Gitxaala

Location of Gitxaala Nation

The Gitxaala (Tsimshian: Gitxaała, lit. 'People of the sea'), or Gitlaxmoon[1][2] are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian people, located on the Northwest Coast of British Columbia, and inhabit the village of Lax Klan. 'Gitlaxmoon ("people of the saltwater") in recognition of their coastal presence on the islands and inlets of this rugged piece of coastline. Gitxaała don’t refer to themselves as Gitlaxmoon or as Ts’msyen (meaning ‘Inside the Skeena River’).

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

In the more recent period, one holder of the name He'l also assumed rights over the Gispwudwada chief name Seeks, which represents another Gitxaała Gispwudwada (Blackfish Clan) house group.

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.

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’msyens at Lax Kw'alaams (Port Simpson), B.C.

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.

The Gitxaała people primarily live in Lax Klan, their main winter (and now permanent) village, and is a large and thriving community. Its population in 1983 was 493. 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)

Prominent people of Gitxaała ancestry

• Joshua Ts’ibasaa, mansm’ooygidm Gitxaała (head chief of Gitxaała)
• William Ewart Gladstone Shakes (hereditary chief Seeks)
• Edward Gamble, hereditary chief (Ts'ibasaa, He'l, Seeks)
• Russell Gamble, hereditary chief and ANBT - basketball administrator (He'l)

References

1. "Gitxaala Nation | BC Assembly of First Nations". bcafn.ca. British Columbia Assembly of First Nations. Retrieved January 6, 2019.
2. "Gitxaala Nation homepage". Gitxaala Nation. Retrieved January 6, 2019.

Sources

• Barbeau, Marius (1950) Totem Poles. 2 vols. (Anthropology Series 30, National Museum of Canada Bulletin 119.) Ottawa: National Museum of Canada.
• Beynon, William (1987) "The Origin of the Name Hale." In: Tsimshian Narratives 2: Trade and Warfare, ed. by George F. MacDonald and John J. Cove, pp. 158–159. Ottawa: Canadian Museum of Civilization.
• Brown, Dorothy (1992) Saaban: The Tsimshian and Europeans Meet. (Suwilaay'msga Na Ga'niiyatgm, Teachings of Our Grandfathers, vol. 3.) Prince Rupert, B.C.: First Nations Advisory Council of School District No. 52.
• Garfield, Viola E. (1939) "Tsimshian Clan and Society." University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 167–340.
• Inglis, Gordon B., et al. (1990) "Tsimshians of British Columbia since 1900." In Handbook of North American Indians, Volume 7: Northwest Coast, pp. 285–293. Washington: Smithsonian Institution.
• Miller, Jay (1997) Tsimshian Culture: A Light through the Ages. Lincoln: University of Nebraska Press.
• Nowry, Laurence (1995) Marius Barbeau, Man of Mana: A Biography. Toronto: NC Press (pp. 165–168).

Further reading

• Galois, Robert (2004). Voyage to the Northwest Side of America: The Journals of James Colnett, 1786–89. University of British Columbia (UBC) Press. ISBN 978-0-7748-0855-2. online at Google Books