Gwa’sala
/ɡʷəˈsɑːlə/noun
A First Nation and Indigenous community of the Pacific Northwest Coast, now part of the Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Nations in British Columbia.
Did you know?The Gwa’sala were forcibly relocated with the ’Nakwaxda’xw to Port Hardy in the 1960s, making the name part of a living story of cultural survival and reclamation.
Etymological Timeline
Precolonial period
Gwa’sala
Gwa’sala
“An Indigenous ethnonym used by the people themselves; its precise internal literal translation is not securely established in widely available reference sources.”
18th–19th Century
English records
Gwa’sala
“The community name begins appearing in colonial and ethnographic documentation concerning peoples of the northern Vancouver Island and adjacent coastal region.”
19th Century
English
Kwakiutl
“Colonial literature often grouped the Gwa’sala within the broader Kwakiutl or Kwakwaka’wakw cultural-linguistic region, though these labels are not exact synonyms.”
1964
English
Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw
“The Gwa’sala and ’Nakwaxda’xw were forcibly relocated to the Port Hardy area, where their communities were administered together.”
Late 20th Century
English
Gwa’sala-’Nakwaxda’xw Nations
“The combined name became established for the contemporary First Nation government and community.”
Modern English
English
Gwa’sala
“A living Indigenous name referring to the Gwa’sala people and their continuing nationhood, language, culture, and community.”
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