Gwayasdums is a village of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples on the west side of Gilford Island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. [1] The village, located on Retreat Pass, is on Gwayasdums Indian Reserve No. 1. [2] Other spellings of the name are Kwaustums and gwa'yasdams [3] and Gwa'yasdams and Gwa’yasdams.
The locality has also been known as Health Bay, [4] also the name for an adjoining body of water at 50°41′01″N126°34′51″W / 50.68361°N 126.58083°W [5] which is a side bay. Health Lagoon is nearby Gwayasdums just to the south [6] at 50°41′43″N126°34′02″W / 50.69528°N 126.56722°W .
Gwayasdums, which today has about 70 residents, is the ancestral home of the Kwikwasut’inuxw, though it has been used by many other Kwakwaka'wakw groups over time. The village was destroyed by the Nuxalk in 1856, possibly in relation to a famine at Bella Coola resulting from the closing of Fort McLoughlin. The survivors joined the Mamalilikulla at Memkumlis on Village Island. The Gwawa’enuxw, the Haxwa’mis, and the Dzawada’enuxw began to use Gwayasdums as a joint winter village Between 1865 and 1879. In the 1890s the Kwikwasut'inuxw began to return though joint occupation and use continued into the 20th Century. [7]
Kingcome Inlet is one of the lesser principal fjords of the British Columbia Coast, north and east of Broughton Island. It is sixth in sequence of the major saltwater fjords north from the 49th parallel near Vancouver and similar in width, on average 2.5 km (1.6 mi), to longer inlets such as Knight Inlet and Bute Inlet, but it is only 35 km (22 mi) in length from the mouth of the Kingcome River to Sutlej Channel, which ultimately connects around Broughton Island to the main regional waterway of the Queen Charlotte Strait. Kingcome Inlet has a short side inlet, Wakeman Sound, fed by the Wakeman River.
The Gwa'Sala-Nakwaxda'xw Nations are a union of two Kwakwaka'wakw peoples in a band government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, whose main reserve community is near the town of Port Hardy in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. The band government is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council and, for treaty negotiation purposes, the Winalagalis Treaty Group which includes three other members of the Kwakiutl District Council.
Ḵwiḵwa̱sut'inux̱w Ha̱xwa'mis, formerly the Kwicksutaineuk-ah-kwa-mish First Nation is a First Nations band government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, in the Queen Charlotte Strait region. It is a member of the Musgamagw Tsawataineuk Tribal Council, along with the ‘Namgis First Nation and the Tsawataineuk First Nation. The Kwikwasut'inuxw and Haxwa'mis are two of the many subgroups of the peoples known as Kwakwaka'wakw, which has two meanings: "smoke of the world" or "beach at the north side of the river."
The Lytton First Nation, a First Nations band government, has its headquarters at Lytton in the Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. While it is the largest of all Nlaka'pamux bands, unlike all other governments of the Nlaka'pamux (Thompson) people, it is not a member of any of the three Nlaka'pamux tribal councils, which are the Nicola Tribal Association, the Fraser Canyon Indian Administration and the Nlaka'pamux Nation Tribal Council.
Gilford Island is an island in British Columbia, Canada, between Tribune Channel and Knight Inlet. It has an area of 384 square kilometres (148 sq mi). Turnour Island is to its south, across Tribune Channel; and the entrance to Thompson Sound is to its east.
The Mamalilikulla Band is a First Nations band government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada. The home territory of the Mamalilikulla and Qwe-Qwa'Sot'Em groups of Kwakwaka'wakw was in the maze of islands and inlets of the eastern Queen Charlotte Strait region around the opening of Knight Inlet, mainly on Village Island, where their principal village Memkumlis is.
Kingcome, also known as Okwunalis or Ukwana'lis is an unincorporated settlement in the Kingcome Inlet area of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located a few kilometres up the Kingcome River from the head of the inlet. Quaee Indian Reserve No. 7 is the Indian reserve containing the village.
Thompson Sound is a sound on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located on the east side of Tribune Channel and to the east of Gilford Island, part of the Broughton Archipelago. The headland on the north side of the sound's entrance is London Point at 50°46′09″N126°07′07″W. The south side of the entrance is demarcated by Cleave Point at 50°44′35″N126°07′28″W.
