Keywords Native Peoples

Land of the War Canoes
From the film made early in the 20th century by Edward Curtis (courtesy University of Washington).

Native People: Northwest Coast

Major Language and Tribal Groups
Of all the aboriginal regions in Canada, the Northwest Coast exhibits most diversity in language. The Inland TLINGIT of the northwest tip of BC and the southwest Yukon are an interior branch of the Tlingit of the south Alaska coast. On the QUEEN CHARLOTTE ISLANDS are HAIDA. Both Tlingit and Haida are language isolates, unique languages with no proven relationship to any other. Along the Nass and Skeena rivers and adjacent coast are people speaking 3 languages of the TSIMSHIAN language family, which may be remotely related to several other language families, collectively called Penutian, spoken from Oregon southward. Strung along the coast from Tsimshian territory to northeast Vancouver Island are Haisla (KITAMAAT), HEILTSUK (Bella Bella), Oowekyala (Rivers Inlet) and Kwakwala (Southern KWAKIUTL). They in turn are related to the languages of the Nuu-chah-nulth (NOOTKA) and DIDIDAHT, languages spoken on the west coast of Vancouver Island, and Makah on Cape Flattery in Washington. All of these languages belong to the Wakashan language family.

The remaining coastal people of BC speak languages of the large Salishan family. In the north, surrounded by Heiltsuk and Haisla, are the NUXALK (Bella Coola). In Georgia Strait, below the Southern Kwakiutl, are speakers of 7 mutually unintelligible Coast Salish languages: Comox, Pentlatch (extinct) and Sechelt, together referred to as NORTHERN GEORGIA STRAIT COAST SALISH, and Squamish, Halkomelem, Nooksack (now only in Washington state) and Straits Salish, together called CENTRAL COAST SALISH. Languages are described as mutual unintelligibility to emphasize that knowledge of one language does not preclude knowledge with another language.

In summary, there are 19 mutually unintelligible languages spoken on the Northwest Coast of BC, and these in turn belong to 5 separate units among which no relationship has yet been clearly established (see NATIVE PEOPLE, LANGUAGES; LANGUAGE FAMILIES: TABLE).

Historical Summary
Although the earliest settlement of the Northwest Coast occurred probably 10 000 years ago (see PREHISTORY), the first contact with Europeans came late in the 18th century, when Spanish and British explorers opened the way for traders seeking rich stocks of sea-otter pelts. All tribes eagerly adopted firearms, iron tools and other European goods, but permanent trading posts awaited establishment of a series of forts by the HUDSON'S BAY CO, which by 1850 controlled the trade.

Discovery of gold on the Fraser River in 1857 brought a rush of miners and settlers to the newly established colonies (see GOLD RUSHES). Towns were few, but native people were attracted to them from afar for trade goods. Contagious diseases, particularly smallpox, wrought havoc among the aboriginal people, who were reduced to a minority within the population by 1885.

Governor James DOUGLAS made a few small treaties with native villages on Vancouver Island between 1850 and 1854 (see INDIAN TREATIES). This recognition of native title was abandoned when BC entered Confederation in 1871. Commissions were established in 1876 and 1912 and charged with creating and confirming INDIAN RESERVES. Neither commission had authority to make treaties or deal definitively with native grievances. Though reserves were imposed unilaterally and did not always meet native requests, they did provide minimal protection for many village sites as the influx of strangers continued.

The unsettled land question and government oppression, including an anti-POTLATCH clause in the INDIAN ACT in 1884, led to protests by local groups. Organized pan-tribal associations emerged later with formation of the Allied Tribes of British Columbia in 1915 and the Native Brotherhood of British Columbia in 1931.

Following the Supreme Court decision in Calder in 1973 and Canada's decision to negotiate settlement of outstanding aboriginal LAND CLAIMS, treaty negotiations between Canada and the NISGA'A began in 1976. BC joined negotiations in 1990, and an Agreement in Principal was signed in March 1996. The 2 senior governments and representatives of FIRST NATIONS in BC appointed the BC Treaty Commission in 1993 to facilitate negotiations of treaties with other First Nations in the province. By 1996 most coastal tribes had filed Statements of Intent to negotiate treaties under the Treaty Commission process.

