Makwala Rande Cook (Kwa’kwa’ka’wakw), born in ‘Yalis (Alert Bay) on the west coast of Canada, holds chieftainships from his maternal and paternal lineages. He is the founding Director and Director of Arts for the Indigenous-led Awi’nakola Foundation, a registered Canadian charity charting a pathway for the conservation of biological diversity through decolonization, art and progressive Western science. The foundation’s land-based work in service to Indigenous communities began in support of the Ma’amtagila’s legal challenge to halt the illegal treaty negotiations over their territories and to bolster Ma’amtagila’s jurisdictional assertion according to Kwakwa̱ka̱ʼwakw Potlatch Law.