Wakeman Sound is a sound on the South Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located in the area north of the Broughton Archipelago, which lies on the north side of Queen Charlotte Strait, on the northeast side of Broughton Island. It is a sidewater opening of and opening north off Kingcome Inlet.
The Tlowitsis Nation, formerly the Klowitsis Tribe, the Turnour Island Band and the Tlowitsis-Mumtagila First Nation, is the Indian Act band government of the Ławit'sis (Tlowitsis) tribe of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples, located in the Queen Charlotte Strait-Johnstone Strait area in the Discovery Islands between Vancouver Island and the British Columbia mainland in Canada. Ławit'sis territory covers parts of northern Vancouver Island, Johnstone Strait, and adjoining inlets of the mainland. Kalugwis, on Turnour Island, was their principal community in times past, but the band's offices are in the city of Campbell River to the southeast. Hanatsa IR No. 6 on Port Neville is the most populated of the band's Indian reserves.
Metap, also mit'ap and Meetup and Mit'apdzi and big mit'ap ] is a former Kwakwaka'wakw village at the head of Viner Sound on the northwest coast of Gilford Island in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. There is an Indian reserve, Meetup Indian Reserve No. 2, at the location today.
Turnour Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, located between Gilford Island and West Cracroft Island. On the other side Canoe Passage on its northwest is Village Island, while to its south and southwest is Beware Passage, across from which is Harbledown Island. Gilford Island is to the north across Tribune Channel. Separating Turnour from West Cracroft is Clio Channel.
East Cracroft Island is an island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada. It is the smaller of the two Cracroft Islands, and at low tide is really one island with its larger neighbour, West Cracroft Island. On the south side of the shallows that form an isthmus between them at low tide is Port Harvey, a short, wide inlet or bay. On its east shore is Keecekiltum Indian Reserve No. 2, which is under the governance of the Tlowitsis Nation of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. at 50°33′00″N126°16′00″W.
Memkumlis or, officially Meem Quam Leese, Memkoomlish, Memqumlis, 'mimkumlis or Mi'mkwamlis, commonly known as Mamalilaculla, which is actually the name of the subgroup of the Kwakwaka'wakw whose home it is, is located on the west side of Village Island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia.
Susukw was a Kwakwaka'wakw village on the south side of Gilford Island, facing Gilford Bay in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The village site, which is to the east of Port Elizabeth, was a fishing, gardening and timber harvesting site for the Mamalilikulla subgroup of the Kwakwaka'wakw.
Apsigiyu or Apsigayu or Apsagayu is a village site of the Kwikwasut'inuxw and Mamalilikulla groups of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples, located at the head of Shoal Harbour on the northwest side of Gilford Island, in the Queen Charlotte Strait-Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada. The village, whose name means "otherside forehead" in Kwak'wala, is used for clam and salmon harvesting, and also for timber harvesting. The village's site is an Indian reserve, Apsagayu Indian Reserve No. 1A, 2.2 ha., and is under the administration of the Mamalilikulla-Qwe'Qwa'Sot'Em Band, along with two others, Compton IR No. 6 and Mahmalillikullah Indian Reserve No. 1, which is the site of Memkumlis, the main village site of the Mamalillikula, which is often referred to as Mamalillikulla.
The Kakweiken River, also spelled Kakweken River, is a river in the Central Coast region of British Columbia, Canada, flowing southwest out of the Pacific Ranges of the Coast Mountains into the head of Thompson Sound, which lies to the east of Gilford Island and to the north of lower Knight Inlet. Located at the mouth of the river is Kakweken Indian Reserve No. 4, which is under the administration of the Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation.
Drury inlet is an inlet in the Queen Charlotte Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, extending west from Wells Passage to the northwest of North Broughton Island, northwest of the town of Port Hardy. Branching off to the northeast from the north side of the head of the inlet is Actaeon Sound.
Kamla, meaning "to cut on rock" in Kwak'wala, is a village of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples, located on the southeast side of Gilford Island on Tribune Channel. The village site is on Kumlah Island, and was a camp of the Dlidligit and Kwicksutaineuk. It is under the administration of the Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation, as Kyimla Indian Reserve No. 11.
Whulk or xwalkw, meaning "(logs) place crossewise", was a Kwakwaka'wakw village at the mouth of the Nimpkish River on northern Vancouver Island, which was a place of origin for some of the groups comprising today's 'Namgis group of Kwakwaka'wakw, who now reside mostly at Yalis on Cormorant Island.