As Gitga'at First Nation people we continue to practice our culture, language, resource management, and governance consistent with the ways we have for generations. Despite colonial pressures, we still feast, and we still use and teach our language. These are some of the ways we show the strength of our culture and traditions. Our Adaawx (stories) remind us of our cultural foundation and our responsibilities to each other, to our territory, and to our land and marine resources. The Adaaxw give us direction and hold us together as a Nation by weaving together stories of our relationship with all of nature in our territory. Our stories inform our actions as stewards and caretakers of our territory. Our stories speak to our strength. From this place of strength, Gitga'at First Nation invites true reconciliation with the Crown and other Canadians. For us, this starts with an inherent and constitutionally protected right to practice and protect our culture, language, our lands and waters and every living thing in the territory that depends on a healthy environment – including us. This means the right to a strong voice in managing our natural resources, with their long-term health at the forefront of our decisions. It is with this strength that we approach Treaty negotiations. Taken together, this means we have the right set our course in a way that reflects our traditional values in a modern context. Strong and proud then. Strong and proud now. Our strength lives here as well.
