Disregarded Values; A Reflection on "Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii"

             By watching “Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii”, I have grasped a deeper appreciation for the Aboriginal people, their values, and the hard times they have endured.  For example, I learned that the stolen artifacts of the Haida people, including their ancestors’ bones, were a huge part of their culture and were greatly honored. This was shown through the voice overs used when they finally got their ancestors bones back from the museum. I could hear cries of happiness and voices in positive shock showing me how much it meant to the them to repatriate these bones.

           Knowing how much honoring the ancestors meant to the Haida culture also made me irritated by the Europeans as they originally thought that they could just steal the Haida peoples possessions. Watching the Haida peoples faces as they described the cruel treatment of the preachers to their honorable ancestors broke my heart as I imagined something equally important being taken away from me. One interview, where a Haida elder talked about how upset it made him that the Europeans dumped their totem poles in the water, was shot from farther away. By seeing his cultural outfit and the ancestral totem poles all around him, I understood how much he valued his culture and that taking this away from him was extremely destructive. The interview then faded out at the end, clearly symbolizing how his ancestors were taken away from him which consequently left the viewer with an impulse to rescue the vanishing culture.

    With all of this in mind, “Stolen Spirits of Haida Gwaii” taught me about the terrible treatment towards the Aboriginals and encouraged me to fight for what I value. 

The Haida totem poles 

The Haida people repatriating their ancestors