Hiladi Village

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About Hiladi Village

Hiladi Village, or “the place to make things right,” is a Ma’amtagila (Kwakwaka'wakw) Land Rematriation Project. This page is a hub for updates and support opportunities, but you can also follow the Matriarch Camp page and Hiladi Village on Twitter.

Hiladi IR3 is a Ma’amtagila rezerve under the Matilpi band. It was established by the Hamata̱m namima after etsiken "got full." The Matilpi band amalgamated with the ławitsis which was then called the Turnour Island band. This amalgamation (around late 1800s) was prompted by the Indian agents who promised infrastructure including generator and school, promises that went unfulfilled when the government misspend money that was meant for the people. When the Turnour Island band went broke, the children were taken to St. Micheal’s residential school (Alert Bay) and the area was abandoned. According to the colonial Canadian government, the Ma’amtagila are legally extinct - but the people are still here, and they are reestablishing their presence upon the lands and waters that their ancestors have cared for since time immemorial.

Present-day Hiladi Village is an assertion of Indigenous sovereignty spear-headed by Ma’amtagila matriarch Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas and her son Makwala, in coordination with broader Kwakwaka'wakw hereditary leadership. The Ma’amtagila are a nation within the Kwakwaka'wakw, or the people who speak Kwak̓wala. Tsastilqualus and other members of the Matriarch Camp intend to return home to their lands and waters near Hiladi to affirm their Indigenous title and rights and uphold hereditary systems of governance. Hiladi Village is where Tsastilqualus, Makwala, their kin, relatives, and allies use as a base from which to spend time with the lands and waters. There, they reinvigorate land-based cultural and spiritual practices, strengthen matriarchal decision-making practices that are integral to Kwakwaka'wakw governance, increase access to traditional foods and medicines, and (re)produce and share knowledge with younger generations. Hiladi Village also serves as a base of operations for the Wild Salmon Matriarch Camp, which resists the impacts of historical and ongoing colonial violence. Hiladi and the Matriarch Camp witness and document industrial activity and initiate campaigns to oppose unsustainable logging and fish farming practices. These resource extraction companies threaten the health and well-being of all life on Ma’amtagila territory. By reclaiming and returning to the lands and waters, Ma’amtagila are uphold their responsibilities to the land and their other-than-human relatives.

In Fall 2019 on Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories, UVic students and community members built a Little Big House, which is infrastructure for the Matriarch Camp at Hiladi Village. This page began with the build, an event that was just one point in a long history of Kwakwaka'wakw sovereignty and resistance that continue to this day. Stay tuned for more ways to get involved and support the ongoing efforts of Hiladi Village!

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