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Canada's remote islands are betway finereclaiming their future1 August 2025ShareSaveDiane SelkirkShareSaveDiane SelkirkGuided by Haida custodians and powered by ancestral knowledge, travellers are discovering a deeper, more respectful way to explore this remote Canadian archipelago.Looking up at the weathered figures carved into a memorial pole in SG?ang Gwaay Llnagaay – an ancient First Nations village on a remote island in Canada's Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve – a young woman from the Haida Gwaii Watchmen programme explained how she had recently identified one of her own family crests etched into the centuries-old totem pole. It was her second summer in this haunting place of teetering poles and collapsed homes. She'd turned down a job 700km south in Vancouver to return to Haida Gwaii, choosing instead to care for this small piece of her ancestral homeland.She then led us along a shell-lined path into the moss-draped forest as the call of a raven echoed through the trees. At the remains of one of the village's longhouses, she pointed out a massive wooden beam and described how her ancestors once split planks like this from living trees using stone wedges – ingenious engineering rooted in a deep relationship with the land.As we stood in the soft mist where rainforest meets sea, I let the atmosphere settle over me. I'd visited Haida Gwaii before, but this time felt different. This wild, wave-battered archipelago – stretching 250km and made up of more than 200 islands off the northern coast of British Columbia – has been home to the Haida since time immemorial. Today, about 5,000 Haida citizens live across Canada and the US, with roughly half residing on Haida Gwaii, primarily in the northern communities of G?aw (Old Massett) and HlG?aagilda (Skidegate).Though colonisation once disrupted their rights and connection to these islands, the Haida – one of more than 200 distinct First Nations in British Columbia – have spent decades painstakingly reclaiming both. Now, that generations-long effort is culminating in two landmark agreements: Gaayhllxid / Gíihlagalgang ("Rising Tide"), signed with the province in April 2024; and Chiix?uujin / Chaaw K?aawgaa ("Big Tide, Low Water"), signed with the federal government in December. Together, they mark a formal transition to Haida-led governance that's rooted in ancestral laws, cultural values and a deep responsibility to care for the land and waters of Haida Gwaii.Diane SelkirkThe Gwaii Haanas Legacy Pole was raised in 2013 for the 20th anniversary of the Gwaii Haanas agreement between the Haida Nation and the Canadian government (Credit: Diane Selkirk)For the Haida Nation, the agreements signal the reclamation of decision-making authority, stewardship and economic opportunity. For travellers, they represent a shift toward deeper, more meaningful engagement with the people and culture – whether that's sailing through the wilderness of Gwaii Haanas or visiting the culturally rich Haida communities in the north. Often called "the Galapagos of the North" for its biodiversity and remoteness, Haida Gwaii offers rare opportunities for eco-adventures, cultural immersion and Indigenous-led experiences rooted in traditional knowledge and a commitment to respectful, low-impact tourism.Deep within this wilderness, SG?ang Gwaay Llnagaay is among the most powerful places to connect with Haida history. Only Haida Watchmen live here today, guarding the carved mortuary and memorial poles and serving as stewards and storytellers. While this Unesco World Heritage site is just one of many protected cultural sites on Haida Gwaii, it's a place many visitors make a point to see: a place of learning and a reminder of what endures.The best of 2025Haida Gwaii was named one of BBC Travel's 25 best places to visit in 2025, a list highlighting destinations that are not only welcoming visitors, but using tourism as a force for good. See the full list here.Gwaii Haanas park rules – including controlled visitor numbers, advance reservations and a mandatory orientation – meant I was one of just 12 visitors that morning. The quiet made the long-abandoned village feel intimate, almost meditative. But the site was far from empty. An archaeological team made up of Haida experts, Parks Canada staff and students was carefully sifting through layers of history from two longhouse depressions recently exposed by a fierce windstorm.In the past, archaeologists and other outsiders controlled sites like this, often working without consent, cultural context or an understanding of Haida law. Today, it's the Haida who lead, deciding how their history is shared and adding to both the scientific record and the living oral knowledge of the land.Diane SelkirkThere were once between 25 and 40 longhouses in the village of T'aanuu Llnagaay. Today only the mossy outlines remain (Credit: Diane Selkirk)I first visited SG?ang Gwaay in the mid-1990s, not long after it became part of the newly designated Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. Back then, the Watchman programme, which was founded by Haida leader Captain Gold in the mid-1980s to protect sacred sites from looting and to revitalise cultural stewardship, was still finding its footing. The older, lone Watchman who greeted my husband and I on that visit spoke wistfully of the village in the time of his great-great grandparents: elders teaching young people; children playing beneath painted poles; canoes lining the beach.Plan your trip:Getting there: Daily non-stop flights from Vancouver to Sandspit or Masset or a six- to eight-hour ferry journey from Prince Rupert to Skidegate Landing. Book early; transportation is limited, especially in summer.Permits & Orientation: Access to Gwaii Haanas requires advance reservations and mandatory orientation. Some tour operators include this step.What to do: Licensed operators offer motorboat day trips, multi-day sailing, kayak adventures and floatplane access. Book multi-day cultural and eco-adventure packages through Haida Tourism. Visit the Haida Heritage Centre in Skidegate at ?ay Llnagaay.Where to stay: Booking ahead is essential in Daajing Giids, Sandspit, Masset and Tlell. You'll find eco?lodges, B&Bs, cabins and hotels through Indigenous Tourism BC.By then, the last of those poles