From earliest contact with outsiders, coastal natives traded willingly and worked as labourers, boatmen and house servants. Those living in dispersed locations with viable subsistence economies were ideal seasonal workers in the early stages of resource development. However, as mechanization and centralization of the fish and timber industries proceeded, participation of natives as workers and independent small producers diminished. Resource industries still dominate native occupational patterns, but by the 1960s unemployment and underemployment in coastal communities was chronic.

Haida Canoe
Some Haida canoes could hold up to 40 people (artwork by Gordon Miller).

Potlatch Regalia
Dance regalia given up by Kwakiutl who attended Dan Cranmer's potlatch in 1921 at the village of Alert Bay, NWT (courtesy Royal British Columbia Museum).

Traditional Culture
Division of LabourThroughout the Northwest Coast the material bases of life were similar. Carpentry was men's work, and with blades of stone and shell, wooden wedges and stone hammers they fashioned the myriad items of everyday use. Huge winter dwellings of post-and-beam structure covered by split cedar planks were created in distinct regional styles. So too were dugout CANOES, which provided transportation along rapid streams and on the open sea.

It fell mainly to women to spin twine required for fishnets and lines and to weave items from cedar bark and roots - large storage containers, open-work collecting baskets and exquisite, finely decorated hats. Mats fashioned from cedar bark or rushes provided furnishings and lined houses for additional warmth. Women also twined cedar-bark skirts and cloaks for everyday wear. Elaborately decorated CHILKAT BLANKETS of twined cedar bark and mountain-goat wool were worn on special occasions by people in northern tribes. Among Coast Salish, mountain-goat wool supplemented by dog wool was twilled into heavy blankets with decorative borders. These were items of daily wear in cold weather. Everywhere on the coast, fur cloaks supplemented this simple stock of clothing.

Fishing, hunting and gathering were the means of subsistence on the Northwest Coast. Resources from the sea were of first importance. Fishing devices were adapted to suit specific conditions of sea and stream and local occurrence of fish species; techniques included trolling and jigging with baited hooks, harpooning and spearing, use of nets and construction of tidal traps, or weirs, in streams. Land mammals were taken with bow and arrow, snares, deadfalls and nets; sea mammals with harpoons at sea and with clubs or nets wherever animals came ashore. The abundant waterfowl fell prey to a variety of ingenious nets. Gathering of shellfish, berries, edible roots, bulbs and green shoots provided additional nutritious foods. None of these varied resources was evenly distributed in all regions, and coastal tribes followed a pattern of moving or dispersing from winter villages to outlying sites as the season came round for each resource, and then returning to the main base.

While fishing and hunting were mainly the work of men, and women did most gathering of plant and beach foods, the division of labour was complementary and often co-operative. Both men and women made the tools necessary for work. Because almost all foods were produced at times in quantities greater than immediate need, they were preserved. Men did most of the initial production of fish and game, but women did the cooking and preservation.

Interior of a Lodge
"Interior of a Lodge With an Indian Woman Weaving a Blanket," Paul Kane, 1847, watercolour (courtesy Stark Foundation, Orange, Texas).

Northwest Coast Woodwork
The Northwest Coast people harvested straight-grained cedars for planks and boards for houses, chests and boxes. Huge trunks were carved into dugout canoes and totem poles (courtesy Lazare and Parker/National Wildlife Federation).

Northwest Coast Paddles
Kwakiutl (left), Nootka (centre) and Haida (right) (artwork by Gordon Miller).

Northwest Coast Tools
Used for working wood into houses, totem poles, canoes and other items (artwork by Gordon Miller).

Social Life
The primary unit of society everywhere on the Northwest Coast was a large group of kin who usually shared a common ancestor. Among northern peoples, membership in the kin group was passed down through women, but in the south membership could be claimed through either the male or the female lines. In both areas the result was a core of close kin with in-married spouses living together in a house or house cluster under the direction and guidance of capable leaders. These leaders held formal titles or prominent names hereditary within the family line and acted as managers of family property, including nonmaterial possessions such as names, ritual performances, special songs or secret knowledge. The foundation, however, was ownership of real property such as house sites, berry patches, hunting territory, seal rookeries and fish-trap sites. While some territory and waters were open to general use, more productive harvesting places were privately owned.

