Haida Gwaii

Haida Gwaii

Nickname: "Queen Charlottes" "The Charlottes"
Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve
Map of Haida Gwaii
Haida Gwaii Haida Gwaii in British Columbia
Geography
Location	Pacific Ocean
Coordinates	53°N 132°W / 53°N 132°W / 53; -132
Total islands	c. 150
Major islands	Graham Island, Moresby Island
Area	10,180 km2 (3,930 sq mi)
Highest elevation	1,164 m (3819 ft)
Highest point	Mount Moresby
Canada
Province	British Columbia
Largest settlement	Village of Daajing Giids (pop. 964)
Haida Nation
Demographics
Population	4,526[1] (2021)
Pop. density	0.445/km2 (1.153/sq mi)
Additional information
Time zone	Pacific

Haida Gwaii (⫽ˈhaɪdə ˈɡwaɪ⫽;^[2] Haida: X̱aaydag̱a Gwaay.yaay / X̱aayda gwaay, literally "Islands of the Haida people"),^[3] also known as the Queen Charlotte Islands, is an archipelago located between 55–125 km (34–78 mi) off the northern Pacific coast of Canada. The islands are separated from the mainland to the east by the shallow Hecate Strait.^[4] Queen Charlotte Sound lies to the south, with Vancouver Island beyond. To the north, the disputed Dixon Entrance separates Haida Gwaii from the Alexander Archipelago in the U.S. state of Alaska.

Haida Gwaii consists of two main islands: Graham Island (Kiis Gwaay) in the north and Moresby Island (T'aawxii X̱aaydaɢ̱a Gwaay.yaay linaɢ̱waay, literally: south people island half, or Gwaay Haanas "Islands of Beauty") in the south, along with approximately 400 smaller islands^{[4][better source needed]} with a total landmass of 10,180 km² (3,931 sq mi). Other major islands include Anthony Island (Ḵ'waagaaw / Sɢ̱ang Gwaay), Burnaby Island (Sɢ̱aay Kun Gwaay.yaay), Langara Island (Kiis Gwaay), Lyell Island, Louise Island, Alder Island (Ḵ'uuna Gwaay / Ḵ'uuna Gwaay.yaay),^[3] and Kunghit Island. (For a fuller, but still incomplete, list see List of islands of British Columbia.)

Part of the Canadian province of British Columbia, the islands were known from 1787 until 2010 as the Queen Charlotte Islands, and colloquially as "the Charlottes".^[5] On June 3, 2010, the Haida Gwaii Reconciliation Act formally renamed the archipelago as part of the Kunst'aa guu – Kunst'aayah Reconciliation Protocol^[6] between British Columbia and the Haida people.^[2][7][8]

The islands form the heartland of the Haida Nation, upon which people have lived for 13,000 years,^[9] and who currently make up approximately half of the population.^[10] The Haida exercise their sovereignty over the islands through their acting government, the Council of the Haida Nation (CHN, X̱aaydaG̱a Waadlux̱an Naay).^[11] As recently as 2015, the Haida Nation hosted First Nations delegations such as the potlatch and subsequent treaty signing between the Haida and Heiltsuk Nation.^[12] A small number of Kaigani Haida also live on the traditionally Tlingit Prince of Wales Island in Alaska. In a deal negotiated between the government and the Haida nation over the preceding decades, British Columbia in 2024 transferred the title over more than 200 islands off Canada's west coast to the Haida people, recognizing the nation's aboriginal land title throughout Haida Gwaii.^[13][14]

Some of the islands are protected under federal legislation as the Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site, which includes the southernmost part of Moresby Island and several adjoining islands and islets. Coastal temperate rain forest at the shore, the preserve also includes the San Cristoval Mountains, so named by the first European explorer, Juan Perez, and the oldest surviving European place name on the BC coast. Facilities are minimal, and access is via boat or seaplane.^[15]

Also protected, but under provincial jurisdiction, are several provincial parks, the largest of which is Naikoon Provincial Park on northeastern Graham Island. The islands are home to an abundance of wildlife, including a large subspecies of black bear (Ursus americanus carlottae), and the smallest subspecies of ermine, the Haida ermine (Mustela haidarum haidarum), both endemic to the islands. Black-tailed deer, elk, beaver, muskrat, two species of rats, and raccoon are introduced species of mammals that have become abundant, imparting many ecological changes to the ecosystem.