The Wuikinuxv , ("Backbone people"), also rendered Oweekano (Pre-1976); ''Oowekeeno'' (1976-2003) (variation: ''Oweekeno, Owekano, Oweekayno, Wuikenukv, Wikeno, Owikeno, Awikenox'', and also known as the Rivers Inlet people, are an
Indigenous First Nations people of the
Central Coast region 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 ...
of
British Columbia, located around
Rivers Inlet and
Owikeno Lake
Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other spellings (pron. "o we KEE no"), is a large fjord lake in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It connects to the head of Rivers Inlet by the short Wannock ...
, to the north of
Queen Charlotte Strait. The Wuikinuxv people and their neighbours the
Heiltsuk and
Haisla peoples were in the past sometimes known incorrectly as the "Northern Kwakiutl".
History
The name used for the main village on
Katit Indian Reserve No. 1
Katit Indian Reserve No. 1 is the main Indian reserve of the Wuikinuxv people, and is one of the three reserves governed by the Wuikinuxv Nation band government. It is located in British Columbia, Canada, on the entrance to Owikeno Lake on the ...
, which is on an island in the
Wannock River, that connects
Owikeno Lake
Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other spellings (pron. "o we KEE no"), is a large fjord lake in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It connects to the head of Rivers Inlet by the short Wannock ...
to
Rivers Inlet, "Wannock", means "poison" and refers to an 1848 raid by the Heiltsuk, as recounted by
John Thomas Walbran in his authoritative opus on coastal names in British Columbia:
Culture
A recently completed Bighouse, which is the first in many years, is the focus on a rebuilding of Wuikinuxv society.
The culture was structured much the same as the other indigenous peoples of the coast. At the height of the coastal civilization, Wuikinuxv territory encompassed the mouth of
Rivers Inlet to the head waters of
Owikeno Lake
Owikeno Lake, also Owekeeno Lake, Owekano Lake, Oweekayno Lake and other spellings (pron. "o we KEE no"), is a large fjord lake in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It connects to the head of Rivers Inlet by the short Wannock ...
.
Ethnobotany
They use the berries of
Vaccinium vitis-idaea ssp. minus as food.
Language
Oowekyala
Oowekyala , also ''Ooweekeeno'' and ''’Wuik̓ala'' in the language itself, is a dialect (or a sublanguage) of Heiltsuk-Oowekyala, a Northern Wakashan language spoken around Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the C ...
, the language of the Wuikinuxv, is closely related to the
Heiltsuk language, so much so that it is considered one of two dialects of a language named
Heiltsuk-Oowekyala
Heiltsuk-Oowekyala is a Northern Wakashan (Kwakiutlan) language spoken in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, spoken by the Wuikinuxv (Oweekeno) and Heiltsuk peoples. It has two dialects, Heiltsuk (Bella Bella) ...
, the other dialect being
Heiltsuk. It is also closely related to
Haisla and is also related to
Kwak'wala, the most widely spoken of the
Northern Wakashan languages. It is more distantly related to
Nuu-chah-nulth,
Ditidaht and
Makah, the
Southern Wakashan languages.
Government
The government of the Wuikinuxv people is the
Wuikinuxv Nation. The Wuikinuxv Nation is a member of the
Wuikinuxv-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council, based in
the town of Bella Coola.
Location and services
At present the small community of
Rivers Inlet which is situated on the banks of the 3 km
Wannock River is the main centre in Wuikinuxv territory; adjacent to it is the non-Indian reserve First Nations community of
Oweekeno
Oweekeno is a First Nations village of the Wuikinuxv located on the north bank of the Wannock River just upstream from its mouth into Rivers Inlet
Rivers Inlet is a fjord in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, i ...
.
BC Names/GeoBC entry "Oweekeno (First Nation Village)"
/ref> It has an airstrip and daily service from a local airline. In the summer months, airline service is disrupted by the traffic in and out of the sport-fishing camps.
Notes
References
''We Are the Wuikinuxv Nation: Wuikinuxv/Rivers Inlet'', Pam Brown, Pacific Northwest Curator, Museum of Anthropology, University of British Columbia, 2001
External links
Wuikinuxv Nation webpage
{{authority control
Central Coast of British Columbia
First Nations in British Columbia