The Tsimshian people are from the Northwest Coast of northern
British Columbia and southeastern Alaska. Most of the group’s
members who live outside of the reservations trace their roots
and heritage to the Tsimshian village of Metlakatla in southeast
Alaska. Metlakatla is located on the Port Chester harbor, on
Annette Island, about 15 miles south of Ketchikan. Metlakatla
comes from maxlakxaala, a Tsimshian word meaning “salt water
passage.” Git-Hoan means “people of the salmon,” alluding to the
nation’s connection to the sea and its resources. Archaeological
excavations in the harbor at Prince Rupert, British Columbia,
have unearthed the remains of cedar plankhouse villages that
date back 5,000 years; thus, the Tsimshians claim one of the
oldest continuous cultural heritages in the New World. Tsimshian
groups are also generally held to be related historically to the
Penutian peoples of Oregon and California. Like their neighbors,
the Tlingit of Alaska and the Haida of Haida Gwaii, the
Tsimshian represent the