Klemtu is an

unincorporated community An unincorporated area is a region that is not governed by a local municipal corporation. Widespread unincorporated communities and areas are a distinguishing feature of the United States and Canada. Most other countries of the world either have ...

Swindle Island Swindle Island is an island on the North Coast of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is located south of Princess Royal Island on the Inside Passage shipping route. The small First Nations community of Klemtu is located on its eastern ...

in the coastal

fjords In physical geography, a fjord or fiord () is a long, narrow inlet with steep sides or cliffs, created by a glacier. Fjords exist on the coasts of Alaska, Antarctica, British Columbia, Chile, Denmark, Germany, Greenland, the Faroe Islands, Icela ...

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. It is located on Kitasoo Indian Reserve No. 1. Klemtu is the home of the

Kitasoo The Kitasoo are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people in Canada, who inhabit, along with Xai'xais people of Heiltsuk ethnic affiliation, the village of Klemtu, British Columbia. The name ''Kitasoo'' derives from the Tsimshian name ''Gidests ...

tribe of

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 ...

s, originally from Kitasu Bay, and the Xai'xais of

Kynoch Inlet Kynoch was a manufacturer of ammunition, later incorporated into ICI but remaining as a brand name for sporting cartridges. History The firm of Pursall and Phillips operated a 'percussion cap manufactory' at Whittall Street, in Birmingham, i ...

, extends eastward from Queen Charlotte Sound, approximately at . It is adjacent to the

Fiordland Conservancy The Fiordland Conservancy, also known as the Fiordland Recreation Area formerly, and since also as the Fiordland Conservation Area, is a conservancy in British Columbia, Canada. It preserves a portion of the province's coast containing glacial f ...

. These two tribes live together as, and are jointly governed by, the Kitasoo/Xai'xais Nation. Traditional languages spoken at Klemtu are the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language, called

Southern Tsimshian Southern Tsimshian, (pronounced: ) or , is the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language, spoken by the Gitga'ata and Kitasoo Tsimshians in Klemtu, B.C. It became extinct with the death of the last remaining speaker, Violet Neasloss. is close ...

, and Xaixais, a dialect of the

Heiltsuk language Heiltsuk , also known as Haíɫzaqv, Bella Bella and Haihais, is a dialect of the North Wakashan (Kwakiutlan) language Heiltsuk-Oowekyala that is spoken by the Haihai ( Xai'xais) and Bella Bella First Nations peoples of the Central Coast region ...

. In religious affiliation, the community is dominated by the

United Church of Canada The United Church of Canada (french: link=no, Église unie du Canada) is a mainline Protestant denomination that is the largest Protestant Christian denomination in Canada and the second largest Canadian Christian denomination after the Catholi ...

. The government of the Kitasoo/Xai'xais Nation is a member government of the

Oweekeno-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 population of Klemtu in 1983 was 269. the population of Klemtu was 505.

Name origin

An alternate older name for Klemtu is Kitasoo. it was also known as China Hat due to the shape of Cone Island, which protects it from the open water. The name Klemtu is from the

Coast Tsimshian language Tsimshian, known by its speakers as Sm'álgyax, is a dialect of the Tsimshian language spoken in northwestern British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. ''Sm'algyax'' means literally "real or true language." The linguist Tonya Stebbins estimat ...

"Klemdoo-oolk," meaning "impassable".

References

External links

The Kitasoo/Xai'Xais Nation

An Introduction to Klemtu

Bibliography

*Inglis, Gordon B., ''et al.'' (1990) "Tsimshians of British Columbia since 1900." In ''Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast,'' pp. 285–293. Washington: Smithsonian Institution. *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. {{coord, 52, 35, N, 128, 32, W, region:CA_type:city, display=title Populated places on the British Columbia Coast Unincorporated settlements in British Columbia Tsimshian Heiltsuk North Coast of British Columbia Central Coast of British Columbia

Name origin

See also

References

External links

Bibliography