Who We Are

Our story begins with Nazuis, who came from the upper realm with the Thunderbird to the Sùmx̌alh (Sheemahat River). From those first villages, Nuùẇaqawa and Màsm̓asalanuwa began to create the world as we know it today. What is now the ’Wuìk̓inux̌v Nation is an amalgamation of many settlements that had their permanent villages by the lake, at the Kvìi River, and on Calvert Island.

During the time of contact, like many nations on the coast, we lost many to disease. Our way of life became entangled with the commercial logging and fishing industries moving through our territory. Our children were taken away to the residential school system - raised far from our land, our language, and our people.

But our old people fiercely rejected the erasure of our identity. They held tightly to our ancestral beliefs, surviving in the isolation of the lake to keep our knowledge safe. They refused the teachings of the church, burning it down the day after it was built, and continued to live the old ways. They kept our knowledge safe until our village was lost, and our people relocated to rebuild along the Wànukv River.

Today, around 100 of our people live year-round at the village of K̓itit. Our culture is a part of our everyday life here. Our village is growing again, with young people moving home - eager to learn the traditions of our Elders. Our people are returning home.