Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an
Indigenous people
Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...
in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the
Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approximately of land, from the basin of the upper
Skeena River
The Skeena River is the second-longest river entirely within British Columbia, Canada (after the Fraser River). Since ancient times, the Skeena has been an important transportation artery, particularly for the Tsimshian and the Gitxsan—whose n ...
from about Legate Creek to the Skeena's headwaters and its surrounding tributaries.
Gitxsan Chiefs - Who We Are - Recent History
/ref> Part of the Tsimshianic language group, their culture is considered to be part of the civilization of the Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast
The Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast are composed of many nations and tribal affiliations, each with distinctive cultural and political identities. They share certain beliefs, traditions and practices, such as the centrality of sal ...
, although their territory lies in the Interior rather than on the Coast
The coast, also known as the coastline or seashore, is defined as the area where land meets the ocean, or as a line that forms the boundary between the land and the coastline. The Earth has around of coastline. Coasts are important zones in n ...
. They were at one time also known as the ''Interior Tsimshian'', a term which also included the Nisga'a, the Gitxsan's neighbours to the north. Their neighbours to the west are 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 ...
(a.k.a. the Coast Tsimshian) while to the east the Wetʼsuwetʼen
The Wetʼsuwetʼen ( ) are a First Nation who live on the Bulkley River and around Burns Lake, Broman Lake, and François Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia. The endonym Wetʼsuwetʼen means "People of the Wa Dzun ...
, an Athapaskan people, with whom they have a long and deep relationship and shared political and cultural community.
Society and culture
Gitxsan are a matrilineal
Matrilineality is the tracing of kinship through the female line. It may also correlate with a social system in which each person is identified with their matriline – their mother's lineage – and which can involve the inheritance ...
society that consists of Frog, Eagle, Wolf, and Fireweed Clan
A clan is a group of people united by actual or perceived kinship
and descent. Even if lineage details are unknown, clans may claim descent from founding member or apical ancestor. Clans, in indigenous societies, tend to be endogamous, mea ...
s. Each clan consists of a series of independent Houses (Wilp), each with their own High Chief, and traditional territories and fishing sites. Marriage within a clan is forbidden.
There are approximately 5,000 people 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, for ...
wide with many living in traditional Gitxsan territory. Many also live elsewhere in British Columbia, in places such as Terrace
Terrace may refer to:
Landforms and construction
* Fluvial terrace, a natural, flat surface that borders and lies above the floodplain of a stream or river
* Terrace, a street suffix
* Terrace, the portion of a lot between the public sidewalk an ...
, Smithers, and in Vancouver
Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. ...
, as well as around the world.
Eighty per cent of the people living on the lands surrounding Legate creek to the Skeena headwaters are Gitxsan ('People of the River Mist') and archaeological evidence supports a continuous habitation of at least 10,000 years. Their traditional language is called Gitxsanimaax.
A museum known as 'Ksan
ʼKsan is a historical village and living museum of the Gitxsan Indigenous people in the Skeena Country of Northwestern British Columbia, Canada. ʼKsan is located near Hazelton at the confluence of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers on Gitxsan ...
displaying some traditional and modern Gitksan art and history is located on the Gitanmaax
Hazelton is a village located at the junction of the Bulkley and Skeena Rivers in northern British Columbia, Canada. It was founded in 1866 and in 2011 had a population of 305. The nearby larger community of New Hazelton is the northernmost poin ...
reserve near Hazelton.
Title and treaties
The aboriginal title rights of the Gitxsan and their neighbours, the Wetʼsuwetʼen
The Wetʼsuwetʼen ( ) are a First Nation who live on the Bulkley River and around Burns Lake, Broman Lake, and François Lake in the northwestern Central Interior of British Columbia. The endonym Wetʼsuwetʼen means "People of the Wa Dzun ...
, were affirmed by the Supreme Court of Canada
The Supreme Court of Canada (SCC; french: Cour suprême du Canada, CSC) is the Supreme court, highest court in the Court system of Canada, judicial system of Canada. It comprises List of Justices of the Supreme Court of Canada, nine justices, wh ...
in its 1997 Delgamuukw decision.
To date, a treaty agreement between the Gitxsan Nation
Gitxsan (also spelled Gitksan) are an Indigenous people in Canada whose home territory comprises most of the area known as the Skeena Country in English (: means "people of" and : means "the River of Mist"). Gitksan territory encompasses approxim ...
and the Federal Government of Canada
The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown-i ...
and Provincial Government of British Columbia has not been reached.
Communities
Some of the Gitxsan (Gitksan) villages are, divided by dialect:
Gitxsan dialect or Gitxsanimax̱, also known as Eastern Gitxsan dialect speaking bands in Gigeenix (eastern region):
* Old Hazelton (traditional name: Gitanmaax, )
*Kispiox
Kispiox is a Gitxsan (often known also as Gitksan, due to eastern and western dialects) village of approximately 550 in the Kispiox Valley, at the confluence of the Kispiox and Skeena Rivers in British Columbia. Located north of Hazelton, the c ...
