Simon Fraser University
Engaging the World

The Heiltsuk, Hai Hais, and Oweekeno are part of the central group of the Northern Wakashan language family. The Heiltsuk and Hai Hais traditional territory is located near Bella Bella, while the Oweekeno, who speak Oowekyala, traditionally lived at the head of Rivers Inlet in a village located on Wannok River which flows out of Oweekeno Lake. The villages were laid out along the foreshore, with individual houses organized according to rank. The higher ranking houses were closer to the center of the village, with lower ranking ones spread out on either side along the waterfront.

Heiltsuk living patterns before colonization were typical of the entire Northwest Coast, with permanent rectangular cedar plank houses located in winter villages, augmented by summer and resource camp housing. The houses were northern in style, with a post and beam structure, double ridgepole, and gabled roof with an adjustable central smoke hole. Interior posts and beams were often carved, and wall planks were applied vertically. The exterior walls of the house were usually hung with woven mats to help insulate the living space. Some Heiltsuk houses had removable wall boards, but most were attached permanently to the structure. Summer and resource camp housing was an undecorated version of the winter house, and bark houses were used at hunting stations and minor camps. Two unique features of the Oweekeno house, are that bark was never used as a sheathing material, and the central fire pit was replaced by Kwakwaka’wakw-style corner fire pits.

Descent groups might possess several actual houses, but the one dwelt in by the Chief, was the physical representation of the group. Houses were explicitly thought of as bodies with cosmological extensions and were often imagined as a totemic animal, with the door hole symbolizing reincarnation.