When I sent my last update I believed it was impossible to include graphic illustrations with my message. Not true. 

So here are some samples of serigraphs I would like to have illustrate the book. They are all by the same artist, a Haida woman named Skaana Jaad, who lives in Masset on Graham Island.

Many of you are asking where the book is. Good question.  You supported it and it should be on your bedside table. Here are some reasons why it’s not:

The book is written and edited. It now goes into production, a notoriously slow and frustrating process with any book publisher. The next step is copy editing, then proof reading, then design. 

Design will be slower than usual with this book because it is illustrated. That’s always true of illustrated books. Print is easy, art’s a bear. Moreover, I am working side-by-side with a Haida artist on the islands. Her stunning serigraphs will be slow to arrive but worth the wait. I wish I could show you just one of them.

And while all this is under way on the Haida Gwaii Lesson, Inkshares is doing the same with dozens of other books. And, as they do so, they are researching the unique and challenging market for our book.

So all I can ask for is your patience, and hope that you’ll find the wait worthwhile.

Hi,

A few of you have found and kindly alerted me to a three small typos in the Preface I sent out on Wednesday. Yes, the manuscript has been "edited" but only line-edited. The next step is proof reading, and that’s where typos, hopefully ALL typos will be caught and corrected. 

So worry not .... and thanks for your attention to detail.

Your typo-challenged author,

Mark

You’re probably beginning to wonder where your book is. It’s in rewrite. My brilliant editor has asked for some fairly dramatic changes. And since I agree with most of her ideas I making them. I expect to get the manuscript back to her before the end of this month. Hopefully she will love it and send it on to it’s designer, copy editor, proofreader and libel lawyer. I can’t tell you how long they will take, but I’ve always been surprised at how slow they are. So all I can ask you for is the patience of the Haida, who have waited about ten thousand years for someone to tell this part of their amazing story.

                                          THE ANNUAL HAIDA GWAII BEAR HUNT 

       Between 1983 and 2013, approximately 1200 Black bears were shot on Haida Gwaii by trophy hunters from around the world. The Haida had always opposed the annual hunt, but the Province of British Columbia, which simply claimed sovereignty over the islands, ignored their protests for thirty years and issued licenses to kill the bears. 

 Most of the hunters were guided to the docile and fearless bears by two outfitters approved by the Province. One permit was held by the owners of the Tlell River Lodge on Graham Island. The other by Pacific Bear Outfitters (PBO). Despite widespread public revulsion for trophy hunting, and research indicating growth opportunities in eco-tourism activities — such as bear viewing in their natural habitat — license owners continued to offer provincially approved “recreational bear hunting,” aka. “trophy hunting” tags. 

 No words were minced on licensee websites. Bear hunters traveling to Haida Gwaii, one site assured, “have a 100% opportunity with about 90% success at taking home a trophy bear.” 

 “It’s a world class animal,” another boasted, “you get a chance of killing a real exceptional old animal.” 

 PBO’s fee for the first bear shot was $9850 (an additional bear could be taken for $4250). But the site stipulated that "trophy fees are paid on all animals shot— whether killed or wounded." 

 All the bears killed or wounded on Haida Gwaii were a rare subspecies (ursus americanus Carlottae), found nowhere else in the world. They are also the largest Black Bear on the planet. UA Carlottae is considered a "keystone species" on the islands because the bears transport salmon remains into surrounding forests of Haida Gwaii, where they fertilize the trees. 

 In 1995, the Council of the Haida Nation passed a resolution at their Annual House of Assembly calling for an end to bear hunting on the Islands. The Province ignored it. Then in February 2004, at a Community Land Planning Forum, sponsored by the Haida Nation and the Province, the President of the Haida Nation restated the Nation’s position:

 “A just-completed economic study on grizzly bear hunting on the central coast shows that guide/outfitters could make more money viewing bears than they can shooting them. The Tlell River Lodge is in a good position to move from hunting to viewing. We ask you to please support the owners of the bear licenses on the Islands in making a transition from recreational hunting to sustainable tourism. Please join our initiative to protect the Haida Gwaii Black bear by sharing your feelings on recreational bear hunting. Send an email from the list below asking the Tlell River Lodge to explore sustainable and locally supported activities.” 

 Thousands of letters and signatures poured into the Lodge and the Province. On September 9, 2013 the British Columbia Ministry of Forests, Lands and Natural Resource Operations closed the black bear hunting season on Haida Gwaii … forever. 

 The former Tlell River Hunting Lodge, now owned and operated by the Haida Nation and renamed Haida House, is the most popular eco-tourism resort on the islands. The Haida do not regard their purchase of the Lodge as a commercial venture. 

“We’re investing in life,” was their stated motive.           

Thought you might enjoy reading the Preamble to the Haida Constitution ... in their own written language (translation to follow).

“Iid kuuniisii asii id gii isda gan. Tllgaay ad siigaay Gan t’alang aaxana ad yahguudang. Huu tllguu Giidan hlk’inxa gaa.ngang xaayda hllng.aay gud giijaagids, gaay Gaaganuu gam gina daaGang.nga id gwii is hllnga Gang ga. XaaydaGa Gwaay.yaay Gaaganuu iid xaynanga ga. Asii gwaay.yaay guu, iid kuuniisii xaynang.nga, ad siing.gwaa’ad gan. Sah ‘Laana Tllgaay Gaa id gii kyaagang.ngaay Gaaw aan t’ang naaxang sGwaan.nang Gas ga. Iid sihlGa ga xaynangas gii t’alang t’aas.slas, asii kyang.gaay llgaay ‘waagii kilxii gang ga.”

Translation:   “The Haida Nation is the rightful heir to Haida Gwaii. Our culture is born of respect and intimacy with the land and sea and the air around us. Like the forests, the roots of our people are intertwined such that the greatest troubles cannot overcome us. We owe our existence to Haida Gwaii. The living generation accepts the responsibility to insure that our heritage is passed on to following generations. On these islands our ancestors lived and died and here too, we will make our homes until called away to join them in the great beyond.”

No other national constitution in the world makes reference to "land" or "sea"  ...  or the "the great beyond.''