We are the Ma'Amtagila.

click to read press releases:

November 2022

A Journey Home

In November a group of Ma'a̱mtagila leaders met with and took five University of Victoria students on a boat tour of Ma'a̱mtagila territory. Along with fourth-year Indigenous Law School students Mercedes, Dustin, Taryn, Shelby, and Laura, we boarded the Miss Chief and Captain Allan Souch (tour guide for Nawalakw Education Society) took us out on the water.

Our trip was powerful. We were filled with many stories about Ma'a̱mtagila territory from our elder chiefs Iḵaweg̱ilaḵw Nelson Bruce and Dła̱sudis Nala Billy Peters, whose rich historical knowledge of the territory spans many decades. Their accounting of our history is a great gift that we will work hard to capture and preserve. We were also accompanied by Chiefs Ha̱mdzidag̱a̱me' Siwis' Andrew Wadhams and Brian Wadhams — both brought a rich knowledge of our people and culture.

The visit brought Ha̱mdzidag̱a̱me' Siwis' to Xux̱wxux̱w'gwa̱di, the origin of his Hamatsa position. This is what he had to say about the experience:

This Hamatsa was placed on me in our Ma'a̱mtagila Potlatch in 2017, when our 4 chiefs placed the neck ring on me. It was explained by our speakers about what was just witnessed: the Placing of both my Papa's Hamatsa, & Chieftainship that was placed on my dad, was now placed on me.

When I was a little boy until the last time on our territories with my Dad, he made spoke to these stories & places that connect us to our Land & Treasures. It brought so much strength to be back reconnected to our Land & villages.

It was incredible to see our land — the place where our families were built, where we and the Tlowitsis came up together. We thrived there, and we would still be there today if it weren’t for the disease and residential schools that stole us away.

We had hoped to host a community gathering to bring some of our people together to meet the students, but had to postpone due to a death in the community. We will be working on rescheduling for 2023.

Gilakas’la to all who had a hand in making this happen: Seneca Ambers, our amazing team of students, our leadership, Allen, Kodi & Nawalakw for the transportation.