Mapping the aspirations and challenges of the Hul’q’umi’num’ peoples
July 14, 2026
By Anne MacLaurin
Mapping the aspirations and challenges of the Hul’q’umi’num’ peoples
Thom and Johnnie's new book chapter highlights a series of detailed maps, it bears witness to the territorial challenges to Indigenous livelihoods for the Hul'q'umi'num' peoples on Vancouver Island and the Gulf Islands.
Thom, Brian and Kathleen Johnnie (2026) Mapping the Aspirations and Challenges of the Hul’q’umi’num’ Peoples. Pp. 179-228 in INSTEAD: Indigenous Stewardship of Environment and Alternative Development, edited by Colin Scott, Evodia Silva Rivera and Katie Sinclair. Toronto: UTP Press.
Q/A: Dr. Brian Thom, Professor, Chair, Department of Anthropology
What inspired you to write this book chapter?
The primary inspiration for this chapter traces back to a messy, colourful paper map produced by the Hul’qumi’num Treaty Group when I was working as a negotiator there around 2006 that illustrated the myriad of development pressures threatening Hul’q’umi’num’ cultural landscapes and significant areas for supporting Hul’qumi’num’ peoples’ way of life. Ten years later, as part of the work of UVic Anthropology’s Ethnographic Mapping Lab, we set out to compile publicly available data (https://www.htgcasestudy.ca/) to similarly illustrate the persistent nature of the challenges between ongoing Indigenous title and rights in a territory which, for the Hul’q’umi’num’ communities, is 84% owned in fee-simple by private landowners.
We were invited to share this story as part of the work of the McGill’s Centre for Indigenous Conservation and Development Alternatives (CICADA), which Kathleen and I have been parters in. These challenges are not so different than those faced by other Indigneous peoples around the world, but are distinctly rooted in the nineteenth-century E&N Railway land grab (https://www.greatlandgrab.com) that continue to reverberate today.
'uy' shqwaluwun
Can you explain the aspiration of the Hul’q’umi’num’ peoples?
One of the big ideas discussed by the network of Indigenous peoples who participated in the CICADA project is about "life projects" – the way Indigenous peoples sustain their vital, living connections to their ancestral lands, is achieved while respecting an honoring culturally significant places and practices. For Hul’q’umi’num’ communities, life projects are grounded in the teachings of 'uy' shqwaluwun, which Kathleen explained gives moral direction for actions to be undertaken with good thoughts, good manners, and good behaviour, holding the highest regard for the environment, the community, and future generations. Indeed, this insight from Kathleen about 'uy' shqwaluwun is the same Salishan language term that grounds one of the four teachings in UVic’s Indigenous Plan: Nəw̓ es šxʷ cən ʔay̓ šqʷeləqʷən | ÁMEḴT TŦEN ÍY, ŚḰÁLEȻEN (the bolded terms are the same words in Hul’q’umi’num’, lək̓ʷəŋən and SENĆOŦEN).
Hul’q’umi’num’ communities are striving for a future where their rights and responsibilities to own and steward their land are formally recognized through a fair and just treaty or other arrangements. They envision vibrant, strong communities where resources are abundant, marine and forest ecosystems are healthy and safely accessible, and economic prosperity is achieved without sacrificing cultural resources. Ultimately, the aspiration is to chart an alternative development course in the face of all the challenges that centers Hul’q’umi’num’ values, ensuring their language and traditional teachings thrive and future generations can prosper in their ancestral home.
Mapping as a profound act of truth-telling and connection
At an international panel of Indigenous peoples and their research partners organized by CICADA in 2015 (just as this paper was first being prepared) Kathleen Johnnie (Penelakut Elder and co-author) said:
"Our intent in taking up mapping is to tell our truth... to share with the world what is important to us, [and] to protect what is important to us... It is the Truth that we are putting down in how we view the land, our relationship to the land, our responsibility to the land, and our connection to the land, as well as maybe even the more esoteric components of the spiritual connection that we have to the land." Katheleen Johnnie, a member of the Penelakut Tribe and a respected Elder
Indigenous knowledge
How did co-authoring this work with Kathleen bring Indigenous knowledge into the conversation?
Kathleen Johnnie’s involvement was absolutely crucial to the integrity and depth of this work. As a member of the Penelakut Tribe and a respected Elder, Kathleen has spent decades on the frontlines responding to state and private development consultations directed at the Nations. She possesses an intimate, lived understanding of Coast Salish cultural imperatives and the complex ways sacred, land-based practices intersect with colonial resource development.
For example, she has navigated highly sensitive conflicts where proposed development threatened secret areas used for winter ceremonial regalia—protecting these spaces while upholding strict anti-colonial, confidential protocols required by the community. Her grassroots leadership in revitalizing language and marine-based harvesting ensures the chapter remains grounded in community realities. While the cartographic and spatial analysis outlines the structural challenges, Kathleen's voice centers the resilient Indigenous values, providing an essential, authoritative lens on what the Hul’q’umi’num’ life projects actually mean in practice.