Real property, combined with skilful management of family labour and individually owned capital equipment, enabled kin groups and their chiefs to achieve high productivity and accumulate tangible wealth. Property was the basis and vehicle of the Northwest Coast system of rank and class. In some tribes there was precise status with internal ranking; in others, flexible categories. An upper-lower distinction of some form was universal, as was the institution of SLAVERY. Slaves were acquired in war or by purchase and, although they lived in owners' houses, lacked full civil rights and were required to perform menial chores.

Villages were always close to navigable water, with houses ranged parallel to the beach facing the water. Although united by kinship, dialect and common interest in territory, villages had no government except that effected by powerful lineages. During the early historic period, among Coast Tsimshian and Northern Westcoast (Nootka), strong village leaders emerged and began to extend their influence through the confederation of villages. These alliances were the only formal tribal organizations. Feuding occurred in response to injury or trespass, and occasionally escalated into warfare. Acquisition of property, including slaves, was also a motivation for conflict. The small size and divisiveness of village units, and the practice of restituting wrongs with gifts, helped to limit the scale of warfare.

High-ranking individuals from separate kin groups and villages found common cause in class membership and ritual associations, often termed secret societies. Most important of all were bonds of marriage and gift exchanges which accompanied them. Marriages were contracted between people of different kin groups, often in widely separated villages. In order to validate lineage rights and maintain class position, assemblies of people from many kin groups were convened to witness claims. Guests were fed and given gifts at these potlatches. Barter and trade occurred, but gifts and feasts were major means of distribution and exchange.

Haida House
Haida proclaimed clan membership through an elaborate display of family crests, carved on totem poles erected in front of their houses (artwork by Gordon J. Miller).

Nootka Whale Hunt
Nootka whalers paddled to open sea in 8-man cedar dugouts to harpoon gray whales, desired for their oil and meat (courtesy Lazare and Parker/National Wildlife Federation).

Religious and Spiritual Life
All tribes conducted serious religious rites in winter and viewed summer as more appropriate for games, feasts and naming activities. There was no strict segregation of the sacred and secular, as the sacred was implicit in all thought and action. Belief in potent spirits identified with animate objects and forms was fundamental. Spirits could interfere in human affairs, but by self-purification an individual might induce them to become personal helpers. They were a source of power for religious practitioners or SHAMANS, but also endowed ordinary folk with special competence or good fortune, and in some areas became hereditary privileges. This awareness of power in the animate, nonhuman sphere was consistent with widespread use of prayers and welcoming ceremonies to foster the annual runs of fish (see NATIVE PEOPLE, RELIGION).

The course of each person's life brought changes of status as puberty was attained, names received or marriage made. Taboos and elaborate ritual and feasting accompanied these events. Illness, while associated with physical causes, was also ascribed to soul loss or intervention of spirit forces, and shamans were called upon for diagnosis and corrective treatment. All tribes believed in life after death and in ghosts that could be harmful to the living. Funeral and memorial ritual served to separate the living and the dead and to sustain, honour and placate the dead.

Culture and Art
Music and decorative arts were associated with both sacred and secular activities. Spirit helpers conferred songs, and secret society or family tradition was transmitted through songs which often accompanied masked re-enactments of mythic events. There were songs for all occasions - soothing infants, playing games, expressing love and sorrow. The voice was the only melodic instrument, although a variety of percussive devices, whistles and horns was used as accompaniment.

Sculptural and decorative art was also part of daily life, applied to tools, houses, baskets, clothing and items associated with the supernatural. Wood sculpture and painting, notably TOTEM POLES, are the most renowned features of Northwest Coast culture. Archaeological evidence suggests that art has a long history in the area and that regional styles share basic similarities of form with an earlier tradition. In the north the art is highly formalized and often depicts family crests on property. Wakashan sculptors excelled in creating masks for dramatic performances. The Salish put emphasis on religious implements with little concern for crests. In all areas ownership of sculptural and decorative art was indicative of wealth and denoted class position (see NORTHWEST COAST NATIVE ART).

