About Us
Take a journey with us through time to understand how Cheena came to be. The reflections of our unique history is tied to our passion for quality and tradition.
Our story begins in the rugged landscapes of 19th-century Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where our ancestor Adam Grant Horne, a fearless explorer from Edinburgh, Scotland, laid the foundation for our legacy. Horne travelled via the Orkney Islands in 1851 to join the Hudson’s Bay Company (HBC) in Victoria. He worked at the HBC trading post at Fort Victoria and Fort Simpson after which he was given the task of running the Nanaimo HBC in 1853. During this time, he forged a trusting relationship with the local First Nations people and was directed by HBC to lead an exploration into the interior of Vancouver Island. One of Horne’s historical accounts came when he witnessed the massacre of the Big Qualicum Band by the Haida as they canoed their way down the coast.
Born in Union Bay in 1910, Horne’s great-granddaughter Georgina Abrams-Lytton took an interest to coastal art at an early age. In the mid-1950’s, after refining her talents and developing her style, she and Geordi Kelley, a business partner & close family friend from Haida Gwaii and who was in the first wave of landing at Juno Beach, Normandy with the Royal Canadian Engineers during WWII, established “Kla How Ya Crafts.”
Together they compiled research of significant cultural aspects, before Abrams-Lytton completed the paintings herself, breathing life into the coastal art tradition with her artistic spirit. After honing her skills, some of Abrams-Lytton’s artwork landed in the National Gallery of Canada.
Fast forward to the late -20th century. Inspired by his ancestor’s West Coast exploits and his mother’s artwork and strong ties with the Haida First Nations, Wayne and his wife Kaori Lytton founded their business based on the concept of producing genuine British Columbian products using homegrown raw materials. Through their relationship, the Chief of the Haida First Nations approved for Wayne & Kaori to use the Haida word Cheena – meaning “Silvery Salmon” - a tribute to the silvery salmon that symbolizes perseverance, regeneration, and prosperity. They were also introduced to and partnered with an up-and-coming Haida artist named Don Yeomans and together they collaborated, culminating in the iconic Cheena logo that proudly bears the mark of tradition and innovation. Don Yeomans has become an acclaimed artist in his own right and his artwork can be found in the Museum of Anthropology at UBC and on permanent display at the Canadian Museum of History.
With the Haida name Cheena and a distinct Haida design logo, Wayne and Kaori launched their company in Vancouver in 1978. Cheena quickly emerged as a beacon of Canadian excellence, offering premium wild smoked salmon and a diverse range of culinary delights crafted from homegrown ingredients.
From those early days in 1978 to the present, Cheena is proud to use only the finest quality (#1 export grade) raw material caught north of Vancouver Island. Salmon from this area of the Pacific Ocean are some of the best wild salmon in the world. The pristine and untouched watershed along the coast of British Columbia nurses the cleanest and purest environment to allow the salmon to swim freely without disruption naturally giving them their shiny silver back, rich colourful meat and high oil content.
The salmon caught off these waters are frozen immediately at sea (FAS) and once it arrives in our processing facility the frozen salmon are hand filleted, pin-bone removed, fully trimmed, lightly brined and smoked to perfection using natural authentic wood smoke. After the steel racks are removed from the smokehouse, the fillets are flash-frozen for an immediate freeze to ensure it captures the salmon at its peak quality.
It is very important to point out that we do not use liquid smoke, preservatives, additives, dyes or artificial colouring agents in our smoked salmon products. This is one of many reasons why Cheena continues to be known for producing high quality seafood, and after more than 45 successful years in the business, is recognized as a pioneer in smoked salmon retail.
With the same vision of only using authentic raw material, Kaori and Wayne added another emblematic Canadian product: maple syrup. Similar to wine, every harvest of maple syrup depends on the location, soil and climate of its maple farm. The terroir affects its flavour, characteristics and overall quality of the maple syrup. Reflecting on this connection to its soil, they decided to call their new product line Maple Terroir.
” Our maple syrup is produced from a 4th generation maple farm located near the beautiful Appalachian Mountains with some of the best producing sugar maples in Canada. The low-yield farming on high elevation terrain takes a tremendous commitment in terms of time and cost but anything else would require compromise, which we are not willing to make.”
Like Cheena, quality control at Maple Terroir is paramount to our production of maple syrup. Our priority is to supply the best pure maple syrup and maple products by using meticulously selected, superior quality maple sap and the finest production methods available. Nowhere within our pure maple syrup process do we blend or add chemicals or bleaching powders or color preservatives of any kind. Today the brand represents the ever-expanding inventory of maple syrup and unique maple syrup-related products, and is known for its quality and wide selection.
Under the leadership of Wayne and Kaori's son, - current president Shawn Lytton - Cheena and Maple Terroir continue to develop a variety of innovative Canadian specialty food products while staying true to the original vision of authenticity and Canadian uniqueness.
As a family-owned and operated business, it’s important to us that we carry on the tradition of providing only the very best of gourmet Canadian specialty foods to our customers.
From the cold, pristine waters off the West Coast of British Columbia and from the terroir of the Quebec Appalachian Mountains to your table…… Bon Appetit!
The first Cheena store in downtown Vancouver, 1978.