Special Resource People

Florence James

Elder

A trip with Florence is a special experience. As a child, Florence was trained as a keeper of her people’s memory, and she carries with her the history of Galiano Island, Kuper, Thetis, Valdez, and Saltspring Islands, as well as many more in the Salish Sea.

She is also fluent in the Hul’q’umi’num’ language. She can evoke for guests the long history of people in the Salish Sea, back to time immemorial — from the ways her people view elements of land and the sea, to life philosophy, how to canoe trees were tended, where villages were situated, the names and history of each place including flood stories, when and how people travelled by canoe between the islands, and what has happened since European contact.

Gaajilaawa (Linda Tollas)

Haida Gwaii Community

Gaajiiaawa Linda Tollas is of the Skedans Raven clan and lives in Skidegate, Haida Gwaii. Having lived most of her life in Haida Gwaii she’s both a seeker and sharer of ancestral knowledge, spending a fourteen-year tenure educating on Haida culture as a natural Cultural Heritage Interpreter with Gwaii Haanas National Park Reserve and Haida Heritage Site. Linda has also provided guided hikes of the forests and evening slide shows to visitors, as well as delivering educational and interactive programs to all schools in Haida Gwaii.

Linda served as a local educator to university students from across Canada enrolled in the Haida Gwaii Higher Education Society (“HGHES”) Semester Program since its inception 5 years ago.  Her enthusiasm for cedar, ethnobotany and Haida culture, and her engaging approach have always made her guided hikes of Spirit Lake a favorite of the Semester Program.

A highlight of her career with Gwaii Haanas was accompanying the Skidegate Haida Immersion Program (“SHIP”) elders as they circumnavigated Moresby Island for their Haida place-naming project. Inspired with SHIP’s work, Linda retired from Gwaii Haanas in 2012, and joined SHIP to learn the Haida language.

GidinJaad (Dee Dee Crosby)

Haida Gwaii Community

Gidinjaad Crosby is born to her mother Betty Douglas’ clan and the Naa ‘Yuuwans X̱aaydagaay the Big House People Eagles of Skidegate, Haida Gwaii.

Gidinjaad has lived on the North Coast of British Columbia all her life. She has always felt a connection to the land and the sea of her homelands of Haida Gwaii. In the summer of 1999 Gidinjaad worked as a Haida Gwaii Watchmen in Gwaii Haanas. After that summer her soul was called back every summer since.

She loves meeting, teaching and hosting visitors in Gwaii Haanas at the ancient village sites. She looks forward to getting Ḵ’uuna Illnagaay, Skedans ready with a fire burning and ease of access to the village site each summer.

She loves sharing the history of the land, ocean and the Haida people. She has fond memories of her youngest son walking through SG̱ang Gwaay singing an ancient Haida song although he was never exposed to the Haida language. She thinks of her Chinaay’s (Grandfather’s) teachings that we are all one people living on Mother Earth and that we need to take care of each other by living with respect and love for each other. His teachings clearly aligned with taking only what we need from the ocean. 

Haida Watchmen

Haida Gwaii Watchmen

Three human figures wearing high hats are often carved at the very top of Haida poles. In the past, Haida watchmen were posted at strategic positions around a village to raise the alarm in advance of an approaching enemy. The carved figures crowning the monumental poles stood sentinel over the village. The three carved watchmen form the symbol adopted by the Haida for the Haida Gwaii Watchmen Program.

Today the Haida Gwaii Watchmen have their own management structure and they are funded by Parks Canada. From May to October the program has provided seasonal employment for Haida men and women as young as 16 and as old as 78.

For many visitors, meeting the watchmen is their favourite part of a memorable trip to Haida village sites. They offer a first-hand introduction to Haida culture by sharing their knowledge of the land and sea, their stories, songs, dances and traditional foods.

Heiltsuk Community

Heiltsuk Community

The Heiltsuk Nation is one of the First Nations in the Great Bear Rainforest with whom Maple Leaf Adventures is proud to have a protocol agreement. As part of our relationship, when they are available, one or more leaders of the community have come to share the history and the Heiltsuk knowledge of the Great Bear Rainforest with our guests, at the start of trips. This insight and connection have proved a valuable and powerful way to start trips in this spectacular area.

Hermann Meuter

Cetacea Lab

We have one purpose, to protect and research whales along the coast of BC. In 2001 we established Cetacea Lab, a land-based whale research station located at Whale Point on the southern end of Gil Island. Since that time we have contributed to the conclusion that this location needs to be established as Critical Habitat for Humpback Whales and as a candidate for Critical Habitat for Killer Whales.

