Gidansda Guujaaw

Haida president, activist and woodcarver
Gidansda Guujaaw
7th President of the Haida Nation
In office
January 20, 1999 – November 16, 2012
Vice PresidentHarold Yeltatzie
Preceded byRon Brown Jr
Succeeded byKil tlaats 'gaa (Peter Lantin)
In office
January 20, 1999 – January 20, 2003
Vice PresidentArnie Bellis
In office
January 20, 2004 – January 20, 2010
Vice PresidentXiihliikingang (April Churchill)
In office
January 20, 2011 – January 20, 2012
Personal details
BornGidansda Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw
(1953-01-01) January 1, 1953 (age 73)
Massett, Haida Gwaii
RelationsGwaai Edenshaw (son)
Residence(s)Skidegate, Haida Gwaii

Gidansda Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw, also known as Gary Edenshaw, (born 1953), is a Haida environmental and political activist and leader, singer, dancer and artist.[1] He is a hereditary chief of the Haida Nation of Haida Gwaii, in British Columbia, Canada, and was president of the Council of the Haida Nation for four terms, from 1999 to 2012.[2][3][4] He is a special advisor to the Coastal First Nations.[5] He has been called a "Haida icon" and "the Heartbeat of the Haida Nation".[3][6]

Family

Guujaaw is a Haida matrilineally descended from Gakyaals Kiiqawaay, a family of the Raven moiety from the village of Skedans (Ḵ'uuna).[7] He inherited the name Gidansda from his potlatch in 2017, the title of Gakyaals Kiiqawaay hereditary leader. The family's alternate name, "Skedans", is an anglicized mispronunciation of the family's hereditary leader's title.[8] Guujaaw was born in Masset, named G̱aaw in Haida, in the northern part of Haida Gwaii.[7] His father, Chiits Gitnaii, is matrilineally descended from the Eagle moiety from the Yakoun River. Guujaaw means drum; this was a name given to him at a potlatch.[1][7] Guujaaw learnt traditional dance, oral stories and canoeing from his great-grandmother and other Haida elders.[1][7]

Activism, craft and leadership

From the 1970s, Guujaaw worked to protect Gwaii Haanas from logging activity.[1][3] He was one of the leaders of the fight for the protection of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site (South Moresby) and took part in the blockades of logging operations at Lyell Island in the mid 1980s.[9] He has supported protection of the black bears of Haida Gwaii.[10] He influenced David Suzuki, who said "Guujaaw changed the way I viewed the world and sent me on a radically different course of environmentalism".[11]

Guujaaw participated in the revival of Haida songs and dances and traditional arts such as the building of canoes, longhouses and coppers.[9][7][12][13] He was an assistant to Haida wood carver Bill Reid.[7][12][14] He has made totem poles; one was commissioned by the Canadian government in 1997 as a gift to Indonesia.[7][14] A drum he made is in the Haida Gwaii Museum.[15]

Guujaaw was one of the founders of the Council of the Haida Nation in 1974.[16] He became president of the council in 1999.[4] The council filed one of the first Aboriginal Title Cases, and has moved Canadian Aboriginal law through the "Haida Taku" Case.[17] He has written for the council's publication, Haida Laas.[9] In June 2006, he was presented with the Buffett Award for Indigenous Leadership in recognition of his work for the political, cultural and environmental advancement of the Haida nation.[16][18] The same month he and a group of others from Haida participated in the First International Forum of United Indigenous Peoples, held in Pau, France.[19]

In December 2012, Guujaaw announced that he would not run again as president of the Council of the Haida Nation.[3] He stayed on the council as the Skidegate representative.[3] He is a special advisor to the Coastal First Nations.[5]

Media appearances

Guujaaw has appeared on Sesame Street with Haida child dancers, on the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation programme On The Road Again in 1991, and in a BBC documentary, Islands of the People, in 1986.[14][7]