Kwakiutl Hawk Spirit Mask
Wood Hawk Spirit mask, Alert Bay, BC, Kwakiutl (courtesy NMC).

Transformation Mask, Open
A transformation mask expresses the theme of metamorphosis between beings of the land, sea and sky. Mask of cedar and ermine tails by Ken Mowat (courtesy DINA).

Culture Change
Though early acceptance of European clothing and tools brought visible changes to Northwest Coast cultures, villages, often on ancient sites, still retain their original orientation to the sea and traditional foods are favoured in the diet. Enforced Westernization was the policy of missionaries and government administrators until recent times. Compulsory education in centrally located boarding schools, where native speech was forbidden, had devastating effects on community structure, native socialization and languages (see RESIDENTIAL SCHOOLS). Several Northwest Coast languages now have only a few fluent speakers and are in danger of extinction, despite efforts to reverse the trend with formal language-teaching programs. Pentlatch, for example, is already extinct.

Potlatch, Announcing a
On a ceremonial dugout canoe, made from a single cedar log, costumed bird and animal dancers announce a potlatch (courtesy Lazare and Parker/National Wildlife Federation).

The population of Northwest Coast tribes has continued to increase since a low point in 1915. In 1996 there were over 50 000 registered natives and perhaps as many again who are nonregistered descendants of coastal tribes. Isolated villages have lost residents as unemployment and educational opportunity induced people to move to urban centres. More than 40% of the registered population are off-reserve residents.

Northwest Coast natives have remained steadfast in objecting to policy and practices that have reduced ABORIGINAL RIGHTS and left LAND CLAIMS unsettled (see NATIVE PEOPLE, GOVERNMENT POLICY). They have been strong supporters of provincial and national native associations.

Author MICHAEL KEW

Links to Other Sites
BC Archives Time Machine
British Columbia's history is portrayed in documents and photographs from the BC Archives.

Museum of Anthropology
The website for the Museum of Anthropology at the University of British Columbia. Features a virtual tour, online exhibits, and a First Nations of BC map. Canada's largest teaching museum is best known for its extensive Northwest Coast First Nations collections.

Haida Gwaii
An illustrated visitor’s guide to the natural history and First Nations landmarks on the Haida Gwaii/Queen Charlotte Islands.

Old Masset Village Council
Historical, cultural, and legal data for Old Masset Village. From the Coastal Communities Project.

Legends Project
Listen to dramatizations of oral histories, including ancient legends and myths, that Inuit and First Nations elders would have shared during family gatherings and activities in their communities. The series of recordings on this website were originally broadcast on the CBC Radio 1 program “Ideas.”

Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples
The website for the "Encyclopedia of Canada's Peoples." Click on the links for feature articles about Canada's many multicultural communities, access to their extensive digital archives collection, learning modules, and much more. From "Multicultural Canada."

Languages of Canada
A comprehensive online database of languages currently in use in Canada. Also provides details about extinct languages. Check out the "language maps" for more information. Based on "Ethnologue: Languages of the World, Fifteenth edition." From SIL International, a US website.

FirstVoices Language Archive
A website devoted to Canada's indigenous languages. Features program information, multimedia dictionaries, and related resources. Produced by The First Peoples' Cultural Foundation.

Love and Lonesome Songs of the Skeena River
An article about the role of traditional love songs created and sung by the Tsimshian people of British Columbia. From the "Canadian Journal for Traditional Music."

Native Dance
A superb multimedia website dedicated to native dance traditions from coast to coast in Canada. Features audio and video clips, in-depth interviews and articles for students, the image research database for scholars, downloadable resource kits for teachers, and more. Produced by Carleton University and The Sumner Group Inc., with the assistance of many other organizations and contributors.

A Journey to a New Land
The purpose of this website is to examine and explore the issues around the first arrival of humans in the Americas. The activities are designed to present students with opportunities to learn more about archaeological methods and the human past. From the SFU Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the Virtual Museum of Canada.

Haida house models
An illustrated guide to models of houses constructed by the Haida people. Features photos of Chief Wiah's Monster House. From the Canadian Museum of Civilization.