Tlowitsis First Nation is a British Columbia First Nation of 450 registered members. Our traditional territories span the coastal area of Northern Vancouver Island, Johnstone Strait and adjacent mainland inlets. From time immemorial until the 1960s, we occupied numerous sites throughout these lands. Seasonal travel routes, food processing locations, burial and cultural sites and other named places extend across the entire territory. Kalagwees, located on Turnour Island, was their primary winter residence.

In the spring of 2018, the Tlowitsis finalized the purchase of a 635-acre property in the Strathcona Regional District, just south of Campbell River. It is here that they will be establishing a new home community for their citizens, known as Nenagwas, or “a place to come home to” in English.

Jon Corbett is an Associate Professor in Community, Culture and Global Studies at UBC Okanagan and the co-director of the Centre for Social, Spatial and Economic Justice. Jon’s community-based research investigates Cartographic processes and tools that are used by local communities to help express their relationship to, and knowledge of, their land and resources. Jon has worked with Indigenous communities in Australia, Indonesia, the Philippines and since 2004 with several First Nations communities in British Columbia. Recently Jon has been on sabbatical (2012 – 2013) and has been working with Southern Cross University in Australia, the Agta and Aeta Tribes in the Philippines and with the ExCiteS (Extreme Citizen Science) Research Group and Muki Haklay at University College of London.

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Land usage planning, Tlowitsis, Indigenous, land, resources