“But Hiladi, the ancestors, and creator have got me.
No longer gripping the rails of survival, but rather
thriving in my people’s homelands.
This is what I want people to remember."
Tsastilqualus Umbas, known as Tsas, is a respected Ma’amtagila Matriarch. Tsastilqualus translates to "Where People Gather Around the Fire for Warmth.”
Tsas has been a lifelong activist, and has defended Indigenous Rights on countless frontlines. Some of Tsas’s work has included fighting against fish farms throughout unceded Kwakwaka’wakw waters, working in solidarity with unhoused kin, resisting the development of fossil fuel mega-projects, and the clear-cutting of old growth forests.
In recent years, Tsas has played a major role in leading her people's return their Ma’amtagila homelands, on so-called Northern ‘Vancouver Island’. This effort is part of a broader assertion of Ma'amtagila nationhood, aimed at affirming Indigenous title and rights, upholding hereditary systems of governance, and returning to the lands and waters at Hiladi—“the place to make things right."
Tsas is a survivor of residential schools and has overcome immense personal and political challenges. Through their fierce resilience and leadership, Tsas stands on the frontlines of resistance, fighting for Indigenous sovereignty, just futures, and the protection of her people's lifeways. Tsas works to dismantle colonial oppression, defend the land and waters from corporate exploitation, and breathe life back into the cultural traditions that have sustained her ancestors for generations.
"We have an obligation to the land. We are its caretakers."
Hiladi Village, known as "The Place to Make Things Right," is a traditional village site of the Ma'amtagila Nation, part of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples on so-called northern “Vancouver Island”. Historically, it served as a central hub for the Ma'amtagila community, facilitating cultural practices, governance, and daily life.
In the 1890s, as disease and colonial violence disrupted and displaced Indigenous Nations, Ma’amtagila people were coerced into leaving Hiladi. But displacement never meant surrender—the Ma’amtagila have never ceded their ancestral lands. In recent years, the fight to reclaim and revitalize Hiladi has gained momentum, reinforcing Indigenous sovereignty, resisting industrial exploitation, and grounding healing in the land itself. By returning to Hiladi, the Ma’amtagila are reclaiming cultural identity, restoring relationships with the land and water, and ensuring future generations can continue this work.
While reclamation efforts have been ongoing for decades, the past ten years have brought a surge of movement-building. In 2019, in partnership with the University of Victoria, volunteers and community members built the "Little Big House"—a transportable tiny-house modeled after a traditional Kwakwaka’wakw big house. Once transported to Hiladi, the Little Big House became a base for Tsas, her kin, and other Indigenous people to reconnect with the land and waters. It has since played a key role in reinvigorating land-based cultural and spiritual practices, strengthening matriarchal governance, increasing access to traditional foods and medicines, and passing knowledge to younger generations.
Since then, Hiladi has grown into a thriving site of resurgence. Several structures have been built, including a bunkhouse, a large outdoor kitchen, a smokehouse, and an outdoor bath and shower, with plans underway to construct a large dock. The village runs on solar, wind, and micro-hydro power, ensuring sustainable energy independence. Community gatherings and work parties happen year-round, and youth programs bring the next generation to the land each summer. This work is in parallel to other projects spearheaded by Ma’amgatila Hereditary Chief, Rande Cook, and Ma’amtagila member, Seneca Ambers, which include the Awinakola Foundation’s Tree of Life programs, as well as Ma’amtagila First Nation’s title case, an ongoing legal battle to formally reassert Ma’amtagila jurisdiction and leadership in the eyes of colonial governments.
Read more about Ma’amtagila history and ongoing work on their website.
