Culture & repatriation
The work of bringing home what was taken
culture is not artifact. it is governance
The Tsik'usdzai — the Hahul headdress
is not a museum piece.
Under Dakelh law it exemplifies the authority of the
keyohwhuduchun over the Maiyoo Keyoh, handed down through the line.
The keyohwhuduchun decides what is shared,
what is held close, and what must be brought home.
This page tracks the items removed from the keyoh, the work underway to bring them home, and the building of a permanent home for what carries the culture.
THE TSIK'USDZAI
The Tsik'usdzai — the Hahul headdress
carries, under Dakelh law, the authority of the
keyohwhuduchun over the Maiyoo Keyoh.
It bears the hereditary name Hahul, held by
Keyohwhuduchun George A'Huille, the last to wear it.
The Ancestral Hair
The Tsik'usdzai is woven from the plaited hair of three ancestral A'Huille women. This is not one material among others — it is the presence of the ancestors themselves. It is what makes the Tsik'usdzai an Ancestor, and not only a belonging.
Bowhead whale baleen
Sourced from the Arctic Ocean, traded south likely through Iñupiat hunters off present-day Alaska. Split and bound to the top of the headdress, the long pieces extending more than a foot to either side.
Dentalium shells
A variety found only on the west coast of Vancouver Island, obtained through coastal trade networks likely involving the Nuu-chah-nulth.
Local Materials
Depilated skin, plant fibre, and sinew bind the continental trade goods to the ancestral lineage.
Together, the worked materials
show the keyoh's wealth and its reach into trade networks
that ran from the Arctic to the Pacific coast.
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George A'Huille — Sidoman Hahul (1826–c.1890)
was the earliest documented keyohwhuduchun of the Maiyoo Keyoh, and the last keyohwhuduchun to wear the Tsik'usdzai.
The title and the headdress passed through the family lineage.
Today,
Petra A'Huille holds the title.
THE DECEMBER 3, 2022 DECLARATION
Between 1885 and 1893,
Father Morice removed the Tsik'usdzai from the Maiyoo Keyoh,
during the church-imposed Durieu System,
without the free, prior, and informed consent of
Keyohwhuduchun George A'Huille,
and donated it to Toronto's Normal School in 1893.
That collection later passed to the Royal Ontario Museum,
where the headdress remained for decades.
In 2022 it came west, to
The Exploration Place in Prince George,
on loan from the ROM, but it is not yet home.
On December 3, 2022, at The Exploration Place in Prince George,
Keyohwhuduchun Petra A'Huille
declared the repatriation of the Tsik'usdzai under Dakelh law.
The declaration was made before other keyohwhuduchun, the public, and an online audience watching internationally.
Witnesses in attendance included
the Honourable Murray Sinclair,
Satsan (Herb George),
and approximately twelve keyohwhuduchun from neighbouring territories.
The same ceremony marked the public witnessing of
Petra A'Huille's title as keyohwhuduchun,
a recognition given to her by Sally A'Huille
before her passing in 2020, and made visible to the world on that day.
BRINGING IT HOME
The Tsik'usdzai is currently held at The Exploration Place in Prince George,
on loan from the Royal Ontario Museum.
The move from Toronto brings the headdress closer to the keyoh,
but it is not yet home.
Final return means the Tsik'usdzai resting where it belongs:
at Susk'uz, on the Maiyoo Keyoh,
under the direct care of the keyohwhuduchun.
The work continues.
THE REPLICA
Continuity does not wait.
The Snadneke are making a replica of the Tsik'usdzai.
The Beaty Biodiversity Museum at the University of British Columbia
gifted whale baleen to support the work.
The same Arctic materials that connected the original headdress
to the keyoh's wealth and standing in
continental trade networks are now bound, through partnership,
to the work of reproducing it.
The replica honours the original. The original belongs home.
OTHER ITEMS HELD OUTSIDE THE KEYOH
The Tsik'usdzai is not the only item taken from the Maiyoo Keyoh.
The Pius A'Huille Dugout Canoe
A dugout canoe belonging to Pius A'Huille (1905–1973), keyohwhuduchun of the Maiyoo Keyoh. After Pius's passing, the canoe was taken from the keyoh without the permission of his successor, Sally A'Huille. It is currently held by Fort St. James National Historic Site (Parks Canada) and on loan to The Exploration Place. The legitimacy of its removal is in question.
Lithics and Arrowheads
Stone tools and arrowheads from the Maiyoo Keyoh are held by the Royal BC Museum (RBCM). Some are currently on display at The Exploration Place.
Each item carries part of the keyoh's record. The work to bring them home continues.
A PERMANENT HOME FOR THE KEYOH'S CULTURAL HERITAGE
The Tsik'usdzai, the canoe, the lithics, and the broader record
of the keyoh need a permanent home;
not in a museum vault, not under another institution's care,
but at Susk'uz, on the Maiyoo Keyoh.
The Maiyoo Keyoh is building that home.
The Maiyoo Keyoh Cultural Heritage Centre
will be located at the ancestral village site of Susk'uz, on Tsa Bunghun (Great Beaver Lake).
It will house the Tsik'usdzai and the wider Susk'uz Cultural Materials collection,
alongside cultural gathering space,
maker spaces for traditional arts and land-based skills,
artist and caretaker residences,
and infrastructure that connects the Centre to the land,
arbour, firepit, smokehouse, and boat access on Tsa Bunghun.
The building's form draws directly from the Tsik'usdzai itself.
The feasibility study, completed in May 2026,
was prepared by hcma and Scott M. Kemp Architect
with extensive Indigenous-led community engagement.
The next phase is pre-design,
translating the feasibility into a detailed project definition.
This work is supported by the
Canadian Heritage Community Cultural Spaces Fund (CCSF) and
the First Peoples' Cultural Council Braided Indigenous Pathway (FPCC BIP).
SUPPORT THIS WORK
CONTACT
info@maiyookeyoh.ca | 250.305.7092