Gitxaala

The Gitxaała (People of the sea),^[1][2] are located on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia, and inhabit the village of Lax Klan. Gitxaała don’t refer to themselves as Ts’msyen (meaning ‘Inside the Skeena River’).

Location of Gitxaala Nation

Stories recording this encounter tell of the acquisition of the hereditary name Heel by the Gispwudwada (Blackfish or Killerwhale clan) House (extended matrilineal family) of Ts'ibasaa, from an English ship's captain.^[3][4]

In the more recent period, one holder of the name Heel also assumed rights over the Gispwudwada chief name Seeks, which represents another Gitxaała Gispwudwada (Blackfish Clan) house group.^[5]

One holder of the title Ts'ibasaa was Joshua Ts'ibasaa, who died in 1936. The anthropologist Viola Garfield has published a detailed description of his mortuary potlatch.^[6]: 252

Garfield also describes the House of Ts'ibasaa's genealogical merging with another Gispwudwada (Blackfish or Killerwhale clan) house group, the house of Nisweexs (Ts’ibasaa’s nephew) in the Ginadoiks tribe of Ts’msyen at Lax Kw'alaams (Port Simpson), B.C.^[6]

A large amount of information on the hereditary names, territories, and oral traditions of the Gitxaała people was collected in 1916 by William Beynon, a Ts’msyen chief and translator in the employ of the ethnologist Marius Barbeau. ^[7]

The Gitxaała people primarily live in Lax Klan, their main winter (and now permanent) village, and is a large and thriving community.^[8] Currently, most community members live away from the village, in 1983, the population of Lax Klan in 1983 was 493, while the band population was 1005.^[9] In 2006 the population of Lax Klan was 415.^[10]

It has temporarily suspended treaty negotiations with the British Columbia government.

Other Gitxaała house-groups include:

• House of Ayaamax - Ganhada (Raven Clan)
• House of Dzagmgishaaytks – Ganhada (Raven clan)
• House of La'ooy – Ganhada (Raven clan)
• House of Ts'ibasaa – Gispwudwada (Blackfish or Killerwhale clan)