Heber Clifton (1871 – January 1, 1964) was an hereditary chief of the

Gitga'ata 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 Txa� ...

tribe of the

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace, British Columbia, Terr ...

nation of

British Columbia British Columbia (commonly abbreviated as BC) is the westernmost province of Canada, situated between the Pacific Ocean and the Rocky Mountains. It has a diverse geography, with rugged landscapes that include rocky coastlines, sandy beaches, ...

, Canada. He was from the Tsimshian community of Hartley Bay, B.C. He was of the

Gispwudwada {{short description, Indigenous people of British Columbia/Alaska The Gispwudwada or Gisbutwada (variously spelled) is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast A ...

or Killerwhale clan. As a child he moved to William Duncan's mission at Metlakatla BC, but when many Tsimshian migrated to Metlakatla Alaska in 1887, he was one of a group of families who moved back to their traditional territories and founded the new community of Hartley Bay. He and his wife Lucy were married by Rev. Thomas Crosby in 1891. They had a large family of five sons and four daughters His leadership abilities were recognized and he became hereditary chief of the village early in the 20th century. He worked all his life in the commercial fishing industry and also worked for Aboriginal rights. He spoke to the McKenna-McBride Commission in 1913 and was one of the founders of the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia. He recorded some of his oral traditional knowledge with the Tsimshian ethnologist

William Beynon William Beynon (1888–1958) was a Canadian hereditary chief of the Tsimshian Nation and an oral historian; he served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists who studied his people. Early life and education ...

, including a version of the story of Gwinaxnuusimgyet.

Sources

* Barbeau, Marius (1950) ''Totem Poles.'' 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. *Campbell, Kenneth (2005). ''Persistence and Change, A History of the Ts'msyen Nation.'' First Nations Education Services, SD 52, Prince Rupert. * Ancestry.com, British Columbia, Canada, Death Index, 1872-1990 (Ancestry.com Operations Inc), CREA: {{DEFAULTSORT:Clifton, Heber 1871 births 1964 deaths 19th-century First Nations people 20th-century First Nations people Indigenous leaders in British Columbia Tsimshian people