From: The Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples/Aboriginals: Tsimshian/Deanna Nyce
One of the main institutions for managing intergroup relations for the Tsimshian, Gitksan, and Nisga’a is marriage. This was used to manage succession and inheritance, to establish trading partnerships, and to avert hostilities. Oral histories indicate that there were many marriages across these three groups and with the Haida and Tlingit as well; the clan systems of all three of these matrilineal groups were parallel and easily accommodated “international” marriages without disrupting community structures. When non-native traders came to the area, the same strategy was used with them; there were several marriages between prominent Nisga’a and Tsimshian families and HBC factors.
Arranged marriages being no longer possible, the management of relations with outsiders is sometimes now handled by clan adoptions, in which people are given status in a clan so that they can participate in events in a community. In some communities there is a feeling that this mechanism is being overused, and it has been informally agreed that such adoptions will take place only when someone is married into the community. Beyond the local context, intergroup relations are formally managed mainly by the tribal councils.
Once non-native hegemony was in place, the provisions of the Indian Act and provincial policies and legislation established a repressive regime in which ceremonies such as feasts and political action to obtain land rights were outlawed (from 1887 to 1951) and Indians could not preempt or even purchase land. Indians could not vote provincially until 1949 and the federal franchise was not extended to them until 1960. Provincial laws that denied the rights of citizens to Indians led to separate education as well as health and social-service systems, and local authorities enforced such petty indignities as separately designated sections in theatres, restaurants, and hotels. Though these laws and local discriminatory practices are a thing of the past, a great deal of work remains to be done to eradicate the impact of generations of prejudice.
At the present time the identity and pride of the Gitksan, Nisga’a, and Tsimshian peoples are strong. During the first half of this century there was a period of low visibility and, for some, a loss of commitment, but in all communities since the 1960s and 1970s language, culture, feasts, and art have gained renewed prominence and are highly valued. People are now seeking creative new ways of expressing their identity, and are working hard to revitalize their language skills and to exercise ownership of their resources.
One area of some difficulty is the expression of cultural commitment for people who reside outside the traditional territories. The Nisga’a have established urban locals that participate in their Tribal Council in a fashion similar to that of the villages. Among the Tsimshian there are “societies” for many of the villages in Prince Rupert; these are engaged in fundraising and charitable works and are now seeking entry as active participants in the treaty process. Among the Gitksan, extra-territorial members are perhaps less of a concern since Old Hazelton is the largest centre in their region and is also the site of a Gitksan reserve community, Gitanmaax.
Among people who live farther afield, a few who were raised outside the villages appear to focus less on their identity as members of any one housegroup or Tsimshianspeaking village than on a broader First Nations network of friends. Many more people have continuously maintained an attachment to their specific housegroup and village identity through periodic visits, frequent contributions to feasts via local relatives, gathering, preparation, and eating of traditional foods such as seaweed, smoked fish, and oolican grease, and use of traditional art in home decor and of distinctive items of ceremonial regalia and clothing, as well as by retaining the links of kinship and friendship with other members of their group. A number of communities are creating ways to maintain the links of kinship and community across great distances, and these expect their relationships with their clan sisters and brothers to continue for their greatgrandchildren and beyond, to time immemorial.
