Haisla First Nation
Monkey Beach is set in Haisla territory. Lisa Hill lives in Kitamaat Village. So does Eden Robinson. The Haisla First Nations website shares this:
Haisla (the name means “dwellers downriver”) people have occupied lands for about 9000 years. Neighbouring nations include the Heiltsuk and Wuikinuxv bands of the Coast Tsimshian peoples.Today’s Haisla Nation is an amalgamation of two historic bands–the Kitamaat of the Douglas and Devastation channels and the Kitlope of the upper Princess Royal Channel and Gardner Canal.
The Haisla social system is based on matrilineal clans. Eight clans (Eagle, Beaver, Crow, Killer Whale, Wolf, Frog, Raven, and Salmon) make up the community, with each clan having its own chief, its own resources areas, and its own winter village.
The Haisla people are centered on Kitamaat Village (or “Tsee-Motsa” in the Haisla language, meaning “Snag Beach”), home to about half of our people and about 10 kms from Kitimat (pop. 9000) and about 45 kms from the airport at Terrace. The Haisla people have lived off the land and water resources of the Douglas Channel and our traditional territory for hundreds of years. It will continue to be the heart of everything we do.