Each spring, families of the Kwakwaka’wakw First
Nation journey to a sacred place along the coast of
British Columbia known as Dzawadi, or Knight Inlet,
to follow the age-old tradition of rendering what is
called t’lina from the oil of the tiny eulachon
fish. The eulachon is one of 12 species belonging to
the smelt family. It is a small, silvery fish, 15 to
20 centimetres long, and sometimes called
candlefish.
T’lina is a food staple, a condiment, a highly | prized medicine, and holds great importance in
potlatches as a symbol of cultural wealth for Native
people all along the West Coast and into the
Interior of British Columbia. In Kwakwaka’wakw
society, the highest honor a chief can perform is to
give away, or potlatch the t’lina. T’lina was widely
traded throughout the Pacific Northwest for
thousands of years.
In this exhibit, you will see the process of
rendering the eulachon oil. You will be introduced
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