In Canada, an Indian reserve is defined by the Indian Act as a "tract of land, the legal title to which is vested in His Majesty, that has been set apart by His Majesty for the use and benefit of a band." Reserves are areas set aside for First Nations, one of the major groupings of Indigenous peoples in Canada, after a contract with the Canadian state, and are not to be confused with indigenous peoples' claims to ancestral lands under Aboriginal title.
Wakashan is a family of languages spoken in British Columbia around and on Vancouver Island, and in the northwestern corner of the Olympic Peninsula of Washington state, on the south side of the Strait of Juan de Fuca.
In Canada, an Indian band or band, sometimes referred to as a First Nation band or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subject to the Indian Act. Bands are typically small groups of people: the largest in the country, the Six Nations of the Grand River First Nation had 22,294 members in September 2005, and many have a membership below 100 people. Each First Nation is typically represented by a band council chaired by an elected chief, and sometimes also a hereditary chief. As of 2013, there were 614 bands in Canada. Membership in a band is controlled in one of two ways: for most bands, membership is obtained by becoming listed on the Indian Register maintained by the government. As of 2013, there were 253 First Nations which had their own membership criteria, so that not all status Indians are members of a band.
The Skway First Nation,, is a band government of the Stó:lō people living in the Fraser Valley of British Columbia, Canada near the city of Chilliwack. They traditionally speak the Upriver dialect of Halkomelem, one of the Salishan family of languages. The band is a member government of the Sto:lo Nation tribal council, and should not be confused with the Skwah First Nation, which is in the same area but is a different band..
The Winalagalis Treaty Group is a group of four First Nations band governments on Vancouver Island in the Canadian province of British Columbia, Canada. The group was formed to coordinate and administer negotiations with the government of the Province of British Columbia relating to unresolved treaty issues. It has opted engage in a separate round of negotiation from the rest of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. The member nations of the Winalagalis Treaty Group are Da'naxda'xw Awaetlatla Nation, Gwa'Sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nation, Quatsino First Nation and Tlatlasikwala Nation.
The Da'naxda'xw Nation, or Da'naxda'xw/Awaetlatla Nation is a First Nation government in northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, their main community is the community of Alert Bay, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Strait region. There are approximately 225 members of the Da'naxda'xw Nation. The Nation 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 (the Quatsino First Nation, the Gwa'Sala-Nakwaxda'xw Nation, and the Tlatlasikwala Nation.
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.
The Tlatlasikwala Nation is a First Nations band government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the community of Port Hardy, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Strait region. It 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 (the Quatsino First Nation, the Da'naxda'xw Awaetlatla Nation, and the Gwa'Sala-'Nakwaxda'xw Nation.
The Kwakiutl District Council, also spelled Kwakwewlth District Council and Kwakiuth District Council, pronounced Kwagiulth District Council, is a First Nations Tribal Council based on Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, based in the community of Campbell River, British Columbia in the northern Strait of Georgia but including member nations spanning northern Vancouver Island as far as Quatsino Sound. The nations represented within the Kwakiutl District Council are all Kwakwaka'wakw.
The Kwakiutl First Nation is a First Nations government based on northern Vancouver Island in British Columbia, Canada, focused on the community of Port Hardy, British Columbia in the Queen Charlotte Strait region, and also known as the Fort Rupert Band, known in traditional Kwakwaka'wakw terms as the Kwagu'ł or Kwagyewlth. It is a member of the Kwakiutl District Council. It is currently in stage 4 of the British Columbia Treaty Process, having submitted a statement of intent in 1997.
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 Wuikinuxv Nation, also known as the Oweekeno Nation, is a First Nations band government whose traditional territory is the shores of Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake in the Central Coast region of the Canadian province of British Columbia, in the area south of Bella Bella and north of Queen Charlotte Strait. The Wuikinuxv people a.k.a. the Oweekeno people reside in the area of Rivers Inlet and Owikeno Lake, primarily at a village on the Wannock River. Substantial numbers of Wuikinuxv also reside away from the traditional territory in Port Hardy on Vancouver Island and in larger BC communities such as Campbell River, Vancouver and Victoria. Approximately 80 people reside at the village while overall membership was 283 in 2006, 194 of whom lived off-reserve.