(traditional name: Anspa'yaxw, Kispiox Band Council The Kispiox Band Council are a First Nation based near the meeting of the Skeena and Bulkley Rivers in northwestern B.C. They are members of the Gitxsan Treaty Society The Gitxsan Treaty Society handles Treaty negotiations in the BC Treaty Proces ...
)
* Glen Vowell (traditional name: Sik-e-Dakh, Glen Vowell Indian Band The Gitxsan Treaty Society handles Treaty negotiations in the BC Treaty Process for a number of First Nations in northwestern British Columbia
Treaty Process
The Gitxsan Treaty Society has reached Stage 4 in the BC Treaty Process.
Membership
* ...
)
Gitsken dialect or Gitsenimx̱ , also known as Western Gitksan dialect speaking bands in Gyeets (western region):
* Gitanyow (formerly Kitwancool, Gitanyow Band The Gitanyow First Nation are a First Nation based northeast of Terrace in northwestern British Columbia, Canada. They are part of the Gitxsan people.
Chief and Councillors
Treaty Process
They are in Stage 4 of the BC Treaty Process
The ...
)
*Gitsegukla
Gitsegukla (also Kitsegeucla or Skeena Crossing) is a Gitxsan community of about 500 at the confluence of the Kitseguecla and Skeena Rivers, approximately 40 km southwest of Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada. The community is on Gitsegukl ...
(formerly: Kitsegeucla, Gitsegukla Indian Band (formerly Kitsegugkla))
*Kitwanga
Kitwanga or Gitwangak or Gitwangax ("people of the place of rabbits" in the Gitxsan language) is located where the Kitwanga River runs into the Skeena River in British Columbia. A long-standing village before contact, the village is within G ...
(traditional name: Gitwangak, Gitwangak Indian Band (formerly Kitwanga)) - the Gitksan community of Cedarvale (traditional name: Minskinish or Meanskaniist) belong as Koonwat Indian Reserve No. 7 to the Gitwangak.
Notable people of Gitxsan descent
* Cindy Blackstock
Cindy Blackstock is a Canadian Gitxsan activist for child welfare and executive director of the First Nations Child and Family Caring Society of Canada. She is also a professor for the School of Social Work at McGill University.
Early life an ...
* Simon Gunanoot
Simon Gunanoot (1874 – October 1933) was a prosperous Gitxsan man and a merchant in the Kispiox Valley region of Hazelton, British Columbia, Canada. He lived with his wife and children on a large ranch. A posse sought him after a murder but h ...
, long sought-after fugitive later cleared of wrongdoing
* Walter Harris, hereditary chief and artist/carver
* Doreen Jensen, artist, carver, activist and educator
* Judith P. Morgan, painter
References
Bibliography
*Adams, John W. (1973) ''The Gitksan Potlatch: Population Flux, Resource Ownership and Reciprocity.'' Toronto: Holt, Rinehart, and Winston of Canada.
*Barbeau, Marius (1928) ''The Downfall of Temlaham.'' Toronto: MacMillan.
*Barbeau, Marius (1929) ''Totem Poles of the Gitksan, Upper Skeena River, British Columbia.'' Ottawa: Canada, Department of Mines.
*Beynon, William (2000) ''Potlatch at Gitsegukla: William Beynon’s 1945 Field Notebooks.'' Ed. by Margaret Anderson and Marjorie Halpin. Vancouver: U.B.C. Press.
*Bookbuildes of 'Ksan (1977) ''We-Gyet Wanders On: Legends of the Northwest.'' Saanichton, B.C.: Hancock House Publishers.
*Cove, John J. (1982) "The Gitksan Traditional Concept of Land Ownership." ''Anthropologica,'' vol. 24, no. 1, pp. 3–17.
*Daly, Richard (2005) ''Our Box Was Full: An Ethnography for the Delgamuukw Plaintiffs.'' Vancouver: UBC Press.
*Duff, Wilson (ed.) (1959) ''Histories, Territories and Laws of the Kitwancool.'' Victoria: Royal British Columbia Museum.
*Gibson, John Frederic (1972) ''A Small and Charming World.'' Toronto: Collins Publishers.
*Glavin, Terry (1990) ''A Death Feast in Dimlahamid.'' Vancouver: New Star Books.
*Harris, Christie (1975) ''Sky Man on the Totem Pole?'' New York: Atheneum.
*Harris, Kenneth B. (1974) ''Visitors Who Never Left: The Origin of the People of Damelahamid.'' Vancouver: University of British Columbia Press.
*Monet, Don, and Ardythe Wilson (1992) ''Colonialism on Trial: Indigenous Land Rights and the Gitksan and Wet’suwet’en Sovereignty Case.'' Philadelphia: New Society Publishers.
*Sterritt, Neil J., ''et al.'' (1998) ''Tribal Boundaries in the Nass Watershed.'' Vancouver: U.B.C. Press.
*Russell, Roy (2015) ''Feast: A Gitksan Story''
External links
Gitxsan Nation official website
Evictions
{{Authority control
Skeena Country