“It is good to see you” – most Indigenous communities in the Cowichan region speak a dialect of Hul’qumi’num.
Cowichan Tribes (Halkomelem: Quw’utsun) is the band government of the Cowichan, a group of Coast Salish peoples who live in the Cowichan Valley region on Vancouver Island. With over 3,800 registered members, it is the single largest First Nations band in British Columbia. When the band was created pursuant to the Indian Act, seven nearby peoples were amalgamated into one "band." The Quamichan/Kw'amutsun are the largest cultural group, but the nation also includes Clemclemaluts (L'uml'umuluts), Comiaken (Qwum'yiqun'), Khenipsen (Hinupsum), Kilpahlas (Tl'ulpalus), Koksilah (Hwulqwselu), and Somena (S'amuna'). The traditional territory of the Cowichan people covered the entireCowichan Valley, the surrounding area aroundCowichan Lake,Shawnigan Lake, and extended into theGulf Islandsand theFraser River. The lower reaches of the Cowichan Valley, particularly the area stretching from the present location ofDuncandown toCowichan Bay(and including the lowerKoksilah River), was the most heavily settled. Today, the total reserve area is currently 24 square kilometres (5,900 acres), made up of nine Reserves, with Core Traditional Territory is approximately 1,750 square kilometres (100,000 acres). The tribe comprises seven traditional villages .(Kw'amutsun, Qwum'yiqun', Hwulqwselu, S'amuna', L'uml'umuluts, Hinupsum, Tl'ulpalus).
With over 5,000 members, we are the largest single First Nation Band in British Columbia. About half of our members live on the Cowichan Tribes Reserve. Ours demographic consists of a relatively young population, with a large percentage of the population under the age of 35. We have seven traditional villages: Kwa'mutsun, Qwum’yiqun’, Xwulqw'selu, S’amunu Lhumlhumuluts', Xinupsum, Tl’ulpalus. We have been delegated responsibilities for a variety of member services including Children & Families, Education, Health, Housing, Membership, and Social Development.
Quw’utsun (Cowichan) is rooted in the Hul’q’umi’num word “shquw’utsun” which directly translated means “to warm one’s back in the sun.” Experience the rich, warm culture. We respectfully acknowledge that we live, work and play on the unceded and traditional territory of the Quw’utsun, Malahat, Ts’uubaa-asatx, Halalt, Penelakut, Stz’uminus, Lyackson, Pauquachin, Ditidaht & Pacheedaht Peoples. Many of the First Nations communities in the Cowichan region are Hul’q’umi’num peoples, who speak the Hul’q’umi’num language, within a larger First Nations group referred to as the Coast Salish People. Additionally, there are two First Nations part of the Nuu-Chah-Nulth peoples who speak Ditidaht.
Cowichan Tribes is the largest single First Nation Band in British Columbia with approximately 4,900 members. Cowichan Tribes administration offices in Duncan include service areas such as health, housing, education, fisheries and recreation. The Khowutzun Development Corp., has interests in forestry and Cowichan Tribes works closely with the City of Duncan and the CVRD on a variety of initiatives including water stewardship.
Since the 1800s, versions of the name “Cowichan” have been used by settlers to refer to geographic places — like bodies of water, mountains and land — as well as people and districts. Though the name has First Nations roots, it was the colonizers who decided where and how to apply it. As a result, the precise geography of “Cowichan” is complicated, and often confusing. The origin of the name “Cowichan” is what historian T.W. Paterson called an “Anglicized corruption” of the Hul’qumi’num word “Quw’utsun” — a word that describes the peoples who live under Shquw’utsun (Mount Tzouhalem). In contrast to this highly specific place and meaning, non-First Nations people have used the word to refer to a number of different places in what is now called the Cowichan Valley, raising the question: Where is “Cowichan”? But posing this question is likely to generate different responses, depending on who you ask. For imperial and colonial powers, giving a name to a place was an attempt to claim territory. Take, for example, the “Strait of Georgia,” a body of water named for King George III by Captain Vancouver in 1792. Of course, Vancouver’s efforts at mapping and naming began with a blank page from the deck of a ship, ignorant of the First Nations names present on the landscape for millennia.
Back when the river and the earth were still new, when people and nature were one and the same, when our first ancestors spread from their mountain home to the villages we know today, from the ancestral villages at the base of Swuq’us down to Ye’yumnuts and later down to Kwa’mutsun — the villages of the Quw’utsun mustimuhw have relied on the salmon runs. These villages were built by dedicated generations of Hwulmuhw mustimuhw who took the time to see the salmon as a relation. They knew that if they could create strong habitat and spawning grounds for the Stseelhtun, they too would thrive. In fact, our ancestors were so dedicated to the art of salmon-shepherding that they built an elaborate system of salmon weirs. Salmon weirs are fences built across the river to redirect and bottleneck the salmon to make it easier to identify them and fish more selectively. These fences were built by driving willow branches into the river bed, creating a fence. Some weirs, most of which were annually reconstructed, used tripods and had willow mats over top or strong walkways connecting them. The Quw’utsun mustimuhw have been relying on this weir technology for so long that Stseelhtun from the Quw’utsun Sta’lo have grown thinner and taller, to be able to push between the willows in a weir fence. Eventually, any tribe in the area could identify a salmon that came from the Quw’utsun river due its slender shape.
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