Camera: Panasonic DMC-FZ1000     Exposure: 1/80s   f2.8/9mm     Date: 22.08.2017

Totem poles at SG̱ang Gwaay, Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve, BC

Only the ruins of 4 cedar longhouses and a handful of mortuary and memorial poles remain of the village of Nan Sdins (Ninstints) on the small island of SG̱ang Gwaay (Anthony Island) on the south-western tip of the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve. The old totem poles and long house were fascinating to see as they will not be there for much longer. The Haida people believe they came from the earth and that they should return to the earth. At the end of the 1800s, about 300 Haida lived here, until diseases like small pox decimated the population and the last inhabitants were moved to Skidegate on the northern Haida Gwaii island.