Waxvwuisaxv (Heiltsuk: W̓áxv:w̓uísax̌v) is the unceded traditional territory, jurisdiction and country of the Heiltsuk nation. It is also called Haíɫzaqv W̓áwís and Heiltsuk Country. Waxvwuisaxv includes "the land, the submerged land, the surface water, the groundwater, the ocean, the sub-surface[, ]the air space" and over 17,000 square kilometres of territorial waters. Waxvwuisaxv also includes the Heiltsuk's relationship with their territory, with Waxvwuisaxv sometimes being translated as, .
Biogeography
Waxvwuisaxv is part of Cascadia and encompasses 35,553 square kilometres of inlets, islands and mountains. It flanks the central Inside Passage, from Calvert Island in the south to Milbanke Sound in the north, inland as far as Kimsquit and expanding for miles into the Pacific Ocean. The country is famous for being part of the Great Bear Rainforest, which sustains much of the Earth's remaining coastal temperate rainforests and wild salmon stocks. The forest is dominated by old growth western red cedar and Sitka spruce trees. The rainforest has a population of grizzly bears and the only known population of religiously important spirit bears. Due to logging by the Canadian government, a supermajority of the old growth trees of Waxvwuisaxv have been cut.
Bears are an important part of the cultural and religious geography of Waxvwuisaxv and are part of many Heiltsuk songs, dances and lineage crests. Grizzly bears regularly travel between the human and spirit worlds and can even transform into humans.
In the coastal waters of Waxvwuisaxv are vast kelp forests. In spring, schools of herring (called wán̓ái by the Heiltsuk) come from the Pacific Ocean into the Inside Passage to lay their eggs on the kelp, sea grasses and tree branches of the shallow waters for protection. The Heiltsuk have long harvested the herring for food and it is an important food both culturally and politically. According to their religion, the herring were brought to Waxvwuisaxv by Raven. Herring during their spawning season are so abundant they're referred to as Herring balls. Herring populations collapsed around 1968 due to commercial overfishing and never recovered.
Waxvwuisaxv is part of the Pacific Northwest region. It borders Kulhulmcilh, the Wuikinuxv and the Kwakwakawakw to its south. To its north, it borders the Haisla and Tsimshian. Off the western coast sits Haida Gwaii. Waxvwuisaxv overlaps with Canada and British Columbia. The Heiltsuk people themselves currently mostly live on Bella Bella Indian Reserve No. 1 on Campbell Island. Nowadays, about 50% of the Heiltsuk have to live outside of Waxvwuisaxv, mostly in Nanaimo, Vancouver and Victoria. The Heiltsuk in Waxvwuisaxv suffer from unemployment as high as 85% and leave to earn an income so they can survive.
Heiltsuk lifeways
Heiltsuk selectively harvest weaker fish when fishing for salmon. This, alongside clearing debris from the rivers, allows the rest of the salmon to move further upstream and breed the next generation. Pacific herring egg harvest season starts in March when herring begin spawning on kelp. Herring themselves are harvested using nets, rakes and fish traps. They then are smoked and dried to be eaten later. When harvesting herrings, the Heiltsuk don't kill all the herring. Instead, they take eggs from kelp fronds and hemlock branches, leaving some eggs behind for the years to come. Harvested herring and their eggs are sometimes traded with neighbors, especially in times of local scarcity. They are also eaten for ceremonial feasting. Herring and salmon are brought to different locations to grow their range and population. For berry picking, some berries are left behind each year. Branches of berry bushes are broken off and spread around to propagate them. Heiltsuk also prune blueberry, huckleberry, currant and salmonberry bushes. Bears are traditionally hunted rarely and not for recreation. Heiltsuk lifeways and knowledge are "...developed through careful observation, experimentation, monitoring, and sampling, perhaps at times driven by shortage or necessity" and are done in accordance with Heiltsuk gvilas.
Harvesting herring involves picking the most suitable place in accordance to the areas' cultural and physical biogeography. Heiltsuk fishers then build herring traps so they can pen herring in and then selectively choose which herring to take. One type of trap is built to be like a fence, which is narrow enough to catch herring. Herring and other fish move past the traps during high tide becoming trapped by the rock walls and fencing when the tide recedes. Before herring populations plummeted, they can be scooped from the water using baskets, nets, buckets and rakes. The remnants of abandoned stone fish traps and fencing are common in Waxvwuisaxv, as they are across the region. These open pens were also used to protect the fish so that they could spawn and leave. During the herring harvest, Heiltsuk refrain from making loud noises and harvesting clams. They also view the herring as sensitive to the presence of blood, so they often set up hunting bans to avoid this.
Governance Ǧvi̓ḷás are the customary laws governing the Heiltsuk nation, Waxvwuisaxv and the Heiltsuk's relationships with all people (whether spirits, plants, other humans or other animals) living within Waxvwuisaxv. It is the Indigenous legal order of the Heiltsuk. Gvilas embodies the values, beliefs, teachings, actions, experiences and principles of the Heiltsuk people. Gvilas is used by Heiltsuk to balance the health of their land with their own needs. It works toward unity between the various legal persons who each have unique relationships, responsibilities and obligations. Gvilas is also used for foreign relations, such as the recent treaty between the Heiltsuk and Haida in 2015.
Potlatches are central to the governance of Waxvwuisaxv. Potlatches are a forum to affirm various legal matters such as marriages, economic transactions, clan membership, adoptions, funerals, social rank, names/offices and land use rights. It is a ceremony that involves speeches, feasting, singing, dances, rituals and gifting. It is held in a large sacred building called a big house. At potlatches, the Yimas discuss the laws of their nation and then revise or reaffirm them if needed.
Pre-contact governance The Heiltsuk were originally composed of a further five nested nations who consolidated due to outside pressures: the W̓úyalitx̌v, Q̓vúqvay̓áitx̌v, W̓u̓íƛ̓itx̌v, Y̓ísdáitx̌v and X̌íx̌ís. Some Heiltsuk still identify with these nations. Historically, there were more nations, such as the Ydlaxayitxw, Uwigalidox, Aleqwidexu, Klwalhgnagimix and Nulaewidexu. These nations are made of four matrilineal clans (called Geminuxw) named Raven, Eagle, Killerwhale and Wolf. Heiltsuk nations are also composed of many matrilineal Houses (called Nuyemgiwa, meaning 'carrying forth a mythical narrative'), led by hereditary leaders called Yím̓ás. Yimas are stewards of their House's property and they are given their position as Yimas by being given a unique name that itself possesses the legal authority of the office. These large extended families hold title and rights to their own lands, waters and the resources within Waxvwuisaxv. Decisions regarding these properties are validated at potlatches hosted by the Yimas as part of the Heiltsuk's land tenure system, including access, title and stewardship rights and responsibilities associated with House owned harvesting locations. If someone wants to use the land owned by another House, they have to consult with the Yimas of the owning House. There was a group of people outside the Heiltsuk political system called Xamala (orphans) or Pkws (uninitiated) who owned no property and had no social role, thus were nonpersons without rights or responsibilities. This included unadopted children, prisoners of war, and slaves.
Heiltsuk Houses have their own herring harvesting spots that they manage and are responsible to. These localized territorial rights have a variety of obligations, duties, rules and customs to determine how they should be applied in accordance with Heiltsuk gvilas. Before contact, the Heiltsuk lived in 55 permanent towns and various seasonal camps across Waxvwuisaxv. The trees of the Great Bear Rainforest are used to make tools, clothing, houses, totem poles and canoes. Like the herring harvest locations, tree harvest is regulated by rules of conduct and rules about who can harvest where to ensure the continuity of the forest. These roles and rights are carried by Yimas, who are responsible for their enactment.
During winter, resource gathering was less intensive, so Heiltsuk potlatches were preferred to be done during the wintertime. The previous years' worth of food was in part to gather as much food for potlatch as possible. Potlatches are a way of holding society together and building alliances with leaders far afield, including those of other nations. Providing large amounts of food at potlatches demonstrates a Yimas' ability to provide for their House. Yimas use persuasion, moral authority and political skill to convince their House members to contribute to their potlatch. Commoners, in turn, receive goods during the Potlatch for their contributions.
Parallel governance with Canada
Due to overlapping legal jurisdictions between Canada and the Heiltsuk in Waxvwuisaxv, where neither party recognizes the sovereignty of the other, there has been a complex legal borderland where both systems interact since the mid 1800s. Reconciliation through treaty negotiation was attempted from 1993 to 2001 but was dropped by the Heiltsuk. To allow the Heiltsuk to embody and act on Gvilas, the Heiltsuk often participate in and collaborate with Canadian bureaucracy, courts, science, law and management processes to ensure that Gvilas can be de facto enacted even if not de jure recognized by Canada. Forms of co-management have become more common and are considered an improvement. However, it's still criticized for making Indigenous nations change their sociopolitical structures, concepts and language to accommodate the Canadian or British Columbian governments just to work with them.
In the 1990s and 2000s, Yimas attempted to get elected to band council seats to prevent logging on their stewarded territory. At the same time, the Yímas and the band government expanded their cooperation. Authority to enact Gvilas for day-to-day issues is increasingly delegated to the band government, while broader issues are solved in close collaboration with the hereditary Yimas. This effectively creates two parallel yet cooperating Heiltsuk governments. One Heiltsuk described it as, "[Yimas] take that power and distribute it to...the Tribal Council [the band government legislature], telling the Tribal Council: even though you’re elected leaders and you are restricted in what you can do with your ties to the government and funding, you are getting delegated the authority to use our laws, our power, same time and same way as you’re using the power from [the Canadian government]."
Heiltsuk constitution
In 2025, the Heiltsuk adopted a written constitution to clarify their governance of Waxvwuisaxv to outsiders. The constitution passed with 67% of the vote and was ratified at a ceremonial feast on May 30th, following efforts that went back nearly twenty years. The constitution is a nonexhaustive guide to the Q̓áikasas Ǧvi̓ḷás (paramount Gvilas) of the Heiltsuk nation. It lists some of the paramount rights, freedoms and responsibilities for various groups within the Heiltsuk nation alongside the Heiltsuk nation's own. It also has a detailed map of Waxvwuisaxv. Many of the Heiltsuk's neighbors objected to the Heiltsuk's territorial claims in their constitution and the Heiltsuk invited them to discuss the issue under traditional rules. The Heiltsuk constitution includes descriptions of various governing institutions such as: