The Kitkatla or Gitxaala are one of the 14 bands 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 the

Canadian province Within the geographical areas of Canada, the ten provinces and three territories are sub-national administrative divisions under the jurisdiction of the Canadian Constitution. In the 1867 Canadian Confederation, three provinces of British North ...

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, ...

, and inhabit a village, also called Kitkatla (sometimes called Laxklan), on Dolphin Island, a small island just by

Porcher Island Porcher Island is an island in Hecate Strait, British Columbia, Canada, near the mouth of the Skeena River and southwest of the port city of Prince Rupert. The locality of Porcher Island is located near the island's northern tip at Humpback Bay ...

off the coast of northern B.C. Because of their location, the Kitkatla have sometimes been called Porcher Island Indians. They were also, in the early contact period, called the Sebassa tribe, for their paramount chief at the time, Ts'ibasaa. The name ''Kitkatla'' derives from the Tsimshian name Gitkxaała, from ''git-'' (people of) and ''kxaała'' (open sea), since they are the farthest from the mainland of the Tsimshian tribes. Another name for themselves is ''Git lax m'oon'' ("people of the saltwater") in recognition of the land they lived on: the islands and inlets of this rugged piece of coastline. The Kitkatla are reputed to be the first Tsimshians to encounter (formally anyway) Europeans and the first to use guns. Stories recording this encounter tell of the acquisition of the hereditary name He'l by 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 ...

(Blackfish or Killerwhale clan) House (extended matrilineal family) of Ts'ibasaa, from an English ship's captain named Hale. In the more recent period, one holder of the name He'l also assumed rights over the Gispwudwada chief name Seeks, which represents another Kitkatla house-group. One holder of the title Ts'ibasaa was Joshua Ts'ibasaa, who died in 1936. The anthropologist

Viola Garfield Viola E. Garfield (December 5, 1899 – November 25, 1983) was an American anthropologist best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska. Early life Viola Edmundson was ...

has published a detailed description of his mortuary

potlatch A potlatch is a gift-giving feast practiced by Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of Canada and the United States,Harkin, Michael E., 2001, Potlatch in Anthropology, International Encyclopedia of the Social and Behavioral Science ...

. Garfield also describes the House of Ts'ibasaa's genealogical merging with another

(Blackfish or Killerwhale clan) house-group, the royal house of the

Ginadoiks {{no footnotes, date=June 2015 The Ginadoiks (sometimes called Gitnadoiks) are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resid ...

tribe of Tsimshians at

Lax Kw'alaams Los Angeles International Airport , commonly referred to as LAX (with each letter pronounced individually), is the primary international airport serving Los Angeles, California and its surrounding metropolitan area. LAX is located in the W ...

(Port Simpson), B.C. A large amount of information on the hereditary names, territories, and oral traditions of the Kitkatla people was collected in 1916 by

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 ...

, a Tsimshian chief and translator in the employ of the ethnologist

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 ...

. Today Kitkatla is a large and thriving community. Its population in 1983 was 493. It has temporarily suspended treaty negotiations with the British Columbia government. Other Kitkatla house-groups include: *House of Dzagmgishaaytks –

Ganhada The Ganhada (variously spelled, but often as G̱anhada) is the name for the Raven "clan" (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the G̱anada ( ...

(Raven clan) *House of La'ooy – Ganhada (Raven clan) *House of Ligidiił – Ganhada (Raven clan) *House of Niismuulx –

(Blackfish or Killerwhale clan) *House of Ts'ibasaa –

(Blackfish or Killerwhale clan)

Prominent people of Kitkatla ancestry

* Edward Gamble, hereditary chief (Ts'ibasaa, He'l, Seeks) *

Russell Gamble Russell may refer to: People * Russell (given name) * Russell (surname) * Lady Russell (disambiguation) * Lord Russell (disambiguation) Places Australia *Russell, Australian Capital Territory *Russell Island, Queensland (disambiguation) **R ...

, hereditary chief and basketball administrator (He'l) * Charles Menzies (anthropologist), Charles Menzies

References

Sources

* Barbeau, Marius (1950) ''Totem Poles.'' 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada. * Beynon, William (1987) "The Origin of the Name Hale." In: ''Tsimshian Narratives 2: Trade and Warfare,'' ed. by George F. MacDonald and John J. Cove, pp. 158–159. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization. * Brown, Dorothy (1992) ''Saaban: The Tsimshian and Europeans Meet.'' (Suwilaay'msga Na Ga'niiyatgm, Teachings of Our Grandfathers, vol. 3.) Prince Rupert, B.C.: First Nations Advisory Council of School District No. 52. * Viola Garfield, Garfield, Viola E. (1939) "Tsimshian Clan and Society." ''University of Washington Publications in Anthropology,'' vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 167–340. * Inglis, Gordon B., ''et al.'' (1990) "Tsimshians of British Columbia since 1900." In ''

Handbook of North American Indians The ''Handbook of North American Indians'' is a series of edited scholarly and reference volumes in Native American studies, published by the Smithsonian Institution beginning in 1978. Planning for the handbook series began in the late 1960s and ...

, Volume 7: Northwest Coast,'' pp. 285–293. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. * Miller, Jay (1997) ''Tsimshian Culture: A Light through the Ages.'' Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press. * Nowry, Laurence (1995) ''Marius Barbeau, Man of Mana: A Biography.'' Toronto: NC Press (pp. 165–168).

Prominent people of Kitkatla ancestry

References

Sources

Further reading