Since our arrival in 2001, we have established an increasing resident population of Humpback Whales. This year will publish our first peer-reviewed paper describing this information in detail. We have developed a Humpback Whale Photo ID Catalogue for whales resident in this particular area. This book will also speak of the strong social and established feeding bonds between humpback whales we have observed over the last decade as well as the great mystery of the ancient humpback whale song that has been evolving for centuries.

We have developed a strong relationship of respect and friendship with the Gitga’at, first nations people of Hartley Bay. Together we now combine our efforts and research to initiate solutions that encourage a balance between nature and industry.

Over the last decade, we have built an acoustic library and photographic catalogue of every orca sighting from Caamano Sound to Douglas Channel. Working with colleagues such as John Ford and Graeme Ellis we believe this information will help declare Caamano Sound critical habit for killer whales!

We have established an interpretive center as well as a new research station at Whale Point. The station is now open for volunteers around the world to join as research assistants and participate in many of our new research programs. As always we continue to inspire awareness For Whales as the true Guardians of our Oceans. We hope you will follow this journey with us as we discover and learn from these gentle giants we call whales.

Janie Wray

CEO and Lead Researcher for BC Whales

Janie Wray, CEO and lead researcher for BC Whales, has studied the acoustic traditions and culture of whale behaviour for the last 20 years. She is the co-founder of the North Coast Cetacean Society and Cetacea Lab. In 2016 she founded BC Whales and the Fin Island Marine Institute and became the science director for our research partner Orcalab. She is devoted to the protection of whales and their precious habitat needs along the coast of British Columbia.

Klemtu Guides

Kitasoo/Xai’Xais Community

Klemtu is a Kitasoo/Xai’Xais community on Swindle Island in the Great Bear Rainforest. Klemtu has a multi-faceted economic development plan, with tourism being one of the key elements. Since the tourism program began in Klemtu, Maple Leaf and her guests have enjoyed a wonderful welcome in the community by the local residents. On virtually every Great Bear Rainforest trip, we stop at Klemtu to walk the village to the spectacular big house for a tour by a resident and then spend some time over a coffee or a meal with others.

Marven Robinson

Gitga’at Bear Guide and Councillor on the Hartley Bay Band

He/Him/His

Marven Robinson is a Gitga’at bear guide and an elected councillor on the Hartley Bay Band Council of the Gitga’at nation. Marven was involved in the design and set-up of the spirit bear viewing stands at a local island frequented by spirit bears (along with Wayne McCrory of the Valhalla Wilderness Society and others).

Marven has been guiding people in the region and knows individual bears very well. As part of our commitment to eco-tourism, we have worked with Marven since he began guiding at the bear stands (and now in other areas, too). Marven’s knowledge about the bears, as well as his community perspective, is a highlight for our guests.

Tania Tomaszewska

Wine Guide

She/Her/Hers

Our wine guide is Tania Tomaszewska. A banking lawyer turned wine explorer, Tania is a wine professional specializing in “wine journey design”. Tania creates and leads small group, private wine-tasting adventures (be it in corporate boardrooms, private dining rooms or patios, local wine bars or out in BC wine country). After having lived and worked in Australia for many years, Tania returned to her native British Columbia four years ago and re-immersed herself in our local terroirs.

She’s passionate about where wine can take us and is thrilled to be coming back on board for our second annual Wines & Islands adventure, and to sip us through the Salish Sea. Tania is WSET Certified (Level 3 Wines and Spirits) and has completed the Wine Executive Program at the University of California, Davis. (She likes school and also holds a B.A. (English Literature), law degree (LL.B) and MPhil in International Relations). Most importantly, Tania also loves Pinot Noir.

Cecil Paul – IN MEMORIUM

Naturalist

He/Him/His

Cecil Paul is an elder of the Killer Whale Clan of the Henaaksiala people. Born and raised in the Kitlope, Cecil was taken to a residential school when he was ten. Since then his life has been a rich tapestry of experience that, combined with his incredible spirit, has made him one of the wisest people we know.

Cecil was a key player in the fight to preserve the Kitlope Heritage Conservancy as a park (it is now the largest intact temperate rainforest on the planet). He was also instrumental in the long search for a lost pole taken from the Kitlope estuary in the early 1900s and returned to his people in 2006.

A leader in his community, Cecil teaches the youth of Kitamaat about the Huchsduwachsdu (Gardner Canal), Kemaano and the Kitlope, and we are honoured that he has travelled with us into the Kitlope each year.