Animated Text Sequence: Canada's Greatest Summer Job. Yota Story by : Joseph Crawford Gwaii Haanas Field Unit (British Columbia) Parks Canada Logo
Title: Gwaii Haanas
Title: SGang Gwaay Llnagaay UNESCO World Heritage Site
Pole Memorial
(Traditional Haida music)
The only way I can explain it is that, it was if a woman who lived here said:
"You want to know what it felt like to live here? This is what it feels like. And it was just pure misery".
It was a time...
It felt like where she was taking me was the time when smallpox epidemic was rampant through the village.
The fact that there are human remains
and those are leaders of the Haida Nation for centuries that are buried here in their totem.
I think it's something that has...
There's a spirituality about this site that you don't find in most National Parks and places.
[Inspirational music]
Lake with mountains in the distance.
My name is Yota Kano. I come from Japan.
Two or three years ago I watched a TV program about SGang Gwaay and Gwaii Haanas National Park.
It's my dream to go to SGang Gwaay.
At first I had a little bit of anxiety
but when I started paddling, all my anxiety disappeared.
I enjoy the paddling.
and I enjoy the tidal current, tidal waves, Pacific ocean swell.
The Haida people travel on the sea by canoe.
Then I felt that oh I'm travelling on the sea
by my power, no motors.
I imagine the scene that the Haida people lived a long time ago
My dream will be actuality soon, I'm so glad.
Forest Trail.
Some people wait twenty-five, thirty years before they get here.
It's something they've always wanted to see.
Pole Memorial
I saw the pictures of these things, these totem poles in Japan.
But I have never dreamed that I could see in my eyes.
These poles say something to me but I cannot understand it.
I feel something in myself.
I took some pictures in my camera
But I think today I took 241 pictures in my camera.
but I think I took more in my brain, in my eyes.
When I pass through the trail, finally I cried a little bit.
Sorry for that.
[Inspirational music]
In the morning it was raining, but now it's sunny.
I saw that in the morning Gods gets angry with my visiting to SGang Gwaay
but now I think that Gods is greeting my visiting.
Yes it's so nice, so I'm glad.
I'm on top of the world.
My dream came true.
I am grateful of everyone who gave me the opportunity to have this experience.
The sea with mountains in the distance.
Credits
A Short Film by: Joseph Crawford
Yota Kano Japanese Traveller
Anna Maria Husband Parks Canada Visitor Services Team Leader
Alan Latourelle Parks Canada Chief Executive Officer
Jordan Yeltatzie Haida Gwaii Watchman
Music By: Dead Language (The Dance)
Ambient Music By: Eric Boucher's Rainbow Porch (The Last Tall One Standing)
Translations By: Miyako Laidlaw
Images: I-28975, B-03589 courtesy Royal BC Museum, BC Archives
Special Thanks To: Robin Pozer, Valine Crist, Ian Benoit
Produced with the mentorship and support of Oasis HD
Parks Canada Logo
© Her Majesty the Queen in Right of Canada, represented by Parks Canada, 2011.
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