Gitgaʼat people

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{{inline|date=February 2026}}

[[Image:Hartley Bay.jpg|thumb|right|[[Hartley Bay, B.C.]] in 2003]]

[[Image:Hartley Bay.jpg|thumb|right|[[Hartley Bay, B.C.]] in 2003]]

The '''Gitgaʼat''' (sometimes also spelled Gitgaʼata or Gitk'a'ata) are one of the 14 tribes of the [[Tsimshian]] nation in [[British Columbia]], Canada, and inhabit the village of [[Hartley Bay]], British Columbia, the name of which in the [[Tsimshian language]] is Txałgiu. The name Gitga'ata in the Tsimshian language means "people of the cane" (as in, a ceremonial stick). The Gitga'ata, along with the [[Kitasoo]] Tsimshians at [[Klemtu]], B.C., are often classed as "[[Southern Tsimshian]]," their traditional language being the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language. Most Tsimshian-speakers in Hartley Bay today, however, speak the form of the language shared by villages to the north. Their [[band government]] is the [[Hartley Bay Indian Band]], aka the Gitga'at First Nation.

The '''Gitgaʼat''' (sometimes also spelled Gitgaʼata or Gitkʼaʼata) are one of the 14 tribes of the [[Tsimshian]] nation in [[British Columbia]], Canada, and inhabit the village of [[Hartley Bay]], British Columbia, the name of which in the [[Tsimshian language]] is {{lang|tsi|Txałgiu}}. The name {{lang|tsi|Gitgaʼata}} in the Tsimshian language means 'people of the cane' (as in, a ceremonial stick). The Gitgaʼata, along with the [[Kitasoo]] Tsimshians at [[Klemtu]], British Columbia, are often classed as "[[Southern Tsimshian]]", their traditional language being the southern dialect of the Tsimshian language. Most Tsimshian-speakers in Hartley Bay today, however, speak the form of the language shared by villages to the north. Their [[band government]] is the [[Hartley Bay Indian Band]], aka the Gitgaʼat First Nation.

In 1947, Edmund Patalas ("belonging to the Kitamat tribe at Hartley Bay") described to the Tsimshian ethnologist [[William Beynon]] the origins of the [[Laxsgiik]] (Eagle clan) people of the "Gitxon" group who migrated from the land of the [[Haida people|Haida]] people on [[Haida Gwaii]] first to [[Kitamaat]] and then to the Gitga'ata people, where a branch of this group, the House of Sinaxeet, is now considered "the royal Eagle house of Kitkata" (described in Barbeau's ''Totem Poles'').

In 1947, Edmund Patalas ("belonging to the Kitamat tribe at Hartley Bay") described to the Tsimshian ethnologist [[William Beynon]] the origins of the [[Laxsgiik]] (Eagle clan) people of the "Gitxon" group who migrated from the land of the [[Haida people|Haida]] people on [[Haida Gwaii]] first to [[Kitamaat]] and then to the Gitga'ata people, where a branch of this group, the House of Sinaxeet, is now considered "the royal Eagle house of Kitkata" (described in Barbeau's ''Totem Poles'').