The Seton Lake First Nation, a.k.a. the Seton Lake Indian Band, is a First Nations government located in the Central Interior-Fraser Canyon region of the Canadian province of British Columbia. It is a member of the Lillooet Tribal Council, which is the largest grouping of band governments of the St'at'imc people. Other St'at'imc governments include the smaller In-SHUCK-ch Nation on the lower Lillooet River to the southwest, and the independent N'quatqua First Nation at the farther end of Anderson Lake from Seton Portage, which is the location of three of the band's reserve communities.
The ƛoʔos Klahoose are one of the three groups comprising the ʔayʔaǰuθəm Tla'Amin or Mainland Comox. The other two divisions of this once-populous group are the χʷɛmaɬku Homalco and Sliammon. The Klahoose, Homalco and Sliammon are, according to oral tradition, the descendants of the survivors of the Great Flood. The three groups were split by colonialism into different band councils but united historically as the Tla A'min, known as the Mainland Comox, and K’ómoks, the larger grouping of the Comox people, also known as the Island Comox and before the merger with the Laich-kwil-tach culture. Historically both groups are a subgroup of the Coast Salish though the K’ómoks name is from, and their language today, is the Lik'wala dialect of Kwak'wala. The ancestral tongue is the Comox language, though the Sahtloot/Island dialect is extinct.
Smith Sound is a sound on the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada, located to the south of Rivers Inlet and between the Queen Charlotte Strait region (S) and Fitz Hugh Sound (N).
The We Wai Kai Nation, also known as the Wewaikai First Nation, the Cape Mudge First Nation and the Cape Mudge Indian Band, is the band government of the We Wai Kai subgroup of the Laich-kwil-tach group of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples, based on Quadra Island offshore from Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada, which is on the east coast of Vancouver Island at the northern end of the Strait of Georgia. The Laich-kwil-tach include the Wei Wai Kum, who are organized as the Campbell River First Nation, and the Kwiakah Nation, whose traditional territory is in the Discovery Islands to the northeast of that city and on the adjoining mainland coast. All three are part of the Kwakiutl District Council, a tribal council which includes other Kwakwaka'wakw bands farther northwest in the Queen Charlotte Strait region and on northern Vancouver Island.
The Kwiakah First Nation, also known as the Kwiakah Band or Kwiakah Nation, is the band government of the Kwiakah people, a subgroup of the Laich-kwil-tach group of the Kwakwaka'wakw peoples. Their mailing address is in Campbell River, British Columbia, Canada, where most their 19 band members live, although their traditional territory is in the Discovery Islands to the north of that city and their two Indian Reserves are located on the mainland coast adjacent to that archipelago. The band is making an effort to "go back to the land" and re-occupy their traditional sites.
The K'ómoks First Nation, is the Indigenous band government of the Island Comox or K'ómoks people of Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. Closely allied to the Cape Mudge and Campbell River First Nations, historically they were a Coast Salish people since integrated into Kwakwaka'wakw society. Originally part of the Laich-kwil-tach Council of Chiefs, which is a treaty society, they are now negotiating independently in the BC Treaty Process. They remain a member government of the Kwakiutl District Council.
The Nahwitti River is a 40-kilometre (25 mi) long river in northernmost Vancouver Island, British Columbia, Canada. It flows through Cape Scott Provincial Park into Goletas Channel near Hope Island and Queen Charlotte Sound. Its watershed, 229 km2 (88 sq mi) large, is located west and northwest of Port Hardy, north and northeast of Holberg, and north of Holberg Inlet, part of Quatsino Sound.
