Wilp Gwininitxw
Sustainable management since time immemorial
Wilp Gwininitxw is a Wilp (house group) of the Lax Gibuu (wolf) clan of the Gitxsan Nation.
The Wilp is the fundamental Gitxsan legal, social, economic, sustenance and governance unit, and as such, the highest decision-making authority. As some of the original plaintiffs in the landmark Delgamuukw court case, utilization of Gitxsan law and Wilp governance of traditional territories has been affirmed by the highest court in Canada.
Wilp Gwininitxw holds and asserts Aboriginal rights, including title, in relation to our spatially explicit territories and in respect of our matrilineal peoples, lands, and resources.
Since time immemorial, Wilp Gwininitxw has sustainably managed our traditional territories, Maxhla Didaat and Galaanhl Giist, in the upper Skeena watershed.
Our authority over our territories has never been ceded, transferred, or sold, and our vision for the well being and protection of our territories remains unchanged.
Through the mothers of today, the territory is passed onto future generations. This ancient and active relationship defines who we are as Gitxsan people.
“As Gitxsan, we are inseparable from our land. This is the source of our strength, and our vision is of a continuing and renewed relationship between our people and our lands, intact and whole.”
Gwininitxw Sustainability
Wilp Gwininitxw is guided by Gwalx Yee’insxw, the most sacred of Gitxsan obligations.
Gwininitxw Gwalx Yee’insxw is grounded in guiding principles that encompass our traditional inheritance that is handed down from generation to generation. All that has been passed to us—the land, rivers, mountains, all the life on the land, in the air and in the waters, our history and our culture, our spiritual areas and sites, the tangible and the intangible—will be passed from one generation to the next, never extinguishing or diminishing in value.
Gwininitxw Gwalx Yee’insxw honors all that has been passed to us from the ancestors on the territories of Maxhla Didaat and Galaanhl Giist. Gwininitxw Gwalx Yee’insxw includes the wilnaatahl (house members), laxyip Gwininitxw (lands and resources within the territory of Gwininitxw), adaawx (ancient oral history), ayook (laws that ensure peace and order), limx oo’ii (traditional songs), and waa’m t’aa (feast names).
“What we collectively inherited from our ancestors, we live today and we are required to pass along that inheritance. The rights and obligations of our ancestors flow to us, and will continue to flow from the Wilp down through the generations.”
Gwininitxw Gwalx Yee’insxw includes moral, legal, and personal responsibilities to ensure that all laxyip activities are sustainable and do not damage the ecosystems. Wilp Gwininitxw has exercised authority and legal obligation to sustain and protect the land and resources of our territories for millennia, and we are obligated to continue in the path of our ancestors. Conservation and preservation must be foremost when making decisions about laxyip projects and activities.
The legal obligations associated with Wilp Gwininitxw Gwalx Yee’insxw encompass the whole system: the health of the land and water, the House, the oral history, and the laws; tying them to the land and allowing the system to continue through time. These legal obligations include member responsibilities to be knowledgeable about our ayook, to uphold it and to pass down that knowledge to future generations.
The land and all that is on that land belongs to all House members, not just the hereditary chiefs. What we collectively inherited from our ancestors, we live today and we are required to pass along that inheritance. The rights and obligations of our ancestors flow to us, and will continue to flow from the Wilp down through the generations. Each house member has a responsibility to uphold Wilp Gwininitxw Gwalx Yee’insxw.