Lax Kwʼalaams

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Lax Kw’alaams is an Indigenous village on the northwest coast of British Columbia, Canada, near the city of Prince Rupert. It’s reached only by ferry or water taxi and was known as Port Simpson until 1986.

Where it is and who lives there
Lax Kw’alaams sits on Port Simpson Indian Reserve No. 1, shared with many Tsimshian communities. The Nine Allied Tribes are: Giluts’aaw, Ginadoiks, Ginaxangiik, Gispaxlo’ots, Gitando, Gitlaan, Gits’iis, Gitwilgyoots, and Gitzaxłaał. The name Lax Kw’alaams means “place of the wild roses.” It was once a camping site for the Gispaxlo’ots people.

A brief history
- In 1834, the Hudson’s Bay Company set up Fort Simpson (Port Simpson) there to trade and compete in the maritime fur trade. The fort was named after Captain Aemilius Simpson.
- The first HBC factor at Fort Simpson was Dr. John Frederick Kennedy, who married the daughter of the local chief, Ligeex, as part of early diplomacy.
- In 1857, Anglican missionary William Duncan brought Christianity to the community. He later moved many followers to Metlakatla, Alaska.
- Mission work returned in 1874 with Rev. Thomas Crosby of the Methodist church. Crosby’s wife, Emma Crosby, started a girls’ home in the 1880s, which later became part of Canada’s Indian residential school system (operating from 1893 to 1948).
- The Native Brotherhood of British Columbia was founded in Port Simpson in 1931, making it the province’s first Native-run rights organization. Founders included the Tsimshian ethnologist William Beynon and hereditary Chief William Jeffrey.

People and culture today
- In 1857, Duncan estimated about 2,300 people lived in 140 houses. Many died in the 1862 Pacific Northwest smallpox epidemic after his departure.
- Today Lax Kw’alaams is the largest of the seven Tsimshian village communities in Canada. About 882 people live in the village, and the Lax Kw’alaams Band serves more than 4,100 members.
- The Tsimshian people in British Columbia number about 10,000, making them the province’s largest Indigenous group.
- The community is represented by the Allied Tsimshian Tribes Association, which groups hereditary chiefs from the Nine Tribes. The Tsimshian have a matrilineal kinship system, with descent and property passing through mothers.

Science and the environment
- A 2016 study in Nature Communications linked the genome of ancient people from the Prince Rupert area to today’s Lax Kw’alaams descendants.
- The coastline is facing erosion from sea-level rise, storm surges, and strong winds, affecting the shoreline and communities.

Geography and land
- The area lies in the Coast Plutonic Complex, with bedrock and ancient geology helping support the region’s rich marine life, which underpins local traditional livelihoods.