leaned with rot and age. SG?ang Gwaay was largely abandoned in the late 1800s after waves of introduced diseases – smallpox, measles, tuberculosis – reduced a thriving Haida population of 20,000-30,000 to fewer than 600. Survivors were forced to relocate north, gathering in the villages of G?aw and HlG?aagilda."Someday soon the final poles will fall and their spirits will return to the earth," the Watchman told us. When that happened, he said, not even their echoes would remain.And yet, even then, there were signs of resurgence. Pausing at a mortuary pole, he spoke of young carvers reviving old skills and children learning Xaad Kil, the Haida language. His words hinted at a change already taking root. "Someday," he said, "maybe people will know this is our land."According to both oral history and science, the Haida have lived here for at least 14,000 years. As the glaciers of the last Ice Age retreated, the ocean rose some 150m, stranding the people on the newly detached islands. Their stories speak of a great flood in the time before trees – of survival, separation from the mainland and life shaped by the sea. Over time, the forests regrew, food sources shifted and the Haida adapted by cultivating clam beds and rainforest gardens and becoming master seafarers.Diane SelkirkHaida Gwaii is home to a wide variety of marine life as well as several endemic species (Credit: Diane Selkirk)They were forced to adapt again when European traders arrived in the 1700s and the hunt for sea otter pelts led to cascading destruction: the otters vanished, sea urchins multiplied and kelp forests disappeared. But nothing tested their resilience like the cultural genocide that came with colonisation. Cultural practices were outlawed and children were taken to residential schools."For a long time, we kept our culture to ourselves and just held on," said James Cowpar co-owner of Haida Style Expeditions. Raised with his twin brother Shawn in Daajing Giids, a town roughly 170km north of SG?ang Gwaay, the boys grew up during an era when resource-rich Haida Gwaii was heavily exploited. "The 1970s, '80s and early '90s were boom and bust. Even tourism was take, take, take," Cowpar said, recalling how each season thousands of international anglers flew into the archipelago's isolated lodges, caught tens of thousands of fish and then left – never learning about his people or their culture.The crisis boiled over in 1985, when Haida Elders clad in ceremonial button blankets stood on the logging roads of Lyell Island and blockaded further clear-cutting of the forest that would become Gwaii Haanas. Setting off what became the War in the Woods, the protest was a turning point – not just for Haida Gwaii, but for Canada – in environmental policy, Indigenous rights and reconciliation.More like this:? The protectors of Canada's sacred islands? An underwater mystery on Canada's coast? Canada's remote (but accessible) dark-sky sanctuaryChange didn't happen overnight, however. As Haida leaders negotiated those early agreements, gaining more say in decisions about their people and land, early allies – tour companies like Maple Leaf Adventures – stepped in to support the Nation's efforts. They helped shape a Code of Conduct for tour operators and began to shift visitor expectations by hiring Haida ambassadors and weaving place and culture into every journey.Diane SelkirkThe hot pools on Gandll K'in Gwaay.yaay (Hotspring Island) are a favourite with visitors (Credit: Diane Selkirk)"We work with the Haida," said Maple Leaf co-owner Maureen Gordon, whose small-ship voyages have made respectful passages through the archipelago since 1987. "It makes the trips richer for our guests, but more importantly, it contributes to the Haida Gwaii economy and ensures Haida are the ones sharing their stories – on their terms."When the Cowpar brothers launched their own tours in 2000, they became one of Haida Gwaii's first Indigenous-owned-and-operated tourism companies. Their goal was to build on the vision of their Elders and allies by taking visitors deep into their territory and sharing ancestral stories."When you visit, you'll see the beauty," said Cowpar. "But you'll also learn about our language, our values and our struggles as a people. We're the stewards of these lands – but for too long, we had no role in their management. Today visitors can choose from more than a dozen Haida-owned businesses."How to visit respectfully:? Take the Gwaii Haanas orientation and sign the Haida Gwaii Pledge? Camp, walk, drive and park only in permitted areas.? Keep a safe distance from wildlife.? Respect that some places/events are closed to the public.? Ask permission before taking photos of people or culturally sensitive sites.Back in Gwaii Haanas, I said goodbye to the young Watchman. My trip had included village stops, a soak at Hot Springs Island, beach walks, bird spotting and quiet reflection. Now I was headed to Hlk'yah G?awG?a (Windy Bay) on Lyell Island – but taan, North America's largest subspecies of black bear and one of Haida Gwaii's many endemic species, was blocking the path, flipping huge rocks in search of crab."Yahguudang," I said – using the Haida word for "respect" to ask taan to let us cross the beach. "Gina 'waadluxan gud ad kwaagid [everything depends on everything else]," I tried, depending on him to move. The bear glanced at me and then ambled into the forest.Stepping ashore, I followed the trail toward the Gwaii Haanas Legacy Pole. Raised on Lyell Island in 2013, it marks the 20th anniversary of that first conservation agreement between the Haida Nation and the Government of Canada. As the first pole raised in Gwaii Haanas in more than 130 years, it also bridges time, connecting the ancient poles in SG?ang Gwaay Llnagaay with a future rooted in Haida law, language and leadership. With the new agreements, that future is finally underway."We're taught we don't own the land," Cowpar said. "The land owns us. And we've seen what happens when too much is taken and giid tlljuus (balance) is lost."--If you liked this story, sign up for The Essential List newsletter – a handpicked selection of features, videos and can't-miss news, delivered to your inbox twice a week. For more Travel stories from the BBC, follow us on Facebook and Instagram. IslandRemote PlacesCultural TraditionsIndigenous cultureFeatures
