Haida Gwaii

Haida Gwaii (Haida: X̱āaydag̱a Gwaay-yaay; lit. "Islands of the Haida people") is an archipelago of 150 islands and a sovereign island country in North America, located approximately 100 kilometres off the west coast of the British Columbia, Canada in the Pacific Ocean. In December 2020, the total population of Haida Gwaii was estimated at 1.34 million, of whom approximately 1.21 million were ethnic Haida people, the remaining approx. 130,000 inhabitants (100,000 of whom are citizens or permanent residents) consisting of a roughly even split between other indigenous peoples and non-indigenous (mostly white Canadian) emigrants. The capital and largest city of Haida Gwaii is Sandspit, located on the northeast tip of Moresby Island, one of the archipelago's two main islands, alongside Graham Island. 98% of the national population lives on one of the two main islands, split roughly evenly with a slightly higher population on Graham Island. Fishing is one of the major industries of the country, as is agriculture, with nearly 25% of the archipelago's forests cleared to make way for farmland by 2020, mostly near the more populated areas of the two main islands. The oil industry is also an important staple of the Haida economy, due to the presence of vast oilfields within Haida Gwaii's territorial waters off the west coast of Graham Island, as well as some limited oil reserves deep under Moresby Island (at least 75% of which remains untapped).

Haida Gwaii is a constitutional monarchy, whose current reigning monarch is King Tāan II, who assumed the throne in 1996 at the age of 21. Haida Gwaii's national government, officially the Royal Haida Government, has an executive branch led by an indirectly elected Prime Minister (the official head of government), who appoints the members of his cabinet (namely the Royal Executive Council of Haida Gwaii. The Prime Minister is typically the leader of the party or coalition holding the most seats (preferably a majority) in the Haida National Assembly, Haida Gwaii's unicameral deliberative assembly which functions as its government's legislative branch. Elections to the National Assembly take place every four years in what is called a general election. The incumbent Prime Minister appoints the Deputy Prime Minister and the multiple other cabinet members responsible for chairing the various executive departments/ministries of his cabinet, each of which is responsible for a particular facet of public administration at the national level. The official meeting place of the Royal Executive Council (the Prime Minister and his/her cabinet) is the National Longhouse in Sandspit.

Often considered the only Native American nation to remain independent from the Europeans, Haida Gwaii is today a relatively fast-changing society. Much of the local industry continues to be based around fishing, but there is a growing tourism industry, with several contrasting businesses staking their claim, from hostels to five-star resorts and casinos, fishing, diving and sailing guides, charter boating tours, a small but lucrative seaplane service offering scheduled and charter flights, and of course the expansion of the oil industry off the west coast of Graham Island, in territorial waters which sit above major, barely tapped oil reserves. Over ten corporations are currently lobbying the national government for drilling rights, adding to the already three rigs and two under construction 30 km west of Graham Island. Plans are also underway for the construction of a second international airport at Sandspit—Queen Charlotte International Airport, near the city of Port Clements, approximately 30 kilometres south of Masset and 50 kilometres north of Sandspit—has long been working over-capacity with its single 3553-metre-long runway. Haida Gwaii has eleven other airports, of course, but none others capable of supporting more than general aviation.