Over the generations,
Heiltsuk interactions with each other and tangible and non-tangible property were embedded in and guided by a well-developed system of rights and title. This system in turn guided how we took care of the land and marine resources in places like Húy̓at.
"Every little village site had a chief and you had to pay attention because the head chief of the territory, when they get anything after the fur trade, it has to be divided up amongst all the rest of the chiefs.” – Fred Reid
“If you get wood from over here, other side of it or this side of it, you have to ask permission from the owners to get the wood, you have to ask their permission. And every time people that didn't have sockeye river in, where they were traditionally from or where their camps were, they would ask family if they could go there to catch sockeye. But as far as I know, the people have asked were never ever turned down."
- Gvágva̓u Steve Carpenter
"The connections that Heiltsuk people have to their lands or through the family ties to the lands that they lived in. Everything was carried out in certain areas or in certain places, ceremonies, places where they dwelled before and when we talk about connections that we have to our lands that means we were told by our grandparents or our great-grandfathers that this is where they lived."
- Yím̓ás Wígviɫba Wákas Harvey Humchitt
"The food fishery for us was our title and rights. It was our right to go and do that."
- Yím̓ás Taltmx Mark White
