The Esquimalt people are a group of the

Coast Salish peoples The Coast Salish is a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak one of the Coa ...

living today in the area of

Esquimalt The Township of Esquimalt is a municipality at the southern tip of Vancouver Island, in British Columbia, Canada. It is bordered to the east by the provincial capital, Victoria, British Columbia, Victoria, to the south by the Strait of Juan de ...

, of which they are indirectly the namesake via the name of

Esquimalt Harbour Esquimalt Harbour is a natural harbour in Greater Victoria on the southern tip of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The entrance to Esquimalt Harbour is from the south off the Strait of Juan de Fuca through a narrow channel known as R ...

. Their government is the

Esquimalt First Nation The Esquimalt First Nation, also known as the Esquimalt Indian Band and Esquimalt Nation, is a First Nations band government of the Esquimalt people. Historically their village was located closer to Victoria proper, but today their main reserve ...

. They were signatories to the

Douglas Treaties The Douglas Treaties, also known as the Vancouver Island Treaties or the Fort Victoria Treaties, were a series of treaties signed between certain indigenous groups on Vancouver Island and the Colony of Vancouver Island. Background With the signin ...

as the ''Kosapsum''. x̣ʷiméɫǝɫ (Esquimalt) is the term which was originally used to describe the specific location of a group of Songhees people living near the mouth of the Mill Stream at the head of present day Esquimalt Harbour.(Keddie 2003:50) x̣ʷiméɫǝɫ was translated by J.W. McKay during the negotiation of the Douglas treaties as meaning “a place of gradually shoaling” (Kennedy and Bouchard 1995:20). Over time, the term “Esquimalt” came to be applied more generally to the harbour area and to a group of people living at the village known as Kalla (Keddie 2003), located on the northern shore of Plumper Bay (archaeological site DcRu-36). The people of the present day Esquimalt Nation are descended from the signatories of the Kosapsum Treaty (Keddie 2003; Kennedy and Bouchard 1995), and not the group of people that the name originated from, who signed a separate treaty called the Whyomilth (Esquimalt) Treaty.

External links

Esquimalt First Nation

The Esquimalt and Songhees Nations

References

Coast Salish Southern Vancouver Island {{BritishColumbia-stub

See also

External links

References