Month: July 2018

The 1951 amendment to the Indian Act (Canada’s Law regarding First Nations), removed some of the most repressive elements, including the ban on the potlatch. While the Heiltsuk continued to practice elements of the feast […]

Traditionally, the Heiltsuk divided the year into a secular summer harvesting season and a winter sacred season, when most ceremonies were conducted. “The pattern of Heiltsuk resource use has changed somewhat in the past two […]

Their first contact with Europeans was most likely in 1793, and the name “Bella Bella” dates back to 1834. They generally refer to themselves as Heiltsuk. As with many other indigenous peoples of the Pacific […]

The Heiltsuk, also Bella Bella, are an Indigenous people of the Central Coast region in British Columbia, centred on the island community of Bella Bella. The government of the Heiltsuk people is the Heiltsuk Nation, […]

The Haisla language, X̄a’islak̓ala or X̌àh̓isl̩ak̓ala, is a First Nations language spoken by the Haisla people of the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, who are based in the village of […]

The Haisla (also Xa’islak’ala, X̄a’islakʼala, X̌àʼislakʼala, X̣aʼislak’ala, Xai:sla) are an indigenous people living at Kitamaat in the North Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. Their indigenous language is named after them in […]

Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an indigenous people of Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (Git: means “people of” and Xsan: means “the River of […]

The Tsimshian have a matrilineal kinship system, with a societal structure based on a clan system, properly referred to as a moiety. Descent and property are figured through the maternal line. Hereditary chiefs gained their […]

Tsimshian translates to “Inside the Skeena River.” At one time the Tsimshian lived on the upper reaches of the Skeena River near present-day Hazelton, British Columbia. The majority of Tsimshian still live in the lower […]

The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia and far southern Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert in British Columbia, and Alaska’s Annette Islands. […]