The Haisla (also known as Xa’islak’ala, X̄a’islakʼala, X̌àʼislakʼala, X̣aʼislak’ala, Xai:sla) are an amalgamation of two bands, the Kitamaat people of upper Douglas Channel and Devastation Channel and the Kitlope People of upper Princess Royal Channel and Gardner Canal in British Columbia, Canada. The Kitamaat call themselves Haisla ("dwellers downriver"); and the Kitlope Henaaksiala ("dying off slowly"), a reference to their traditional longevity. The word Kitamaat comes from the Tsimshian people, who originate from the Prince Rupert and Metlakatla areas. While Kitamaat means people of the snow in Tsimshian, kit means people and amaat refers to territory or place. The Haisla are a group indigenous people that have lived at Kitamaat Village as their natural area of residence in the North Coast region of British Columbia, and have occupied these lands, for at least 9,000 years. Today, the they are located in Kitamaat Village, otherwise known as Kitimat Village. Home to about half of the 1700 Haisla, the village sits at the head of the Douglas Channel in British Columbia, while most of the people live elsewhere in the Greater Vancouver region. Their language, Haisla, is named after them in most English usage, though its actual name is X̄a’islak̓ala. The name Haisla is derived from the Haisla word x̣àʼisla or x̣àʼisəla ("those living at the rivermouth, living downriver"). Along with the neighbouring Wuikinuxv and Heiltsuk people, they were incorrectly known in the past as the Northern Kwakiutl. Naming The name Kitamaat became misrepresented in 1955 when Alcan Industries entered to build an aluminum smelter in their territory. Attempting to bring a new face to the territory, Alcan called it the "town of the future" and changed the spelling to Kitimat. The Haisla name for Kitamaat Village is Tsee-Motsa (Cʼimaucʼa), meaning Snag Beach. Location Kitamaat Village, the Haisla reserve, is a short 20-minute drive south of the town of Kitimat. This town, the site of the aluminum smelter of Alcan Incorporated, is at the head of the Douglas Channel, a fjord that serves as saltwater corridor connecting the community, the town, and the port of Kitimat to the Pacific Ocean. Kitamaat is a Tsimshian name, applied by European explorers who asked their Tsimshian guides for the name of the place; it means "people of the snows" or "place of the snows". For hundreds of years, the Haisla people have occupied many village sites throughout their territory. The government of the Haisla people