

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[ambient music]
[waves lapping]

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In the potlatch and feast experience,

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there was nothing.

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We weren't allowed to sing our songs.

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We weren't allowed to feast.

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We weren't allowed to potlatch.

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We weren't allowed to talk about our history.

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But that happened underground.

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It happened through weddings,
funerals, picnics.

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The feasts, or potlatches, survived

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because of people like my grandparents

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and their grandparents wanting to maintain our own identity.

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[truck engine rumbling]

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I had a couple in Hydaburg organize a meeting for me,

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and a group of about 20 people,

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the next generation, were at the meeting.

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And that excited me because this is all new for me.

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I don't know your system here,

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so I'm looking for guidance, but at the same time,

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it's a learning experience for all of us.

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[group applauding]

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We will be doing a dinner song

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that was composed by myself.

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It'd be a song that will be given

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to the Haida, Kaigani Haida.

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[group cheering and applauding]

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We are expected as Haida hosts to make sure

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that there's enough food for everybody to be completely fed,

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but also an abundance of food

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so that people have food to take home with them.

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One of the things that was really remarkable

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about this feast is the way the community

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came together to gather the food.

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[boat engine humming]

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[seabirds calling]

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[indistinct radio chatter]

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[pulleys rattling]

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[gentle ambient music]

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Having those fresh prawns was absolutely amazing,

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and what a tremendous demonstration

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of the wealth of the ocean in bringing those in.

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And they were danced in.

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[Robert singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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One of the things that happens as a result

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of the potlatch ban is that there are songs

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that are missing or songs that were lost as a result,

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and so then people will compose new songs.

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And so this was a newly composed song,

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and then it was used in this way to dance in the food.

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[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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[group cheering and applauding]

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[Haida Elder speaking in Haida]

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And so I think the speeches play a really important role

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in honoring that older tradition

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of transmitting and sharing information orally.

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And so we didn't use to write things down at a potlatch.

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We would have people speak and share that knowledge,

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and that's how people would learn their history.

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So if I attended, I might listen to my chief

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talk about the history of my clan,

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and that's how I would learn it.

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And at each potlatch, that would be shared,

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so I would learn the history of my clan.

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The clan is really important as a collective.

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We have hereditary chiefs, for example,

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but those chiefs don't have any power

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unless they have the support of their clan.

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And so having the clan up there, this is an opportunity

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for us to represent and show who we are

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because our identity is deeply, deeply linked to our clan.

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And so this is our way of sort of standing with our clan

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and also telling the community,

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"This is our clan. This is who we are."

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It is a proud day for us to be Haida.

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[all applauding]

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[group cheering]
[drums beating]

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The local nations are the Haida Nation,

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the Tlingit, and Tsimshian,

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and so those nations were all represented there

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with the different dance groups that came.

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There were lots of other people

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from different nations who were there.

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In a nation, there could be many, many dance groups.

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[group chanting]

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[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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[group applauding]

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[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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One of the things that was really neat for me

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is that my brother Ben Davidson was able to make it,

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and so he and his wife, Tawny,

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and his three youngest children were able to make it over.

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I think it's really important for the multiple generations

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to connect, also witnessing the dancing.

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I mean, my niece was there beside me

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when we were performing some of the dances,

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and it's really important for that

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to be passed on to other generations.

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[group cheering and applauding]

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A lot of the traditional songs

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are what people might call chants,

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and they become a medium to go into a different state

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where masks come out and the dancer becomes that being.

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And in order to become that being,

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they need to have the medium of the chant

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of the music to get there.

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And then the song then becomes a way for the audience

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to connect in that space of going to a different place.

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[transcendent ambient music]
[singing and drumming]

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[singers vocalizing]

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[music continues]

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Our history is recorded in art,

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and it's recorded in oral history,

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and art becomes a way to physically portray

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that history in potlatch.

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So it becomes a medium for conveying history

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both in song and dance

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but also just in the pieces themselves.

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Robert draws upon a very rich basis of knowledge

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of Haida culture, Haida oral histories and narratives,

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and portrays that history in the art that he creates.

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And so while the end result is beautiful images,

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it is really rich and deep with meaning

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for those who want to look a little further

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and understand what the pieces are conveying.

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I'm at this end.

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Even though an event is hosted by a person,

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it tends to be the family and the clan

280
00:19:11.130 --> 00:19:12.930
who host the potlatch.

281
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But I think about the people in charge of the food

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and I think about the people who were in charge

283
00:19:16.710 --> 00:19:18.510
of setting up the hall the night before,

284
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the cleaning up after,
the organizing to figure out

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00:19:22.770 --> 00:19:25.290
the logistics of raising the dance screens,

286
00:19:25.290 --> 00:19:28.530
and there were so many different roles

287
00:19:28.530 --> 00:19:29.670
that people had to play

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00:19:29.670 --> 00:19:32.040
and everybody kind of stepped up to it.

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00:19:32.040 --> 00:19:34.920
We have this maybe perception that it is one person,

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00:19:34.920 --> 00:19:38.460
but if I think about the event that took place in Hydaburg,

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00:19:38.460 --> 00:19:40.350
there were hundreds of people

292
00:19:40.350 --> 00:19:42.690
who played a role in that event,

293
00:19:42.690 --> 00:19:44.910
and if it had only been one or two people

294
00:19:44.910 --> 00:19:46.923
it would never have been able to happen.

295
00:19:48.865 --> 00:19:51.239
[loon calling]

296
00:19:51.239 --> 00:19:53.906
[seabirds calling]

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00:19:54.902 --> 00:19:56.783
[loon calling]

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I feel the potlatch will survive,

299
00:19:59.520 --> 00:20:04.520
and I feel there's enough people who value that system.

300
00:20:04.710 --> 00:20:06.259
The Kwakwaka'wakw, for example,

301
00:20:06.259 --> 00:20:08.310
are still very strong in that.

302
00:20:08.310 --> 00:20:10.560
It's getting very strong with the Haida,

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00:20:10.560 --> 00:20:14.640
and all other nations are taking that route.

304
00:20:14.640 --> 00:20:18.090
It's also a great place of cleansing.

305
00:20:18.090 --> 00:20:21.390
I always feel so clean after hosting an event.

306
00:20:21.390 --> 00:20:24.630
I feel enlightened, and maybe that's the inspiration

307
00:20:24.630 --> 00:20:28.290
to continually host potlatches.

308
00:20:28.290 --> 00:20:33.243
I feel I really enjoy bringing people together.

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00:20:34.819 --> 00:20:39.819
[group singing in Haida]
[drums beating]

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When I think about what we're doing

311
00:20:45.570 --> 00:20:47.700
and why it's so important for us to be there,

312
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it's because we now have this opportunity

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00:20:49.770 --> 00:20:53.850
to live our culture as opposed to just remember it.

314
00:20:53.850 --> 00:20:57.030
I had a moment when I was at that potlatch

315
00:20:57.030 --> 00:20:58.920
that was quite emotional for me.

316
00:20:58.920 --> 00:21:01.200
All of these dance groups were performing,

317
00:21:01.200 --> 00:21:05.370
and people were speaking Haida,
and I looked around me,

318
00:21:05.370 --> 00:21:09.066
and I thought, "We're living, we're living the culture."

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00:21:09.066 --> 00:21:10.359
[drums beating]

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00:21:10.359 --> 00:21:15.009
[group singing the Haida national anthem]

321
00:22:08.617 --> 00:22:13.617
[drums beating]
[group singing in Haida]