User:OldManRivers/Tsleil-Waututh people

The Tsleil-waututh people (Halkomelem: səl̓il̓wətaʔɬ ~ səl̓il̓wətaɬ and Squamish: Sel̓íl̀witulh) ) are an indigenous people in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. The Tsleil-waututh people historically spoke a language closely related to the downriver dialect of Halkomelem and the Squamish language or Sḵwx̱wú7mesh sníchim.

Their territory includes the north arm of the Fraser River, False Creek, the Burrard Inlet and the Indian Arm watershed. The people’s village communities included their present-day Tsleil-Waututh Nation reserve in North Vancouver on Dollarton Highway, a place called təmtəmíxʷtən or temtemíxwten in present-day Belcarra, a place near Port Moody and at the mouth of and along the Indian Arm river.

The present day people descent from a small population of ancestors who survived decades of diseases including influenza and smallpox that reduced their population significantly. The Tsleil-waututh people have many historical cultural and genealogical ties to the people from Musqueam and the Squamish people. Today they are represented and organized into the Tsleil-Waututh Nation.

Notable people with Tsleil-Waututh ancestry

 * Chief Dan George
 * Lee Maracle
 * Columpa Bobb