Tlowitsis Nation Revenue

About Tlowitsis Nation

The Tlowitsis are a Kwakwaka’wakw people of around 470 members whose territories span the coastal area of Northern Vancouver Island, Johnstone Strait, and adjacent mainland inlets. In the 1960s, the Tlowitsis were forced to abandon their village, Kalagwees, on Turnour Island with no alternative community to relocate to. Tlowitsis citizens were spiritually, culturally, and physically separated from their people and their traditional territory. For the past six decades, the Tlowitsis have done their best to keep connected to each other and to their language, culture, and history. Limited opportunities have been available to members to take an active role in their community while leadership searched for an opportunity to find a new home. In the spring of 2018, the Tlowitsis used forestry revenue to purchase a 635-acre property in Liǧʷiłdaxʷ territory on York Road in the Strathcona Regional District, just south of Campbell River. The name chosen was Nenagwas, or “a place to come home to” in English. Construction of Nenagwas is ongoing, with the first 30 homes to be completed by January 2026. Today, the Tlowitsis Nation still relies on its traditional territory to provide for its people, even though they no longer live on their lands and waters. The Nation works with the natural rich resources of its territory to provide healthy food and own-source revenue that helps build Nenagwas and provide jobs and support services for its members. The Tlowitsis benefit from sectors like forestry and salmon aquaculture, which have created job opportunities and Tlowitsis-owned net-washing and water taxi businesses. With the completion of Nenagwas, the Tlowitsis will further diversify economically with new revenue opportunities like a mini storage and amenities for members and the public. These services, in addition to benefits from and businesses supplying natural resource sectors, will help ensure that the Nation is economically sustainable for generations.

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