Conference 2021 Keynote Recap - "Supernatural Oceans: A Worldview for Enlightened Oceans Governance and Territorial Food Systems"
Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson Gidahl-Guudsdllyaay, principal lawyer for White Raven Law Corporation and Haida musician, activist, and artist.
The keynote began with moderator Stepan Wood asking “what work do we intend to do together” at this conference and beyond? Part of his answer was to address the challenges and opportunities of working towards achieving sustainable food systems.
Dean Janine Benedet then welcomed everyone to the conference. Though she regretted not being able to do so in-person at Allard Hall, she told participants that she appreciates the ways new technology has allowed people from all over Canada to come together and discuss our interconnected food ecosystems.
Sustainable food systems, interconnectedness, and the work we intend to do together were major parts of speaker Terri-Lynn Williams-Davidson’s presentation.
Terri-Lynn began by describing the ocean waters and the rich marine life around the archipelago of Haida Gwaii, including the intertidal areas home to a diversity of birds and marine species. These species and Haida Peoples have co-existed since time immemorial, but now, several species are at risk due to over-exploitation. Human activity and resources extraction has not only impacted the availability of these traditional food sources, but the health of the oceans in Haida Gwaii impacts the food safety of what can still be harvested.
Terri-Lynn then shared some of the species with whom Haida Peoples have sacred relationships. “In the Haida Worldview,” said Terri-Lynn, “every species is a people in their own right.” She introduced salmon as a source of physical and spiritual nourishment for Haida Peoples, sea urchin as a highly treasured food source, and herring. She also shared that orcas are the primary form of Supernatural Beings in the Haida worldview – the word for “orca” in the Haida language even shares the same root as “Supernatural Being.”
These deep relationships with oceans are encoded into Haida laws and have survived colonial disruption and dispossession, Terri-Lynn said.
She noted that the “greatest challenge to achieving reconciliation is the lack of recognition of Indigenous title” and the demand to prove the right to title of “every square inch of land.” Terri-Lynn shared an image with a design representing the “illusory myth of crown title” and “how that myth is preventing recognition of Indigenous laws.”
The terrestrial recognition of Indigenous title is a difficult hurdle for Haida Peoples, and for many Indigenous peoples, but oceans pose even more complex jurisdictional issues.
Terri-Lynn spoke of her experiences representing the Haida Nation in Haida Nation v Canada (Fisheries and Oceans), 2015 FC 290. In 2015, the Minister of the DFO chose to re-open the herring roe fishery, ignoring Haida agreements with local commercial fisherman, and against the recommendations of DFO scientists based on the weakness of the herring stock.
The Haida Nation successfully argued for an injunction to keep the herring fishery closed. There, the Federal Court noted that given the existence of the Gwaii Haanas Agreement, and the unique ecological and marine conservation concerns, the Government of Canada had a heightened duty to accommodate and consult with the Haida Nation before making the decision to re-open the fishery. The re-opening of the fishery unilaterally constituted irreparable harm.
The Haida Nation was already aware of the irreparable harm re-opening the fishery would cause to the herring – they did not fish herring commercially due to their concerns about risks to the species, and the roe herring and herring-on-kelp fisheries had been closed for more than 10 years.
Terri-Lynn spoke of the precarious balance among all species – human and non-human – and with Supernatural Beings that exist in oceans and waterways in the Haida worldview.
Opportunities to respect and uphold this balance comes in the form of juri-nationalism and integrated oceans governance. Terri-Lynn said that marine spatial planning can help create space for the jurisdiction and exercise of Indigenous laws. Currently, the Haida and the federal and provincial governments are engaged in collaborative marine use planning through the Haida Gwaii Marine Plan. This plan incorporates Haida laws: respect, responsibility, interconnectedness, balance, seeking wise counsel, and reciprocity. It took years to negotiate these plans, but they represent a positive step toward protection and sovereignty for Haida territorial food systems. Terri-Lynn noted that there is even a collaborative management plan for the SGaan Kinghlas–Bowie Seamount, an underwater volcano home to a Supernatural Being in Haida tradition.
“We carry – each of us on a daily basis – our responsibility for reconciliation,” and our “responsibilities to uphold the earth, and uphold the sea,” said Terri-Lynn.
Terri-Lynn shared that she once asked Haida Elders the word for lawyer in the Haida language. The Elders said that the word for “lawyer” translates to “someone who tells the truth.” But they also told Terri-Lynn that the word for lawyer is “so close to the word for lying.” In this way, Terri-Lynn said, “we are all practicing law in this precarious balance, too.”
Learn more about Terri-Lynn’s work at: