Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site

Lore & Background

From the 1970s through the early 1980s, plans to expand logging to Burnaby Island led to controversy, prompting the first efforts to protect the area. The Haida Nation designated the Haida Heritage Site in 1985, initially covering only the land of roughly the southern third of the archipelago. Logging continued amid legal battles until 1987, when the governments of Canada and British Columbia signed the South Moresby Memorandum of Understanding, leading to the creation of South Moresby National Park Reserve in 1988.

In 1993, the Gwaii Haanas Agreement renamed the park reserve to its current name, reflecting both Canadian and Haida designations. The Archipelago Management Board, with equal representation from the Council of the Haida Nation and the Government of Canada, oversees all planning, operation, and management. The marine portion was later protected in 2010 as the Gwaii Haanas National Marine Conservation Area Reserve, covering 3,400 square kilometres and serving as primary feeding habitat for the humpback whale.

The Haida Heritage Site now includes both terrestrial and marine areas, with the national park reserve overlapping only the terrestrial portion. The crest of the Archipelago Management Board, designed by Haida artist Giitsxaa, features a sea otter and sea urchin to represent the joint management relationship and ecological balance.

Reader's Guide

Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site represents a landmark in cooperative conservation between Indigenous peoples and a federal government. The site protects a representative area from mountain top to ocean depth, one of the few such places in the world. Its management model, established by the 1993 Gwaii Haanas Agreement, respects both Haida and Canadian designations and interests, and has been applied to both the terrestrial park reserve and the marine conservation area reserve.

The area includes the UNESCO World Heritage site of SG̱ang Gwaay (Ninstints) on Anthony Island, with standing totem poles and remains of cedar longhouses. The Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program stations guardians at village sites between May and September to protect natural and cultural heritage. Ecologically, the site hosts distinct island flora and fauna, including the larger Haida Gwaii black bear, and its waters are critical for humpback whales. The loss of sea otters during the Maritime Fur Trade disrupted the balance between sea urchins and kelp forests, serving as a reminder of ecosystem vulnerability.

Did You Know?

• Gwaii Haanas means 'Islands of Beauty' in X̱aayda kíl, a southern dialect of the Haida language.
• The Haida Heritage Site was designated in 1985 to prevent logging, initially covering only land; the marine component was added later.
• The Archipelago Management Board's crest features a sea otter and sea urchin, chosen for their historical and ecological significance.
• SG̱ang Gwaay on Anthony Island was declared a UNESCO World Heritage Site in 1981.

The International Framework

Gwaii Haanas exists within a global system established by the UNESCO World Heritage Convention, which came into being in 1972. This convention designates places of outstanding importance to either cultural or natural heritage, creating a shared international standard for recognizing and protecting such sites. Canada formally accepted the convention on 23 July 1976, committing the nation to participate in this framework. The country's engagement has been substantial: Canada has held a seat on the World Heritage Committee on four separate occasions, serving during the periods 1976–1978, 1985–1991, 1995–2001, and 2005–2009. These committee stints gave Canadian representatives a direct voice in evaluating nominations from around the world and shaping the evolving standards that sites like Gwaii Haanas must meet. The convention's reach extends beyond any single nation, fostering a collective responsibility for preserving humanity's most significant natural and cultural treasures across borders and generations.

Canada's Heritage Landscape

Within Canada's portfolio of twenty-two inscribed World Heritage Sites, Gwaii Haanas occupies a place among a diverse collection spanning the country's vast geography. The national roster breaks down into ten sites recognized for their cultural significance, eleven celebrated for their natural values, and a single property—Pimachiowin Aki—honoured for both dimensions simultaneously. Two of Canada's inscribed sites are shared with the United States, reflecting cross-border heritage values. Beyond the already-listed properties, an additional ten sites appear on Canada's tentative list, representing candidates that the country may one day formally nominate. This layered structure—inscribed sites, tentative candidates, and the broader network of national historic sites and biosphere reserves—illustrates how Canada approaches heritage protection as a continuum rather than a single designation. Gwaii Haanas, as part of this national collection, benefits from the institutional infrastructure and international recognition that the World Heritage framework provides.

Criteria and Classification

The World Heritage system evaluates candidate sites against ten distinct criteria, split evenly between cultural (i through vi) and natural (vii through x) categories. A site need satisfy at least one criterion to qualify for inscription. Cultural heritage, as defined by the convention, encompasses monuments such as architectural works, monumental sculptures, and inscriptions; groups of buildings; and sites that include archaeological remains. Natural heritage covers physical and biological formations, geological and physiographical features, habitats supporting threatened species of animals and plants, and natural sites of particular importance for science, conservation, or aesthetic beauty. Gwaii Haanas sits within this classification architecture, its value assessed against these internationally agreed standards. The dual nature of the criteria system means that places embodying both human cultural achievement and extraordinary natural phenomena can be recognized under multiple criteria, as demonstrated by sites like Pimachiowin Aki that carry both cultural and natural designations.

The Nomination Journey

The path to World Heritage inscription is structured and sequential. Before a site can be formally nominated, it must first appear on its nation's tentative list—a preparatory registry that signals a country's intent to pursue designation. Canada currently maintains ten properties on this tentative list, and the rules are clear: nominations are only accepted for sites that were previously recorded there. The first Canadian sites to achieve inscription were L'Anse aux Meadows and Nahanni National Park Reserve, both added during the Second Session of the World Heritage Committee in Washington, D.C., in 1978. More than four decades later, in 2023, Tr'ondëk-Klondike and Anticosti joined the list as the most recent additions. Gwaii Haanas' place in this timeline reflects the decades-long process of identification, documentation, and international review that characterizes the journey from tentative candidacy to full World Heritage recognition.