The Gitga'ata (sometimes also spelled Gitga'at or Gitk'a'ata) are one of the 14 tribes of the
Tsimshian nation in
British Columbia, Canada, and inhabit the village of
Hartley Bay, British Columbia, the name of which in the
Tsimshian language is Txałgiu. The name Gitga'ata in the Tsimshian language means "people of the cane" (as in, a ceremonial stick). The Gitga'ata, along with the
Kitasoo Tsimshians at
Klemtu, B.C., are often classed as "
Southern Tsimshian," their traditional language being the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language. Most Tsimshian-speakers in Hartley Bay today, however, speak the form of the language shared by villages to the north. Their
band government
In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...
is the
Hartley Bay Indian Band
The Hartley Bay Indian Band is also known as the Gitga'at First Nation or the Hartley Bay First Nation. The members of the Gitga'at First nation are often referred to as Gitka'a'ata. The population of Gitk’a’ata peoples living in Hartley Bay ra ...
, aka the Gitga'at First Nation.
In 1947, Edmund Patalas ("belonging to the Kitamat tribe at Hartley Bay") described to the Tsimshian ethnologist
William Beynon the origins of the
Laxsgiik (Eagle clan) people of the "Gitxon" group who migrated from the land of the
Haida
Haida may refer to:
Places
* Haida, an old name for Nový Bor
* Haida Gwaii, meaning "Islands of the People", formerly called the Queen Charlotte Islands
* Haida Islands, a different archipelago near Bella Bella, British Columbia
Ships
* , a 1 ...
people on
Haida Gwaii first to
Kitamaat
Kitimat is a district municipality in the North Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is a member municipality of the Regional District of Kitimat–Stikine regional government. The Kitimat Valley is part of the most populous urban distric ...
and then to the Gitga'ata people, where a branch of this group, the House of Sinaxeet, is now considered "the royal Eagle house of Kitkata" (described in Barbeau's ''Totem Poles'').
Bibliography
* Barbeau, Marius (1950) ''Totem Poles.'' 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada.
* Miller, Jay (1997) ''Tsimshian Culture: A Light through the Ages.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
* Seguin, Margaret (ed.) (1984) ''The Tsimshian: Images of the Past; Views for the Present.'' Vancouver: UBC Press.
* Seguin, Margaret (1985) ''Interpretive Contexts for Traditional and Current Coast Tsimshian Feasts.'' Ottawa: National Museums of Canada.
* Turner, Nancy J., and Helen Clifton (2006) "The Forest and the Seaweed: Gitga'at Seaweed, Traditional Ecological Knowledge, and Community Survival." In: ''Traditional Ecological Knowledge and Natural Resource Management,'' ed. by Charles R. Menzies, pp. 66-86. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
Tsimshian
North Coast of British Columbia