Tsetsaut
The Tsetsaut are an Indigenous group originally located in the Subarctic region of British Columbia, characterized by their highly mobile lifestyle. They are believed to have been organized into five named composite bands, divided into two matrilineal clans known as the Eagle and Wolf. The Tsetsaut primarily relied on inland game hunting and trapping, with a seasonal migration to the Portland Inlet during summer for fishing and salmon preservation. Their diet mainly consisted of marmot, supplemented by porcupine, mountain goat, and bear. Instead of permanent settlements, they constructed temporary camps and simple shelters, utilizing snowshoes for winter travel and yellow cedar dugout canoes in warmer months.
The first documented contact with the Tsetsaut occurred in 1862 with fur traders from the Hudson's Bay Company. This period marked significant changes, including the establishment of missions that affected their population, which reportedly declined dramatically over the following decades. While it was once thought that the last Tsetsaut individuals had died out by 1927, recent Canadian statistics from 2019 indicate that around thirty individuals still identify as part of the Tsetsaut/Skii km Lax Ha Nation. This suggests a resilience of cultural identity despite historical pressures, inviting further exploration of their heritage and contemporary status.
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Tsetsaut
- CATEGORY: Tribe
- CULTURE AREA: Subarctic
- LANGUAGE GROUP: Athabaskan
- PRIMARY LOCATION: British Columbia
The highly mobile Tsetsaut probably comprised five named composite bands, divided into two matrilineal clans, the Eagle and Wolf. They subsisted primarily on inland game hunting and trapping, descending only in the summer to the Portland Inlet to fish and dry salmon for winter storage. Their principal food was marmot, supplemented with porcupine, mountain goat, and bear. Winter travel was facilitated by snowshoes and the use of rare yellow cedar dugout canoes in spring and summer. The Tsetsaut had no permanent villages, only temporary camps and shelters of single or double lean-tos covered with bark.
The Tsetsaut were probably first contacted in 1862 by fur traders of the Hudson’s Bay Company post at Port Simpson. In the same year, William Duncan established a new Christian village of Metlakatla and entered into competition for furs. Robert Tomlinson established a mission at Kincolith in 1867, and when Franz Boas visited the site in 1894 he found that the Tsetsaut population numbered only twelve, a reduction from five hundred only sixty years earlier. It was once believed that the last of the Tsetsaut First Nations people died in 1927. However, Canadian statistics from 2019 indicated there were approximately thirty people from the Tsetsaut/Skii km Lax Ha Nation identifying as Tsetsaut in British Columbia.
Bibliography
Duff, Wilson. “Tseutaut.” University of Alaska - Fairbanks, 12 Sept. 2024, oralhistory.library.uaf.edu/90/90-06-142‗to‗152‗d02.pdf. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
Gillespie, Beryl C., and David Joseph Gallant. “Tsetsaut.” The Canadian Encyclopedia, 4 June 2019, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/tsetsaut. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
"Portland Canal, International Boundary." CoastView, 6 Nov. 2024, coastview.org/2024/11/06/portland-canal/. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
"Tsetsaut Language (Ts'ets'aut)." Native Languages of the Americas, www.native-languages.org/tsetsaut.htm. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
“Tsetaut Nation.” Aboriginal History, www.aboriginalhistory.ca/sections/Nations/Sub-Arctic/Tsetsaut/Tsetsaut.html. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.
"Tsetsaut / Skii km Lax Ha Nation." Government of British Columbia, 28 Dec. 2024, www2.gov.bc.ca/gov/content/environment/natural-resource-stewardship/consulting-with-first-nations/first-nations-negotiations/first-nations-a-z-listing/skii-km-lax-ha-nation-17705. Accessed 16 Nov. 2024.