Kitselas
Encyclopedia
- This page is for the people. For the location see Kitselas, British ColumbiaKitselas, British ColumbiaKitselas, also Kitsalas, is an unincorporated settlement, otherwise known as Kitselas Indian Reserve No. 1 of the Kitselas subgroup of the Tsimshian people lcoated on the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Kitselas means "people of the village at the canyon" in the Tsimshian...
. For their band government see Kitselas First NationKitselas First NationKitselas First Nation is the band government of the Kitselas subgroup of the Tsimshian. The band government is based at Gitaus in the Skeena Valley in the Skeena River valley to the northeast of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, Canada...
.
Kitselas, Kitsalas or Gits'ilaasü are one of the 14 tribe
Tribe
A tribe, viewed historically or developmentally, consists of a social group existing before the development of, or outside of, states.Many anthropologists use the term tribal society to refer to societies organized largely on the basis of kinship, especially corporate descent groups .Some theorists...
s of the Tsimshian
Tsimshian
The Tsimshian are an indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Tsimshian translates to Inside the Skeena River. Their communities are in British Columbia and Alaska, around Terrace and Prince Rupert and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. There are approximately 10,000...
nation of British Columbia
British Columbia
British Columbia is the westernmost of Canada's provinces and is known for its natural beauty, as reflected in its Latin motto, Splendor sine occasu . Its name was chosen by Queen Victoria in 1858...
, in northwestern Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
. The original name Gits'ilaasü means "people of the canyon." The tribe is situated at Kitselas, British Columbia
Kitselas, British Columbia
Kitselas, also Kitsalas, is an unincorporated settlement, otherwise known as Kitselas Indian Reserve No. 1 of the Kitselas subgroup of the Tsimshian people lcoated on the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. Kitselas means "people of the village at the canyon" in the Tsimshian...
, at the upper end of Kitselas Canyon
Kitselas Canyon
Kitselas Canyon, also Kitsalas Canyon is a stretch of the Skeena River in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between the community of Usk and the Tsimshian community of Kitselas. It was a major obstacle to steamboat travel on the Skeena River....
, which is on the Skeena River
Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada . The Skeena is an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan - whose names mean "inside the Skeena River" and "people of the Skeena River" respectively, and also during the...
. It was once a great trading nexus, just outside of and upriver from the city of Terrace
Terrace, British Columbia
Terrace is a city on the Skeena River in British Columbia, Canada. The Kitselas people, a tribe of the Tsimshian Nation, have lived in the Terrace area for thousands of years. The community population fell between 2001 and 2006 from 12,109 with a regional population of 19,980 to 11,320 and...
. It is the most upriver of the 14 tribes and it borders the territory of the Gitxsan
Gitxsan
Gitxsan are an indigenous people whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English...
nation. Its band government is the Kitselas First Nation
Kitselas First Nation
Kitselas First Nation is the band government of the Kitselas subgroup of the Tsimshian. The band government is based at Gitaus in the Skeena Valley in the Skeena River valley to the northeast of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, Canada...
.
Today the Kitselas people live mostly at two Indian reserves, one, at the Kulspai or Queensway reserve ("New Town"), is just across the river from Terrace. More recently, Kitselas people have begun to repopulate a more traditional and remote site on a bluff overlooking the Canyon, at Gitaus reserve (Git'aws meaning "people of the sand"). Gitaus is gradually becoming the centre of Kitselas life.
Until its dissolution in 2005, the Tsimshian Tribal Council
Tsimshian Tribal Council
The Tsimshian Tribal Council was the governing coalition of the band governments of the Tsimshian people in Prince Rupert. In British Columbia, the governments of Canada started engaging in the British Columbia Treaty Process with First Nation bands in the province...
represented Kitselas in treaty negotiations with the provincial and federal governments.
From the 1870s until the 1960s, many Kitselas and Kitsumkalum
Kitsumkalum
Kitsumkalum is one of the 14 bands of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and is also the name of their Indian Reserve just west of the city of Terrace, British Columbia, where the Kitsumkalum River flows into the Skeena River...
Tsimshians lived at the cannery town of Port Essington
Port Essington, British Columbia
Port Essington was a cannery town on the south bank of the Skeena River estuary in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between Prince Rupert and Terrace, and at the confluence of the Skeena and Ecstall Rivers. It was founded in 1871 by Robert Cunningham and Thomas Hankin and was for a time...
, farther down the Skeena River (now a ghost town), at the confluence of the Ecstall and Skeena Rivers.
William Beynon
William Beynon
William Beynon was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists....
and the anthropologist Marius Barbeau
Marius Barbeau
Charles Marius Barbeau, , 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...
recorded traditional information from Kitselas people at Port Essington, B.C.
Port Essington, British Columbia
Port Essington was a cannery town on the south bank of the Skeena River estuary in northwestern British Columbia, Canada, between Prince Rupert and Terrace, and at the confluence of the Skeena and Ecstall Rivers. It was founded in 1871 by Robert Cunningham and Thomas Hankin and was for a time...
, in 1924, including Chief Walter Wright
Walter Wright (oral historian)
Walter George Wright was a Tsimshian hereditary chief from the community of Kitselas, near Terrace, British Columbia, Canada, whose extensive knowledge of oral history was published posthumously in book form as Men of Medeek....
and Chief Samuel Wise, who held the Kitselas Laxsgiik
Laxsgiik
The Laxsgiik is the name for the Eagle "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska...
(Eagle-clan) name Gitxon.
Following are the house-groups (matrilineal extended families) of the Kitselas:
- House of Gagawtsgan -- LaxsgiikLaxsgiikThe Laxsgiik is the name for the Eagle "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska...
(Eagle clan) - House of Gitxon -- Laxsgiik (Eagle clan)
- House of Iyuu's -- Laxsgiik (Eagle clan)
- House of G'wam -- GanhadaGanhadaThe Ganhada is the name for the Raven "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Ganada Tribe of the Nisga'a nation in British Columbia and the Frog clan among B.C.'s Gitxsan nation...
(Raven clan) - House of Niis'hawas -- GispwudwadaGispwudwadaThe Gispwudwada is the name for the Killerwhale "clan" in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. It is considered analogous or identical to the Gisgahaast clan in British Columbia's Gitksan nation and the Gisk'ahaast/Gisk'aast Tribe of the Nisga'a...
(Killerwhale clan) - House of Niis'nagwalk -- Laxsgiik (Eagle clan)
- House of Lax'Stell--LaxGibu (Wolf clan)
- House of Niis'taxo'ok -- Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan)
- House of Sats'an -- Ganhada (Raven clan)
- House of Niis'Gitlope -- Laxgiik (Eagle clan)
- House of Stee How -- LaxGibu (Wolf clan)
Detailed narratives were also recorded from Chief Walter Wright
Walter Wright (oral historian)
Walter George Wright was a Tsimshian hereditary chief from the community of Kitselas, near Terrace, British Columbia, Canada, whose extensive knowledge of oral history was published posthumously in book form as Men of Medeek....
(Niistaxo'ok) in the 1930s and collected in a volume called Men of Medeek.