Ma'amtagila

The Ma’amtagila are a Kwakwaka’wakw people whose homeland lies around Johnstone Strait, between northern Vancouver Island and the mainland inlets. Their villages include I’tsiḵin, also known as Matilpi, and Hiladi near the Adam River. Cedar from the coastal forests provided material for carving, while hereditary chiefs upheld laws of stewardship and sharing through the potlatch. The Ma’amtagila trace their name to an ancestor, Matagila, the grey seagull.