Plants of Haida Gwaii launched on Haida Gwaii

Last week, Nancy Turner and I travelled to Haida Gwaii (the Queen Charlotte Islands) to launch her latest book, Plants of Haida Gwaii.

The first event we attended was held at the Haida Gwaii Museum in Skidegate, where Nancy presented copies of her book to many elders in recognition of their contribution of the traditional knowledge used in her book.

The next day, Nancy and I travelled with Nancy's friend, Barb Wilson (Kii7lljuus), an advisor and active participant in the creation of the book, to Old Massett at the north end of Graham Island, for a launch and signing at the Haida Rose Cafe. On our way there we stopped to visit Barb's step-father to present him with a copy of Nancy's book. When Nancy learned he had berries that needed picking in his backyard, she leapt at the chance to pick them for him -- berry picking is one of her favourite things to do. We hung containers around our necks and picked containerfuls of red currants and gooseberries.

The launch at the Haida Rose Cafe was a huge success and again, Nancy presented many elders with copies of her book and jars of jam she had specially made for the event. Before the crowd arrived, I had a chance to quickly go around the neighbourhood to look at some of the incredible totem poles, many that were in people's front yards. It was a wonderful evening, and we finally packed it in around midnight. On our drive back to Skidegate that night, we counted more than 70 deer grazing along the 110 kilometre stretch of highway (thankfully we didn't hit any) and we drove over a fault line that has been paved over many times.

The following day we had a book signing table at Skidegate Days, an annual event attended by hundreds of locals and tourists alike. With a background of baby crawling races, coke guzzling contests, and war canoe races, Nancy signed dozens of copies of her book and we feasted on barbequed salmon and traditional fried bread. That evening, Nancy gave a talk and slide show presentation at a church in Queen Charlotte City, and afterwards, we were invited to look at a local resident's beautiful garden.

It was truly a wonderful trip and I can hardly wait to visit Haida Gwaii again.