Alert Bay » History

The village of Alert Bay on Cormorant Island has an aura that seems both mythical and ancient.  Its old fishing settlement makes it fascinating but its the blending with the prevelent First Nations community and traditions that makes the magic. in the community.  

The history of Alert Bay begins with the First Nations people, who have lived on these lands for thousand of years. The oldest community in North Vancouver Island, the fishing community has been the traditional home of the ‘Namgis First Nation for thousands of years. The ‘Namgis, as do all Nations, have their own creation stories, which go back to the beginning of time.

Alert Bay became an important trading centre for early residents of the area after first contact by Europeans in 1778 when explorers entered the waters surrounding the island.

Since European settlement the Kwak'wala speaking tribes have been known as the Kwakkewlths by Indian Affairs or as the Kwakiutl by anthropologists. However, they are the Kwakwaka'wakw, the Kwak’wala Speaking People, but who live in different places and have different names for their separate groups. Some of the tribes of the Kwakwaka'wakw have disappeared and died out, while others amalgamated into groups leaving villages that have been abandoned for years.

Since time beyond recollection, the Kwakwaka'wakw expressed their "joy" through the potlatch. The word Potlatch means "to give" and came to designate a ceremony common to peoples on the northwest coast and parts of the interior of BC. For some years the potlatch went “underground” to evade prosecution under the oppressive law of the day.

A potlatch was a public feast at which events of social importance were proclaimed and validated when one moved up in rank. The ascension of a new chief, rites of passage (when a girl reached marriageable age; a boy came of age; a new career; unusual success; birthdays; death), for services rendered (helping raise a house or build a canoe), and as face-saving devices were celebrated through the potlatch.

Potlatching took many forms, varied considerably from group to group, but most lasted several days and involved singing, dancing, dramatic presentations, games, and feasting. The hosts invited entire villages and spent months, sometimes years, preparing for the potlatch - amassing the necessary food stuffs to feed their guests and acquiring the gifts that would be given to their guests.

Potlatches were a way of redistributing the community's wealth, everyone in the community came and everyone got food, blankets, and equipment, and had an enjoyable time they could not have afforded on their own. The giver's kin group expressed its solidarity by helping with preparations and acting as co-hosts, and shared in the glory and esteem of giving a great potlatch.

Although there was no immediate opposition to the potlatch at the time of initial contact with the white man, such opposition began to grow with the coming of the missionaries and government agents. Frustration over unsuccessful attempts to “civilize” the people of the potlatch led officials, teachers and missionaries to pressure the federal government into enacting legislation prohibiting the ceremonies. The first version of the law was passed in 1884, but was difficult to enforce because of the vagueness of its wording. The law was then revised following a large potlatch held in December 1921. Forty-five people were charged under Section 149 of the Indian Act. Of those convicted of offences including making speeches, dancing, arranging articles to be given away and carrying gifts to recipients, twenty-two people were given suspended sentences. The sentencing was based on the illegal agreement that, if entire tribes gave up their potlatch paraphernalia, individual members of those tribes who had been found guilty would have their sentences suspended. Twenty men and women were sent to Okalla prison to serve sentences of two months for first offenders and three months for second offenders and three were remanded.

The ceremonial gear, including coppers, masks, rattles and whistles, was gathered up by William Halliday, the Indian Agent in Alert Bay, who had been largely responsible for the mass arrest. Inventoried and crated, the artifacts were sent to Ottawa and divided between the Victoria Memorial Museum and the Royal Ontario Museum. Some objects were set aside for the personal collection of Duncan Campbell Scott, then superintendent General of Indian Affairs and a private collector in New York had been sent thirty objects, before the material left Alert Bay. For some years the Potlatch went “underground to evade further persecution under the law.

The anti-potlatch law was deleted when the Indian Act was revised in 1951. Since 1921, those who had lost their treasures had not forgotten their loss. The effort to have the ceremonial objects returned started in the 1960’s and a few years later the National Museum of Man returned part of the potlatch collection with conditions. In 1980 the construction of the U’mista Cultural Centre was completed and received approximately half of the objects returned.

The negotiations with the National Museum of the American Indian progressed slowly until it was merged with the Smithsonian Institution and since then nine of the original 33 pieces sold to Mr. George Heye have come home.

Negotiations continue for the remaining 24 artifacts. The last remaining artifact (a transformation mask NMAI catalogue number 11/5224) was transferred November 16, 1936 to the Cranmore Ethnographical Museum in Chislehurst, Kent, England. From there it was transferred to its current location, the British Museum.

In July of 2000 the National Museum of the American Indian, Smithsonian Institute Board of Trustees agreed to return another sixteen pieces from the Potlatch Collection still in New York. They are scheduled for return in April 2001.

However, there are an undetermined number of objects whose whereabouts are unknown. The U'mista Cultural Society will continue to seek the repatriation of those objects when they are located.

In earlier days, people were sometimes taken by raiding parties. When they returned to their homes, either through payment of ransom or by retaliatory raid, they were said to have ‘U'mista". The return of the Kwakawaka’wakw treasures from distant museums is a form of u'mista.

The island is now home to a diverse population of 1500 people, comprised of the Village of Alert Bay, the 'Namgis First Nation and Whe-la-la-u and Area Council, who together share a unique cultural environment.