2021 Update:

The construction stage of the Little Big House project is now complete!
Together we raised $26,384 in donations and built an amazing tiny home.

Thank you so everyone who helped support this important project!

The next stage is to install the Little Big House at Hiladi Village, along with a smokehouse and an outhouse. We are gathering a team to have this completed by the summer!

HELP US RETURN TO OUR LAND

What: We built a Little Big House to support the Matriarch Camp and Ma’amtagila Land Rematriation Project! The build started during Fall 2019, on the UVic campus in Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ territories. Our organizing team is made up by Indigenous and Settler students and community members who have come together to make the build happen.

Why: The construction of the Little Big House is part of an assertion of Indigenous sovereignty spear-headed by Ma’amtagila matriarch Tsastilqualus Ambers Umbas, 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, “the place to make things right,” to affirm their Indigenous title and rights and uphold hereditary systems of governance. The portable Little Big House will enable Tsastilqualus, her son Dakota, their kin, and other Indigenous people to spend time on the land and water. In the process, the Little Big House will help to 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. However, Ma’amtagila and Kwakwaka'wakw territories and people are also facing the impacts of historical and ongoing colonial violence. The Little Big House will facilitate anti-colonial resistance efforts by serving as a base of operations for the Wild Salmon Matriarch Camp, who witness and document industrial activity and initiate campaigns to oppose unsustainable logging and fish farming practices that threaten the health and well-being of all life on Ma’amtagila territory. The Little Big House will support Ma’amtagila people as they uphold their responsibilities and make things right.

Where: The build took place at the University of Victoria, which occupies the territories of the Lekwungen and W̱SÁNEĆ peoples. We are grateful to be living and learning on these lands. An integral part of this project includes raising consciousness amongst UVic students and community members that our campus and this city are not exempt from the processes of settler colonialism. Whether it be Mystic Vale or the river valleys of Ma’amtagila territory, Cadboro Bay or the Johnstone Strait, the imperatives of Indigenous land reclamation and rematriation affect us all. We are still learning ourselves, and hope to hold workshops and events throughout the build that not only deepen understanding but also build coalitions and inspire anti-colonial action in solidarity with Indigenous peoples locally and abroad.

For more information or to get involved:

• Join the Matriarch Camp Facebook Group

• Get in touch: LittleBigHouseUVic@gmail.com