The Kwakwa̱ka̱’wakw (Kwak'wala pronunciation in IPA: [ˈkʷakʷəkʲəʔwakʷ]) are a Pacific Northwest Coast indigenous people. Their current population is approximately 5,500. Most live in British Columbia on northern Vancouver Island and the adjoining mainland, and on islands around Johnstone Strait and Queen Charlotte Strait. Some also live outside their homelands in urban areas such as Victoria and Vancouver.
Their language, now spoken by less than 50% of the population, consists of four dialects of what is commonly referred to as Kwak'wala. These dialects are Kwak̓wala, ’Nak̓wala, G̱uc̓ala and T̓łat̓łasik̓wala. The name Kwakwaka'wakw translates as "The-Kwak̓wala-Speaking-People," and numerous distinct peoples and communities form the Kwakwaka'wakw. They are today politically organized into 13 band governments. They have historically been referred to by non-Natives as the Kwakiutl /ˈkwɑːkjʊtəl/, or Kwagu'ł, although this is but one of the Kwakwaka'wakw nations.
The name Kwakiutl derives from Kwagu'ł—the name of a single community of Kwakwaka'wakw located at Fort Rupert. The anthropologist Franz Boas had done most of his anthropological work in this area and popularized the term for both this nation and the collective as a whole. The term became misapplied to mean all the nations who spoke Kwak'wala, as well as three other indigenous peoples whose language is a part of the Wakashan linguistical group, but whose language is not Kwak'wala. These peoples, incorrectly known as the Northern Kwakiutl, were the Haisla, Wuikinuxv, and Heiltsuk.
Kwakiutl (or variously KwaKiutl) is a totem sculpture by Aboriginal Canadian artist Simon Charlie, which has caused controversy for its nudity over multiple decades of display in Chinguacousy Township, and later Brampton, both near Toronto in Ontario, Canada. Charlie, also known as Hwunumetse', later received the Order of Canada. The 9-foot-tall cedar wood sculpture is best known for its exposed male genitals.
Named after a native Canadian, Chinguacousy Township was rapidly growing due to the Bramalea development, initiated in the late 1950s and early 1960s. A statue was commissioned for a new township hall, with Simon Charlie as artist. Charlie was a sculptor of the Cowichan Tribes of the Coast Salish peoples. The Indians of Canada pavilion at Expo 67 included a totem pole and "welcome figure" carved by Charlie and two Kwakwaka'wakw (Kwakiutl) artists. For the 1971 centennial of British Columbia, Charlie and thirteen other carvers were commissioned to carve totems presented to each of the other nine provinces, two territories, and the federal government. Internationally collected and displayed, he had already been awarded the Canadian Centennial Medal.
on the day you came to
did you know you had come
did you know why you came
could you feel where you're from
did you ask it out loud
when no one could hear you
did you cry all alone
when everyone feared you
i ask you this
mostly for me
cause people like us
can go quietly
when they told you to stop
did you want to keep going
when they pushed you to tears
could you feel the pain showing
did you know you were drifting
from the moment you drifted
and could you feel your heart shifting
before it had shifted,
i ask you this
mostly for me
cause people like us
can go quietly
i ask you this
mostly for me