Gidansda Giindajin Haawasti Guujaaw, also known as Gary Edenshaw, is a singer, wood carver, traditional medicine practitioner, political activist and leader. He of Gakyaals Kiiqawaay, a Haida family of the Ravenmoiety. He has currently inherited the name Gidansda from his potlatch in 2017, the title of Gakyaals Kiiqawaay hereditary leader. The family's alternate name, "Skedans", is an anglicized mispronunciation of the family's hereditary leader's title.
Biography
Guujaaw is a Haida matrilineally descended from Gakyaals Kiiqawaay, a family of the Raven moiety from the village of Skedans. He was born in Masset, named G̱aaw in Haida, on the northern part of Haida Gwaii. His father, Chiits Gitnaii, is matrilineally descended from the Eagle moiety from the Yakoun River. Guujaaw means drum, a name formally given him at a potlatch at Kiusta. Guujaaw began going out onto the land at a young age, digging cockles, picking seaweed with his mother, hunting and fishing with his father and trapping with his uncle. In his infancy he spent summers with his great-grandmother who lived to be 114 years old. She was a singer who taped over 100 songs and became the greatest influence on his life. Elders also played an important role in Guujaaw's growth and understanding of the world. It was through this engagement with their wisdom and the old ways that Guujaaw undertook journeys around the Islands by row-boat and canoes, often alone. He knows the ways of the Islands as well as anyone. Guujaaw has worked with the Council of the Haida Nation for the pasttwenty years to secure the protection of some areas of the Islands as well as pushing for more care and sustainable use of Island resources. He was in the forefront of the fight for the protection of Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site and took part in the blockades of logging operations at Lyell Island in the mid-1980s. Today, he is a member of the Archipelago Management Board which co-manages, with the Government of Canada, Gwaii Haanas. He has been involved in developing the policies and strategies of the Council of the Haida Nation, and has served as the negotiator for the Council of the Haida Nation and worked to develop guidelines and policies towards the protection of living Haida archaeological sites. He has held the official position of 'Firekeeper' for the Hereditary Chiefs of Haida Gwaii. Guujaaw has been a regular contributor to Haida Laas — the official publication of the Council of the Haida Nation. He is a dedicated teacher working to pass songs and dances on to the next generation within the broader context of Haida culture. His love for the land and understanding of the vulnerability of life has put him in the position of devoting much of his adulthood to fighting the forces that are changing the land. Today Guujaaw continues to balance carving with his many other roles which include; political activist, teacher, medicinal practitioner, historian, and performer. His son Gwaai Edenshaw is an artist and film director, most noted as co-director of the first-ever Haida-language feature-length filmEdge of the Knife.
