Quadra Island

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Quadra Island
Waters Salish Sea
Archipelago Discovery Islands
Geographical location 50 ° 10 ′  N , 125 ° 14 ′  W Coordinates: 50 ° 10 ′  N , 125 ° 14 ′  W
Location of Quadra Island
surface 270 km²dep1
Residents 2472 without Indians (2006)

Quadra Island is an island that lies between Vancouver Island and mainland British Columbia in Canada . It is the largest of the Discovery Islands and is separated from Vancouver Island by the Discovery Passage and from neighboring Cortes Island by the Sutil Channel . The island can be reached (via Quathiaski Cove ) with a BC Ferries ferry from Campbell River .

population

In 2006, 2472 people lived on the island, 76 fewer than in 2001. Since the number of Indians , more precisely the Kwa 'Kwa' Ka 'Wa'Kw First Nation, who in turn belong to the Kwakwaka'wakw , is determined separately, it is not included in the population figures.

They are referred to as Cape Mudge by Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada and live on five reservations in the south of the island with a total area of ​​just over 660 hectares. These are Cape Mudge 10 (with an area of ​​444.6 hectares), Drew Harbor 9 ( 94 ha), Open Bay 8 (3.7 ha), Quinsam 12 (116.3 ha) and Village Bay 7 (4.5 ha).

In January 2010, the First Nation included exactly 935 recognized Indians, 336 of whom lived on their own reservations. In May 2011 there were already 976, of which 341 lived in the reserve, in April 2019 there were 1152 “Cape Mudge”, of which 337 were in their own reserve.

The island was named in 1903 by the Geographic Board of Canada after Juan Francisco de la Bodega y Quadra , who represented Spanish colonial interests at the end of the 18th century.

history

In 1792, the British George Vancouver was the first European to reach the region with his ships HMS Discovery and HMS Chatham . Vancouver met the southernmost of the Kwakwaka'wakw tribes, the Lekwiltok , in the region north of the island . On Quadra Island, the first contact took place at a place called Tsa-Kwa-Luten , which means 'meeting place'. Coastal Salish lived here until around 1841 . When in 1859 the HMS Plumper under Captain George Henry Richards mapped the islands, she was faced with a Kwakwaka'wakw group who had brought the area under their rule with European rifles. These were the We-Wai-Kai of Cape Mudge and the Wei-Wai-Kum of Campbell River, which ruled the islands. Then there were the Walatsama from Salmon River and the Kwiakah in the Philips arm.

Potlatch celebrations were banned from 1884 to 1951, some cultural objects were burned and many were forcibly sold. In 1921 Dan Crammer held a potlatch on Village Island. In 1922 Indian agent William Halliday threatened participants in the Crammer Potlatch with prison terms unless they delivered some of the cult items. The Lekwiltok from Quadra Island, but also the Mamalillikulla from Village Island and the Nimkish from Alert Bay agreed to this. Halliday collected items used at the dances, such as masks, and had them on display at Alert Bay Church. For $ 291 he sold 35 of these objects to the American collector George Heye. In doing so, however, he obtained a reprimand from his superiors because he had sold the valuable objects to the USA. 21 participants in the potlatch did not agree to the "deal" and were locked up in the Oakalla Prison in Burnaby . Twenty of them were sentenced to two months in prison and the Nimkish Charlie Hunt, who had attended a ceremony for the second time, received six months.

The Indian population was pushed into reservations, the children were subject to compulsory schooling, which meant that they were forced to stay in remote boarding schools , and were no longer allowed to use their mother tongue. Therefore, today only around 40, mostly older people, speak the original language, most of them only speak English.

education

Near the ferry dock is one of the settlements, Quathiaski Cove, and another at the Cortes Island ferry terminal in Heriot Bay. There is an elementary school , a kind of elementary school on the island, but the older students (grades 7 to 12) have to go to Campbell River to the École Phoenix Middle School or the Carihi Secondary School .

Museum and cultural center

The Kwagiulth Museum and Cultural Center , now the Nuyumbalees Cultural Center, was built in Cape Mudge . Nuyumbalees means beginning , which refers to the fact that the cultural treasures kidnapped by ethnologists and art dealers have been brought back here. This center was prepared by the Nuyumbalees Society founded by the Traditional Chief in 1975 . She negotiated with several museums, among them the National Museum of Man in Ottawa , the Royal Ontario Museum in Toronto and the National Museum of the American Indian in New York , the return of the ceremonial objects, especially those important for the potlatch . In addition there were the ceremonial items of the chiefs (regalia). After the establishment of the center and training in those responsible for its safekeeping, preservation and exhibition, the museum was opened in February 1979. After renovation work, it reopened in 2007.

Attractions

There are several regional and provincial parks on Quadra Island.

  • Blenkin Regional Park
  • Cape Mudge Light Station
  • Main Lake Provincial Park
  • Octopus Islands Provincial Marine Park
  • Rebecca Spit Provincial Park
  • Small Inlet Provincial Marine Park
  • Surge Narrows Provincial Marine Park

literature

  • Jeanette Taylor: Tidal Passages: A History of the Discovery Islands , Harbor Pub Co. 2009, ISBN 978-1550174601 .

Web links

Remarks

  1. ^ The Atlas of Canada. Sea Islands. Natural Resources Canada, archived from the original on January 22, 2013 ; accessed on September 28, 2015 .
  2. ↑ Cape Mudge. In: Indigenous and Northern Affairs Canada . Retrieved May 8, 2019 .
  3. ^ Andrew Scott: The Encyclopedia Of Raincoast Places Names: A Complete Reference to Coastal British Columbia . Habour Publishing, Madeira Park (BC) 2009, ISBN 978-1-55017-484-7 , pp. 483 (English).
  4. ↑ Ronald W. Hawker: Tales of Ghosts: First Nations Art in British Columbia, 1922-61 , University of British Columbia Press 2003, p. 183.
  5. ^ Quadra Island