The Kitasoo are one of the 14 tribes of the

Tsimshian The Tsimshian (; tsi, Ts’msyan or Tsm'syen) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Their communities are mostly in coastal British Columbia in Terrace and Prince Rupert, and Metlakatla, Alaska on Annette Island, the only r ...

people in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, who inhabit, along with Xai'xais people of

Heiltsuk The Heiltsuk or Haíɫzaqv , sometimes historically referred to as ''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 ...

ethnic affiliation, the village of

Klemtu Klemtu is an unincorporated community on Swindle Island in the coastal fjords of British Columbia, Canada. It is located on Kitasoo Indian Reserve No. 1. Klemtu is the home of the Kitasoo tribe of Tsimshians, originally from Kitasu Bay, and t ...

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, ...

. The name ''Kitasoo'' derives from the Tsimshian name ''Gidestsu'', from ''git-'' (people of) and ''disdzuu,'' which refers to a large, tiered house-depression. The Kitasoo, along with the Gitga'ata Tsimshians at

Hartley Bay Hartley Bay is a First Nations community on the coast of British Columbia. The village is located at the mouth of Douglas Channel, about north of Vancouver and south of Prince Rupert. It is an isolated village accessible only by air and wate ...

, B.C., are often classed as "

Southern Tsimshian Southern Tsimshian, (pronounced: ) or , is the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language, spoken by the Gitga'ata and Kitasoo Tsimshians in Klemtu Klemtu is an unincorporated community on Swindle Island in the coastal fjords of British Colu ...

," their traditional language being the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language. Their band government is the Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation, a member government of the

Wuikinuxv-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council The Wuikinuxv-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council, formerly the Oweekeno-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council, is a First Nations tribal council comprising band governments of three indigenous peoples of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. T ...

. The anthropologist

Marius Barbeau Charles Marius Barbeau, (March 5, 1883 – February 27, 1969), also known as C. Marius Barbeau, or more commonly simply Marius Barbeau, was a Canadian ethnographer and folklorist who is today considered a founder of Canadian anthropology. A ...

recorded in 1947 that John Starr was of the "Klemtu" tribe and held the hereditary name Lagax'niitsk.

Prehistoric culture

Some information is known about the lifestyle and diet of the prehistoric Kitasoo based upon archaeological recovery. For example the Kitasoo exploited numerous flora and fauna as food sources including the Whitebark Raspberry, ''

Rubus leucodermis ''Rubus leucodermis'', also called whitebark raspberry or blackcap raspberry, is a species of ''Rubus'' native to western North America. Description ''Rubus leucodermis'' is a deciduous shrub growing to , with prickly shoots. While the crown is ...

''.C.Michael Hogan, ''Whitebark Raspberry'', October 19, 2008, Globaltwitcher, ed. N. Stromber

Notes

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External links

The Kitasoo/Xai'Xais Nation

An Introduction to Klemtu

Bibliography

* Barbeau, Marius (1950) ''Totem Poles.'' 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. * Miller, Jay (1981) "Moieties and Cultural Amnesia: Manipulation of Knowledge in a Pacific Northwest Coast Native Community," ''Arctic Anthropology,'' vol. 18, no. 1, pp. 23–32. * Miller, Jay (1982) "Tsimshian Moieties and Other Clarifications," ''Northwest Anthropological Research Notes,'' vol. 16, no. 2, pp. 148–164. Tsimshian Central Coast of British Columbia North Coast of British Columbia