Elroy White

Elroy White’s (Q̓íx̌itasu) interest in archaeology began at the drum log at a potlatch when he heard of his ancestral ties to his tribal territories.

These places are now called archaeological sites, but in reality, they are actually physical places of łáxvái, rights of descent. He comes from the N̓úláw̓ítx̌v tribe of the Haíłzaqv Nation.

Since 2006, he is the owner and operator of Central Coast Archaeology, an independent First Nation consulting company. He specializes in work in his own territory. His MA (2006) focused on the haíłzaqv perspective of an ancient fishing technology, stone fish traps and the interrelationships between salmon and the smokehouse days. As an archaeologist, he was academically trained in method and theory and to analyze and to interpret. However, he prefers to ‘núsa’ - to tell a story using these methods and theories through an approach called M̓ṇúxvit (to unite research approaches).

He hopes to inspire future First Nations youth to pursue academic opportunities so they could rewrite their history and turn things around to make it right on their own terms.