Gwayasdums is a

village A village is a human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to a few thousand. Although villages are often located in rural areas, the term urban v ...

of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples on the west side of

Gilford Island Gilford Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada, between Tribune Channel and Knight Inlet. It has an area of . Turnour Island is to its south, across Tribune Channel; and the entrance to Thompson Sound is to its east. Port Elizabet ...

in the

Johnstone Strait Johnstone Strait () is a channel along the north east coast of Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. Opposite the Vancouver Island coast, running north to south, are Hanson Island, West Cracroft Island, the mainland British Columbia C ...

region of the

Central Coast of British Columbia The British Columbia Coast, popularly referred to as the BC Coast or simply the Coast, is a geographic region of the Provinces and territories of Canada, Canadian province of British Columbia. As the entire western continental coastline of Canada ...

, Canada. The village, located on Retreat Pass, is on Gwayasdums Indian Reserve No. 1. Other spellings of the name are Kwaustums and gwa'yasdams and Gwa'yasdams and Gwa’yasdams. The locality has also been known as Health Bay, also the name for an adjoining body of water at which is a side bay. Health Lagoon is nearby Gwayasdums just to the south at .

History

Gwayasdums, which today has about 70 residents, is the ancestral home of the Kwikwasut’inuxw, though it has been used by many other Kwakwaka'wakw groups over time. The village was destroyed by the

Nuxalk The Nuxalk people (Nuxalk language, Nuxalk: ''Nuxalkmc''; pronounced )'','' also referred to as the Bella Coola, Bellacoola or Bilchula, are an Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, Indigenous First Nations in Canada, First Nation ...

in 1856, possibly in relation to a famine at Bella Coola resulting from the closing of

Fort McLoughlin Fort McLoughlin was a fur trading post established in 1833 by the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) on Campbell Island in present-day British Columbia, Canada. At the time the Hudson's Bay Company performed quasi-governmental duties on behalf of the Br ...

. The survivors joined the Mamalilikulla at Memkumlis on Village Island. The Gwawa’enuxw, the Haxwa’mis, and the Dzawada’enuxw began to use Gwayasdums as a joint winter village Between 1865 and 1879. In the 1890s the Kwikwasut'inuxw began to return though joint occupation and use continued into the 20th Century.

References

External links

''Hith Alis Lax Gwa-yas-dums: Moving for Crisis to Hope at Gwa-yas-dums Village''
report prepared for the KHFN by Bob Chamberlin, William Trousdale, and Jeff Cook, Plan Canada, Summer 2008
Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation website
{{coord, 50, 42, 00, N, 126, 36, 00, W, display=title, source:BCNames, name=Gwayasdums Kwakwaka'wakw villages Central Coast of British Columbia Indigenous conflicts in Canada

History

See also

References

External links