Personal life

Guujaaw is married to Jenny Nelson, and they have children.[1] His son Gwaai Edenshaw is an artist and film director, and co-director of the first Haida-language feature-length film Edge of the Knife (SG̲aawaay Ḵʹuuna).[20]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e Shilling, Grant (6 October 2009). "All That We Say is Ours: Guujaaw and the Reawakening of the Haida Nation, by Ian Gill". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 8 August 2022. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  2. ^ "Chief Gidansda". Canada's National Observer. 3 December 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  3. ^ a b c d e "Innovative Haida leader Guujaaw steps aside". CBC. 11 December 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  4. ^ a b Susemihl, Geneviève (2023). Claiming Back Their Heritage: Indigenous Empowerment and Community Development through World Heritage. Springer Nature. p. 238. ISBN 978-3-031-40063-6. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  5. ^ a b "the Inaugural Great Bear Gala". Coastal First Nations. 25 October 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  6. ^ Kenny, Carolyn (5 October 2012). "Skilay: Portrait of a Haida Artist and Leader". In Kenny, Carolyn; Fraser, Tina Ngaroimata (eds.). Living Indigenous Leadership: Native Narratives on Building Strong Communities. UBC Press. p. 94. ISBN 978-0-7748-2349-4. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  7. ^ a b c d e f g h "Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw". QC Islands. Archived from the original on 7 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  8. ^ "Haida Gwaii: Skedans". Canadian Museum of History. Archived from the original on 10 November 2015. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  9. ^ a b c "BIOGRAPHY: GUUJAAW, PRESIDENT OF THE HAIDA NATION". Council of the Haida Nation. Archived from the original on 5 October 2011. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  10. ^ "Bear documentary airs Saturday". Haida Gwaii Observer. 5 November 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  11. ^ Suzuki, David (2009). David Suzuki: The Autobiography. Greystone Books. p. 117. ISBN 978-1-926685-13-7. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  12. ^ a b "The Haida Gwaii Singers". Haida Gwaii Singers Society. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  13. ^ Levell, Nicola (2021). Mischief Making: Michael Nicoll Yahgulanaas, Art, and the Seriousness of Play. UBC Press. p. 110. ISBN 978-0-7748-6737-5. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  14. ^ a b c Gill, Ian (2010). All That We Say Is Ours: Guujaaw and the Reawakening of the Haida Nation. D & M Publishers. p. 161. ISBN 978-1-926812-44-1. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  15. ^ Sinclair, Jesara (21 June 2014). "New Haida Gwaii Museum exhibit celebrates culture's revitalization". CBC. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  16. ^ a b Williams, Victoria R. (2020). Indigenous Peoples: An Encyclopedia of Culture, History, and Threats to Survival [4 volumes]. Bloomsbury Publishing USA. p. 419. ISBN 978-1-4408-6118-5. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  17. ^ "Haida Launch Aboriginal Title Case in BC Supreme Court". First Nations Drum. 2002. Archived from the original on 18 March 2006. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  18. ^ "2006 Ecotrust Awardee: Guujaaw". Ecotrust. 2006. Archived from the original on 7 October 2008. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  19. ^ "Haida 'front and centre' at indigenous people's conference". CBC. 19 June 2006. Archived from the original on 5 February 2007. Retrieved 17 October 2025.
  20. ^ Lederman, Marsha (22 June 2017). "On B.C.'s Haida Gwaii, history is being made with a film in a language very few people can speak". The Globe and Mail. Archived from the original on 23 June 2017. Retrieved 18 October 2025.

Further reading

  • Foreword by Guujaaw in Skidegate Haida Myths and Histories, by John R. Swanton and John Enrico (1995, r: Queen Charolotte Islands Museum Press)
  • Foreword by Guujaaw in Haida Gwaii: Human History and Environment from the Time of Loon to the Time of the Iron People, by Daryl W. Fedje and Rolf Mathewes (UBC Press, 2011)
  • Article, "The History and Building of Canoes", by Guujaaw in The Great Canoes: Reviving a Northwest Coast Tradition, by David Neel (1995, Douglas & McIntyre) ISBN 1-55054-185-4
  • The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed, by John Vaillant (2005, W. W. Norton & Co)
  • David Suzuki: The Autobiography, David Suzuki. Greystone Books. 2006.
  • All That We Say Is Ours: Guujaaw and the Reawakening of the Haida Nation, Ian Gill. 2009. (Shortlisted for BC Book Prize and nominated for the Roderick Haig-Brown Regional Prize)
  • Guujaaw is described in Paradise Won - The Struggle for South Moresby by Elizabeth May (1990, McCelland and Stewart)
  • Guujaaw is described in Keepers of the Totem, (1993, Time Life Books)
  • Raven Walks Around the World: Life of a Wandering Activist, by Thom Henley (2017, Harbour Publishing)
  • Islands' Spirit Rising: Reclaiming the Forests of Haida Gwaii, by Louise Takeda (2014, UBC Press)
  • Homepage
  • Transcript of episode of The Current, a CBC Radio programme from 9 September 2024, with Guujaaw and his son
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