The Next Step: Laana Ts'aadas Raises a Memorial Pole

From: Laana Ts'aadas Elder Matriline

On Saturday, July 11, 2026, Laana Ts'aadas will raise a memorial pole in Skidegate — the first in six generations. A potlatch will follow at Naagudgiikyagangs, the Skidegate Community Hall.

This is not the beginning. It is the next step in a process our family has been restoring ceremony by ceremony, for years.

We invite the Haida community to join us in honouring our Clan Matriarch, Evelyn Crosby (1928–2024). Eldest daughter of Edna Jones and Bertram Crosby. Beloved Matriarch of Laana Ts'aadas. A woman who outlived all ten of her siblings and who carried our clan with grace, dignity, and love until her passing at the age of 96 in December 2024.

Who We Are

Laana Ts'aadas is an Eagle clan of Skidegate Inlet. We are one of the first Eagle clans to settle in HlGaagilda Skidegate, arriving in 1760. Our ancestral territory stretches from Kil Kun Llnagaay Sandspit to Tllgaduu Slatechuck and into Daajing Giids Queen Charlotte. Our crests are dogfish, raven, eagle, sculpin, cedar limbs and halibut.

Like many Haida clans, Laana Ts'aadas suffered devastating loss from smallpox. We were nearly wiped out. Our clan was so small that our great uncle George Young was forced to leave Skidegate and travel by canoe to Tacoma, where his only sister Jeannie lived. He brought her and her three children home to Haida Gwaii. 

Jeannie's daughter Elizabeth Bell married James Jones. Their daughter Edna Jones — our Matriarch — was just four years old when Elizabeth died. Edna was taken in by her aunt Lydia, and two years later taken away to Coqualeetza Residential School at the age of six. She stayed until she was eighteen. When Nanaay Edna returned to Haida Gwaii she married Bertram Crosby,When Nanaay Edna returned to Haida Gwaii she married Bertram Crosby, and together they had Sidney, Evelyn, Willis, David and Aaron — the elder branch of our lineage, the Crosbys. After Bertram’s passing, Edna married Ben Roberts, and together they had six more children — the younger branch, the Roberts. In Haida law, hereditary responsibility flows through the elder line.

There is a thread that runs deeper still. Our great ancestral matriarch — Gum la duud nung kaa hliiga gang, No-one-could-cross-over-her — raised a mortuary pole in honour of her ancestor Kalga Jaad. That pole stood in front of her husband Chief Luu'guut's house in Skidegate. Now, generations later, her descendants raise a memorial pole in honour of Evelyn in that same Village. Some threads never break. They only wait to be picked up again. 

Who Carved the Pole

The memorial pole was carved by Evelyn's eldest grandchild, Jesse Brillon (Skil Xaaw, Xaaw Sgaana), and her eldest great-grandchild, Marlo Brillon — with the mentorship and assistance of Karver Everson and Junior Henderson.

This is their first totem pole. That it is a memorial pole for their grandmother and great-grandmother, raised in the community where she lived and is remembered, makes it one of the most significant poles carved in our clan's recent history.

The Steps That Led Here

To understand what July 11 means, it helps to understand what came before it.

In 2022, we the elder matriline of Laana Ts'aadas, led by Jesse and Erin, hosted our first Clan feast in over 150 years in Skidegate. Our clan stood publicly for the first time in generations. Prerogatives were exercised. The clan was formally recognized before the Haida community.

In 2024, we upheld hereditary responsibility at a marriage potlatch in K'omoks — initiating Clan prerogatives, fulfilling traditional obligations including receiving bride price for Marlo and gifting formal repayment for Erin, and standing as a clan before respected members of the broader Haida Nation who witnessed and participated alongside us.

These were not informal gatherings. These were formal acts of governance and cultural responsibility. In hereditary governance, publicly upholding cultural responsibilities establishes standing. When prerogatives and obligations are fulfilled before the broader nation, those acts carry cultural and legal weight — especially after generations in which our clan was unable to uphold them.

July 11, 2026 is the next step. The pole raising. The potlatch. And the acknowledgment of our Clan Chief — the first in six generations.

Our Matrilineal Lineage

Hereditary responsibility in Laana Ts'aadas follows the eldest daughter's matriline.

Our clan lineage flows from our Matriarch Edna Jones, through her eldest daughter Evelyn Crosby/Brillon, and continues through Evelyn's eldest daughter of her marriage: Edna Elizabeth Brillon — named intentionally in continuation of the matrilineal line of our previous matriarchs, Edna and Elizabeth — now carries that responsibility.

Edna Brillon and Leonard Brillon, are the eldest surviving members of the elder branch. We carry the hereditary responsibilities of this lineage through both birth order and demonstrated cultural responsibility.

Haida law is clear: hereditary leadership follows birth order through the elder line. It also requires ongoing relationship, cultural participation, and lived responsibility over time. Birth order tells us where responsibility is meant to flow — but it is the work, the ceremony, the presence, and the relationship that make it real.

A visual family tree is available so that community members can observe the birth order of matrilineal succession clearly.

Our Clan Chief

It is Leonard Brillon's right, as eldest surviving male of the elder branch and hereditary lineage holder of the chiefly position within Laana Ts'aadas, to stand as Chief.

At the potlatch on July 11, Leonard Brillon will stand as the first Clan Chief of Laana Ts'aadas in six generations- and name his successor, his eldest nephew Jesse Brillon (Skil Xaaw, Xaaw Sgaana). This follows Haida protocol. It will be witnessed by the nation.

Clarification Regarding Past Announcements

We are sharing this information publicly because transparency matters and because misinformation spreads easily when complex cultural systems are reduced to fragments.

Under Haida Law those announcements carry no authority.

The individual announced as "chief in waiting" has not been part of our family or our culture. He did not grow up participating in clan life or carrying clan responsibilities. In Haida governance, leadership is not assigned first and learned later. It is developed over time, within family, clan, and community.

We also note that the member of the younger branch who has claimed matriarchal authority attended CHN Matriarch Council meetings representing herself as such. At no time have we accepted or acknowledged anyone other than Evelyn as the Matriarch of our clan.

This issue is compounded by a personal choice made nearly 50 years ago — when Evelyn's eldest daughter disowned her mother, our Matriarch, and severed ties with her family. No reason ever given. No explanation ever offered. That estrangement lasted until Evelyn's death, and continues today — she still refuses to communicate with any of us. Under Haida law, one does not abandon the Matriarch only to return after her death to claim her position.

We share this not to air grievance, but because the Haida community deserves to understand what has occurred and why our family has taken the steps we have. For a fuller account of the hereditary and cultural concerns at play, including the improper use of hereditary names and the full context of these events, please read our detailed public record  [here].

July 11 — You Are Welcome

Haida Laas — Your Presence Honours Us.

The pole raising at Front Street is open to all at 12 pm. The potlatch at Naagudgiikyagangs — Skidegate Community Hall — follows at 1 pm.

Come and stand with us. Come and witness the next step.

For our Mother, Nanaay. For our clan. For the generations that come after us.

Háw'aa.

Laana Ts'aadas Elder Matriline