The Gitwilgyoots are one of the 14 tribes of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia, Canada, and one of the nine of those tribes making up the "Nine Tribes" of the lower Skeena River resident at Lax Kw'alaams (a.k.a. Port Simpson), B.C. The name Gitwilgyoots means literally "people of the place of kelp." Their traditional territory includes several areas around the estuary of the Skeena River. Since 1834, they have been based at Lax Kw'alaams, when a Hudson's Bay Company fort was established there. The Tsimshian (usually pronounced in English SIM-shee-an), translated as People Inside the Skeena River, are a Native American and First Nation people who live around Terrace and Prince Rupert, on the north coast of British Columbia and the southernmost corner of Alaska on Annette Island. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Latin: Splendour without diminishment) Official languages English de facto (none stated in law) Flower Pacific dogwood Tree Western Redcedar Bird Stellers Jay Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Parliamentary representation  - House seats  - Senate seats 36 6 Area... The Skeena River is on the north coast of British Columbia, passing through Terrace. ... Lax Kwalaams, usually called Port Simpson, is a First Nations village community in British Columbia, Canada, not far from the city of Prince Rupert. ... The Hudsons Bay Company (HBC) is the oldest commercial corporation in North America and is one of the oldest in the world. ...

The chieftainship of the Gitwilgyoots resides in the hereditary name-title Saxsa'axt. The anthropologist Viola Garfield recorded in 1938 that the holder of Saxsa'axt at that point had succeeded his mother's brother, in accordance with matrilineal rules of succession, and had held office for more than thirty years. In the 1930s the House of Saxsa'axt was the largest house-group (matrilineal extended family) in Lax Kw'alaams. A totem pole belonging to this house, portraying an anthropomorphous grizzly bear, was raised in the 1870s and was by the 1930s still standing but decayed beyond recognition. Viola E. Garfield (1899-1983) was an American anthropologist best known for her work on the social organization and plastic arts of the Tsimshian nation in British Columbia and Alaska. ... A Gitxsan pole (left) and Kwakwakawakw pole (right) at Thunderbird Park in Victoria, British Columbia. ...

In 1935 William Beynon recorded that Gitwilgyoots people in Lax Kw'alaams included 49 members of the Gispwudwada (Killerwhale clan) (three house-groups, including the House of Saxsa'axt with 22 members), 1 member of the Ganhada (Raven), 10 members of the Laxgibuu (Wolf) (1 house), and 23 members of the Laxsgiik (Eagle) (1 house). William Beynon (1888-1958) was a hereditary chief from the Tsimshian nation (British Columbia, Canada) and an oral historian who served as ethnographer, translator, and linguistic consultant to many anthropologists. ... The Gispwudwada (variously spelled) is the name for the Killerwhale (or Blackfish) clan (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. ... The Ganhada (variously spelled, but often with an underlined initial G -- impossible here for technical reasons) is the name for the Raven clan (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. ... The Laxgibuu (variously spelled) is the name for the Wolf clan (phratry) in the language of the Tsimshian nation of British Columbia, Canada, and southeast Alaska. ...

Bibliography

• Garfield, Viola E. (1939) "Tsimshian Clan and Society." University of Washington Publications in Anthropology, vol. 7, no. 3, pp. 167-340.