Lucille Clifton ('Wii Nii Puun) (1876-1962)
Backgrounder
As Laxsgiik (Eagle Clan) leader, Lucille Clifton is an outstanding example of a centuries-old role held by prominent Gitga’at (Tsimshian) women. The Gitga’at people of Hartley Bay belong to one of 14 First Nations that form the broader Tsimshian of the northwestern corner of British Columbia, near the Alaska border. They hold a territory of roughly 7,500 square kilometres of land and water. The Gitga’at are a matrilineal society that in Hartley Bay consists of three clans: Blackfish, Eagle and Raven. Matrilineality means that one’s descent is based on the mother’s clan, as are name, wealth and social status.
As the Laxsgiik matriarch of Hartley Bay, Clifton, was the highest-ranking female of the clan. Her primary responsibilities were to manage the territory of the house (a matrilineal kin group considered the fundamental political and land-owning unit), to provide for its members, and to meet the social and ceremonial responsibilities of the house with respect to the clan, but also to other houses of the Gitga’at.
Beginning around 1890 and continuing for almost a half century, Clifton carried out the responsibilities of her leadership while also guiding the Gitga’at through a period of broad and traumatic change. By the 1880s, culture loss had been extensive throughout Tsimshian territory. The adoption of Christianity combined with government laws changed ancient links to secret societies and shamanism, created substantial language losses, and outlawed ceremonies and feasts such as potlatches, all of which were central to Tsimshian social framework and community relationships. Land losses were significant due to European encroachment and these culminated in the creation of reserve lands. As a result, access was lost to a number of important traditional resource areas, thus changing the Gitga’at relationship with the land.
At a time when the Gitga’at of Hartley Bay faced broad cultural disruption, Clifton, also known as ‘Wii Nii Puun, was one of the few who still held traditional knowledge. She recognized that the dissemination of such knowledge was of intrinsic value for the future of her people. Clifton dedicated her life to passing on cultural practices such as social protocols and ceremonial ways, as well as modern and traditional health skills, including midwifery. She is especially remembered for her knowledge of plants from the sea and from the land, their harvesting and processing into food, into medicine, and their manufacture into items of everyday use. Her teaching helped to stem culture loss and Gitga’at today recognise her enduring role in enabling self-sufficiency and identity.
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