HAIDA GWAII - Islands of the People (1990 documentary film)

Produced by the BBC in 1990
Director and Cinematographer: Jeff Goodman
Series Producer: Mike Salisbury
Narrator: May Russ
Featuring: Guujaaw and Jaalen Edenshaw
NOTE: This film my favourite one about Haida Gwaii because it captures the feeling of the place. Made in 1990, it was way ahead of its time in that it presents Haida Gwaii from the perspective of the Haida (and features primarily Haida people in the film). Kudos to Jeff Goodman, the British filmmaker, for going to battle with the BBC brass in order to have the story told this way. Guujaaw had a pivotal role in how the film was directed; he was Jeff Goodman's main collaborator.

[@Akraven5235]

Loved this!

[@momolly03]

Some touching sentences of this beautiful documentary: "The lesson of Haida culture is that mankind can live and prosper on the earth without having to screw it up." "There can be harmony between human beings and the natural world." "Technology today has changed our lives and attitudes within the world around us, but technology today does not reflect wisdom or intelligence."

[@kirandeepkaur3736]

thanks for the posting. Hope to see more videos like this.

[@mosesstewart7445]

I appreciate the sharing of your heart and the true nature of your culture. be strong in your heart of your beliefs. So amazing.

[@raddadray7535]

Thank you to this narrator for her great narration of the Haida people.I’m from the south coast of BC and always have an appreciation for First Nation culture.Praises.

[@rosebudadkins6803]

Seeing the destruction of the majestic tree people hurt. My heart cried. They give so much and are not thanked. My tree people are gorgeous. They give great advice and have names. When did you last spend time with them? Ask their name and they will tell you. Yes, they have names!

[@QueenYak]

What a treasure this video is. Thank you for posting.

[@brarab1981]

Sheila

[@MelodyJacksonPatterson1975]

Amen

[@jasonzhang3797]

This is a great video with beatiful stories, videos and cultrual inthoduction.

[@trudychatwin1840]

Great to see Guujaaw and Jaalen on such a journey!

[@MelodyJacksonPatterson1975]

I learned about this nation in my Sunday School class. Wow I had no idea

[@healthdoc100]

I live in NY, USA , and never knew about this area before seeing your research in this documentary. Thank you for being peace, beauty and love into our lives today with this film . ❤️❤️❤️🙏🙏🙏

[@simonc61]

Thanks for posting. I worked on this film (sound) and only saw it on TV on release, haven't seen it since. Just the most amazing experience spending 8 months there.

[@jeffreygibbs]

Glad you were able to see it again here. You and the crew did an incredible job in creating this film. It still is my favourite documentary film about Haida Gwaii.

[@simonc61]

@@jeffreygibbs thanks. It was actually only Jeff and myself but we spent loads of time with Guujaaw, and also Terry and Charlotte Husband, not to mention a host of amazing plane and helicopter pilots, fishermen and numerous other people. Interesting story, when we were there Mike Salisbury, the producer, visited for two weeks with his young children. Ben, his son later went onto become a composer, not surprisingly working on BBC natural history films. He also did the very atmospheric scores for the film Ex- Machina and the TV series Devs.

[@jeffreygibbs]

@@simonc61 You had an incredible experience. Thanks for sharing. I hope you make it back to Haida Gwaii one day. Great to hear about Ben Salisbury too; I love his film score work. The Ex Machina score was incredible.

[@biggiedabzz]

My great great great grandma came from haida gwaii on a war canoe to sooke in Victoria back a long time ago

[@TheMommylupul]

This is beautiful. So, so sad what could have been 🫶🏻

[@elizabethflynn8455]

Thank you for posting this.

[@christineveazey4345]

Thank you.

[@stukawaffe8882]

I had quite a nice time watching this, sad too see the shortage of valuable salmon now days now

[@sidheksingh1599]

was very helpful thank youuuuuuu

[@CaraRama]

Beautiful ❤

[@dietrichdietrich7763]

this was boring (making me fall asleep)

[@tk23westerners89]

I have learned to live with nature in every corner of BC and the Yukon Everywhere but Haida. Before I move on I would like to experience

[@odettehobbis3874]

"the battle is won, not the war" "in their system, commercial enterprise takes priority over the wellbeing of the environment". Gujaaw on 'Rediscovery' camps: "There's no better setting to learn about nature and culture, it's interesting the whole different light in which you see each other. Most interesting is the perspective you get on yourself; especially for the kids who haven't been outside the trappings of civilization".

[@elisaramirez4788]

Thank you

[@meganrique1901]

Home!!!!

[@stuartross2908]

What a place !

[@odettehobbis3874]

Gujaaw Chief of the Haida Nation: "The Haida Culture is built upon an intimate relationship and oneness with the land and seas. Civilization it seems is a concept that measures how far people can be removed from the natural world; how different we can portray ourselves from other members of the animal kingdom. This deliberate trend has brought us to the environmental crisis of the world today." Elon Musk on love: "Mars projects are a love for Civilization". "Tesla is a love for the Environment". Can anyone spot the contradictions? Which one is not like the other?

[@odettehobbis3874]

This is a much better way to teach ecology (from a cultural perspective).

[@anonymousanonymous6735]

Do the Canadian Haida consider the Alaskan Haida the same people? Why or why not? I'm from Alaska but I am not Haida. I'm just curious! I'm from Juneau, our state capital

[@ava-bethwilliams4596]

We are the same nation just on different sides of the boarder

[@odettehobbis3874]

"Todays problems aren't of the ability of the Earth to provide, it is that we are demanding too much riches and energy for ourselves. The lesson of Haida culture is that man"kind" can live on Earth and prosper without having to screw it up". Gujaaw "Technology has changed our lives and attitudes within the world around us, but technology today does not reflect wisdom or intelligence".

[@odettehobbis3874]

23:50 "you never know who you are going to meet in the forest" Bill; a mad artist woman or man ("go and get mad and see what you find"). Tricky joker ravens. Cheers

[@lalani888blue]

💜💌

[@sidheksingh1599]

hey! why they cut sooooo many treeeeees!!!!

[@VortekXtiik]

Unfortunately Haida gwaii is about as west as you can get, making it prime place for government influence to come in and exploit natural resources, you can cut trees and float them straight to Asian markets. There has been a history of protest from the Haida, at Lyle island in 1985 there was a anti-logging protest, resulting in 72 arrests by the RCMP, but in the end, the Haidas won and culminated in the creation of Gwaii Haanas National park, which protects a large portion of the island from logging and destruction of cultural sites.

[@elaineflohr9145]

Makes me cringe. How sad is our society! Loved to hear about these islands. Love from Australia❤️

[@safeysmith6720]

Hey. I’m just trying to find something about Haida history, their expansion and interaction with the other indigenous nations and so on. There is nothing to be found in this?

[@safeysmith6720]

Ok well I wrote this before watching the documentary. It’s pretty good! I find the Haida to be a very interesting people!

[@AnasHanno]

art class go brrrrrrrrrr

[@gilbertsinister5252]

social studies go brrrrrrrrrr

[@MrOozieNelson]

Anthropology class go brrrrrrr

[@rhynnal9051]

Linguistics studies go brrr

[@baljeetkaurna7827]

why killing fish