Mamalilikulla First Nation seeks new community base to gather members from across B.C., U.S.

TheMamalilikulla First Nation is looking for a new piece of land to call its own.

The nation's traditional territory is in the Broughton Archipelago off northern Vancouver Island, but no one lives there anymore.

Most of the nation's members left in the 1970s, saysJake Smith, a member of the First Nation's guardianship program.

"Back in the day, they just lived off the land when things were good," Smith said, but economic pressures and the residential school system forced people to move elsewhere.

"They had to leave the village, where there wasno source of income."

Most members of theMamalilikulla who currently number437, according to the B.C. government are now spread out across Vancouver Island, the Lower Mainlandand into the United States.

But now the nation is working on a comprehensive community plan,a planning tool utilized by many B.C. First Nations to develop a united vision and goals for how the community will grow over the next seven generations.

Finding a new home has been identified as a top priority and the nation has started looking atland, said Sharon Marshall, who has been working withtheMamalilikulla on their plan.

"It has been particularly challenging for Mamalililkulla because most First Nations that embark on this journey, they have a reserve base, where Mamalililkulla does not," said Marshall, who is Creefrom Alberta.

In her consultation work with the nation,Marshall has gone out to community members instead of having them come back home.

As for the traditional territory in the Broughton Archipelago,Smith says it'sstill an integral piece of the Mamalililkulla cultural identity.

As a guardian, he spends between May and October in the traditional territory, surveying the land, monitoring streams, forestsand wildlife.

"A lot of our people go back to ground themselves, really, because it's a spiritual place. It's a sacred place now," he said.

Listen to the full segment from CBC's All Points West here: