the Keyoh

Ancestral land. Living law.

20,373 hectares of Dakelh territory governed

by the keyohwhuduchun since before contact,

still governed that way now.

THE KEYOH SYSTEM

Before any of what follows, there was 'Ustas.

"Ustas was grieving. His wife was lost. As weeks passed, the weight became too much. 'Ustas, the shapeshifter, transformed into a giant bird.

Flying over the land, he wept. Every falling tear formed a lake.

Where his tears ran together, they carved the rivers."

"This is how a keyoh was created for each family to care for. Every keyoh is a trust. '

Ustas never found her. The Snadneke keep the land , as 'Ustas left it, until she comes home."

This is where the keyoh system comes from. Not from a treaty.

Not from a statute. From Dakelh law and the tears that made the land.

A keyoh is a Dakelh family's ancestral land, a defined territory held by the people who have lived on and with it since time before memory. Each keyoh is governed by its keyohwhuduchun, the hereditary title-holder who carries sole authority over the land under Dakelh customary law. That authority is not delegated. It is not granted. It is held.

The keyoh, the keyohwhuduchun, and the Snadneke, the people of the keyoh, are inseparable.

Under Dakelh law, the land and the people belong to each other.

The keyoh is a trust, and the Snadneke are its trustees.

THE TERRITORY

The Maiyoo Keyoh is 20,373 hectares in north-central British Columbia,

stretching along the north shore of Tsa Bunghun (Great Beaver Lake).

The Salmon River, a tributary of the upper Fraser, runs through the territory.

More than twenty lakes lie within the Keyoh.

Three of them, Tsa Bunghun, Keh Dot'it'aih, and Lizghun, provide critical overwintering habitat for a chinook salmon population whose juveniles remain in these lakes for years before migrating to the ocean.

The land is named in Dakelh. Susk'uz. Tsa Bunghun. Lhez Dulk'un. Yoolhyoosti.

These names are older than the maps that came later.

They describe a territory that has been known, used, and governed by the Snadneke for generations beyond memory.

SUSK'UZ

At the heart of the Maiyoo Keyoh is Susk'uz, the ancient ancestral village on the north shore of Tsa Bunghun. It is the resting place of the keyohwhuduchun and their relatives, and the place where the line of authority on this land is rooted in the ground itself.

Rock cairns at Susk'uz mark the likely burial sites of George A'Huille (Sidoman Hahul) and his son Benoit, though their burials are not confirmed. Confirmed burials at Susk'uz include Jimmy A'Huille (Kumdiel), Benoit's wife Holina and their infant son Donald, Jimmy's wife Betsy A'Huille, and Betsy's mother Sabina Julian. Oral history indicates additional unidentified gravesites.

Susk'uz is not a heritage site or a historical curiosity. It is a living place. The Snadneke keep it, as they keep the rest of the Maiyoo Keyoh — in trust.

THE KEYOHWHUDUCHUN

The keyohwhuduchun is the hereditary title-holder of a keyoh, carrying sole and final authority over the territory under Dakelh customary law. The position is not elected. It is not appointed by any outside body. It is patrilineal and passes by primogeniture, with the keyohwhuduchun holding the authority to choose a successor by suitability when needed.

The role is not ceremonial. Every keyohwhuduchun has had to govern in the conditions of their own time.

The current keyohwhuduchun of the Maiyoo Keyoh is Petra A'Huille.

She was named as successor by her mother Sally A'Huille — the previous keyohwhuduchun, who passed in 2020, and publicly witnessed by the community on December 3, 2022. Petra carries forward an unbroken line of six documented generations.

The Lineage

Sidoman Hahul (George A'Huille): 1826–c. 1890. The last keyohwhuduchun of the Maiyoo Keyoh to wear the sacred Tsik'usdzai (Hahul) headdress.
Kumdiel (Jimmy A'Huille): 1856–1918
Pious Benoit A'Huille: 1878–1935
Pius A'Huille: 1905–1973
Sally A'Huille (Sally Sam): until 2020. Her brothers died young; Pius A'Huille chose Sally as his successor on the basis of suitability and bloodline. In 2002 she issued the Notice of Aboriginal Title for the Maiyoo Keyoh to the Crown. She named Petra as her successor.
Petra A'Huille: current. Named by Sally A'Huille as her successor; publicly witnessed December 3, 2022.

The line is unbroken...

THE MAIYOO KEYOH SOCIETY

The Maiyoo Keyoh Society was established in 2003 under the direction of Keyohwhuduchun Sally A'Huille. It was formed in response to mounting industrial pressure on the territory — particularly large-scale clearcut logging that was damaging the land and ecosystems of the Keyoh.

The Society is the administrative body that carries forward the work of the keyoh — protecting the territory, asserting Aboriginal Title and Rights under Section 35 of the Constitution Act, 1982, and engaging with government, industry, and the public on behalf of the Maiyoo Keyoh.

The Society does not hold authority over the land. That authority rests with the keyohwhuduchun alone. The Society serves the keyohwhuduchun and the Snadneke — providing structure, communications, and continuity for the customary government that has always governed this territory.

Membership in the Society is defined by the Whut'enne Bughuni code. The keyohwhuduchun holds final authority and appoints the President as spokesperson.

Meet the Team → https://www.maiyookeyoh.ca/our-team

NEIGHBORS ON THE LAND

The Maiyoo Keyoh is one of many keyohs in Dakelh territory. Three keyohs share its boundaries:

To the southeast, the Daiya-Mattess Keyoh — Keyohwhuduchun Kenny Sam.
To the south, the 'Adih Kenla Keyoh — Keyohwhuduchun Gene Sagalon.
To the west, the Lhooz Lhai 'Unli Keyoh — Keyohwhuduchun Jimmy Tylee.

These keyohs and others in the surrounding territory govern their own ancestral lands under the same Dakelh customary law. The keyoh system has always operated across a network of family territories, each one held by its own keyohwhuduchun, all of them rooted in the same law.

The Maiyoo Keyoh is also a signatory to the Protocol of Recognition & Harmonization for Keyoh Title, a Dakelh-law agreement among neighbouring keyohs establishing mutual recognition of each keyohwhuduchun's authority over their own territory.

Learn About the Protocol → https://www.maiyookeyoh.ca/respecting-our-keyohs