UNESCO World Heritage Site
UNESCO World Heritage Site: British Columbia
Anthony Island (SGang Gwaay)
Part of British Columbia’s Queen Charlotte Islands offers a glimpse into the region’s indigenous past—and a window into its cultural resurgence.
By Andrea Sachs
Anthony Island (SGang Gwaay) at a Glance
Location: British Columbia
Date of Inscription: 1981
Why Go: The island is home to the world’s only ruins of a traditional Northwest Coast Indian village.
Before billboards, flags, and message-bearing T-shirts, the Haida figured out how to make a grand statement—with sky-high totem poles. Today, the carved columns are like giant arrows directing attention to the West Coast aboriginals’ life of yesteryear on Anthony Island, some 60 miles off the British Columbia coast. To be sure, these are not simply relics of the past. The totems are also a visual key to the tribe’s oral traditions, originating from the Haida language that only some 50 elders still speak. But audio recordings of these elders have recently been produced as a crucial piece of what many are calling a Haida cultural renaissance.
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