Identification

The people sometimes referred to as “the Tsimshian” actually belong to three related nations of northwest coast people. Since time immemorial the Gitksan, Nisga’a, and Tsimshian have lived as neighbours in what is now northwestern British Columbia just below the Alaska panhandle. The people in these nations identified themselves not only as Nisga’a, Gitskan, and Tsimshian but also according to the village in which they lived during the winter months, calling themselves Gitga’ata, Gitwangak, Gitwinksihlkw, or several dozen other local community names.

The territories of the Nisga’a, Gitksan, and Coast and Southern Tsimshian peoples comprise the watersheds of the Nass and Skeena rivers and the adjacent coast and islands from the Alaska panhandle in the north to as far south as Swindle Island.

These three nations share a common ancient heritage, their cultures display many similarities, and their closely related languages are the only surviving members of the Tsimshian language family. Linguists note that the languages of the Gitksan and Nisga’a are particularly closely related to each other and more distantly connected to the languages of the Coast and Southern Tsimshian. Yet, despite the close relationship among the languages and cultures of the groups in the Tsimshian language family, their recent histories and contemporary political aspirations are distinct.

The language of the Coast Tsimshian is called Sm’algyax, which means “real language.” In that language Tsimshian means “entering the Skeena River [valley]” and properly refers to the groups that occupy the lower reaches of the river and the islands in the estuary of the Skeena. Prior to non-native settlement, there were ten groups occupying this area, with winter villages first dispersed in their territories in the valleys of tributaries of the Skeena and later in close proximity around Metlakatla in the area of present-day Prince Rupert. During the fur-trade period these groups amalgamated around Fort Simpson, and many of their descendants now comprise the populations of Metlakatla and Lax Kw’alaams (Port Simpson) as well as of Metlakatla, Alaska.

The term Tsimshian is also used for two communities located farther up the Skeena River near the Kitselas Canyon, Kitselas and Kitsumkalum, and also for three communities south of the Skeena mouth, Kitasoo/ Klemtu, Hartley Bay/Gitga’ata, and Kitkatla. The two upriver communities are sometimes referred to as Canyon Tsimshian to distinguish them from the coast groups. The three communities south of the Skeena mouth were probably originally populated by speakers of the Southern Tsimshian language, Skuuxs, a fourth member of the Tsimshian family which is almost extinct, having been largely replaced by the language of the coastal Tsimshian during the last hundred years. The territories of the Tsimshian are located in mainland watersheds and on islands in Douglas Channel and on the mainland and coastal islands north to the mouth of the Nass River as well as in the Lower Skeena River watershed.

Gitksan means “People of the Skeena River.” Many Gitksan commonly call their own language Gitxsanemx though older people refer to a more ancient form of the language called Sm’algyax and say that it began in their land, at the ancient settlement of Temlaxam, from where it spread to the coast among the Tsimshian people. A number of Athabaskan nations are neighbours of the Gitksan on the east, and frequent intermarriage with them has resulted in some exchange of features between their respective languages.

Gitksan territories are located in the watershed of the Skeena River above the Canyon Tsimshian and in the upper Nass watershed. Contemporary Gitksan communities are situated for the most part on or near village sites occupied for millennia. Three new villages were established in the late 1800s by early Christian converts from Kispiox, Gitsegyukla, and Kitwanga: Glen Vowell, Andimaul, and Cedarvale respectively. Of these, only Glen Vowell remains today as a Gitksan community. There are three regional groupings of Gitksan communities, with considerable social and economic integration within each region.

The Nisga’a call their language Nisga’amx. The meaning of Nass may derive from a Tlingit word for “food basket,” which is how the Nisga’a regard the rich rain-forested river valley homeland which they have inhabited since time immemorial. Their territories are located in the Lisims watershed from Portland Canal to the upper Nass. There were many villages in the valley over the millennia; two were buried by a volcanic eruption around 1700. Several communities were established around missions at the end of the nineteenth century. The Nisga’a are currently situated in four main villages along the river: Kincolith at the mouth of the river; Laxgalt’sap (formerly known as Greenville) 30 kilometres from the coast; Gitwinksihlkw (formerly known as Canyon City); and New Aiyansh, the most inland of the four villages. After the mission village of Aiyansh was flooded in 1917, 1936, and 1960, the community was moved across the river to higher ground at New Aiyansh, and it is the only community not located right on the river, the only means of access before 1958. Until recently the villages were connected to each other and to the outside exclusively by the river or by overland trails (later replaced by logging roads). Tidewater goes into the river as far as Greenville, and the two downriver communities of Kincolith and Greenville are sometimes referred to as the Lower Nass villages.

Estimating the number of Tsimsgian-speaking peoples is difficult. Population figures given by the Department of Indian Affairs include only “status” Indians and omit unregistered people, who may be as numerous and who are often as involved in community and cultural affairs as their status relatives. Further, because the Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga’a peoples are matrilineal, whereas until the passage of Bill C-31 in 1985 Canadian law assigned official group membership only to males and their dependants, there are many people who are members of clans and communities who are not officially registered, and many registered people are members of bands outside the traditional territories of their own matrilineal clans.

With these caveats in mind, the on-reserve and off-reserve registered population of the three peoples in 1995 was 16,407. The Tsimshian numbered 6,221, the Gitksan 5,380, and the Nisga’a 4,806.