The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations () are a Nuu-chah-nulth First Nation (band government) in Canada. They live on ten reserves along the Pacific Rim National Park Reserve on Vancouver Island, British Columbia. The band is part of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council. There were 618 people living in the Tla-o-qui-aht reserves in 1995. Their primary economic activities are fishing and tourism. Introduction Tla-o-qui-aht, whose ancestral border is determined by the height of land, the direction of the rivers flow and as far as the eye can see on the ocean, is a confederacy of aboriginal groups who historically were independent from one another. Tla-o-qui-aht First Nations is the Indian band mandated under the Federal Indian Act to deliver civil and human services to Tla-o-qui-aht. The hereditary governance systems and structures of Tla-o-qui-aht that exist today, and that have existed since time immemorial have a dynamic relationship with the Indian band administration and with the general population of Tla-o-qui-aht. The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation resides on two separate reserves, one on Meares Island (Opitsaht) and the other at Esowista, surrounded by Pacific Rim National Park. A reserve expansion is planned for the Esowista site. The Tla-o-qui-aht First Nation (TFN) has been very active in economic development. The keystone to understanding Tla-o-qui-aht history is understanding what the term Tla-o-qui-aht means. The following translation/interpretation was developed based on conversations with various Tla-o-qui-aht elders (including Mary Hayes and Dixon Sam Mitt, among others), fluent speakers, master craftsmen, seasoned politicians and those who participated in the exhaustive community consultation that was implemented by Tla-o-qui-aht during the Meares Island court case. Tla-o-qui-aht is the confederation of historic native groups that once lived all around the lake system called Ha-ooke-min. Tla-o-qui-aht has been translated to mean “different people from a different place.” However, it means much more than that: is a prefix for the term 'people', and tla-o-qui is a place in Clayoquot Sound presently known as Clayoqua. In this way Tla-o-qui-aht can be understood to mean the “people from a different place.” Clayoquot Sound is located on the western coast of Vancouver Island, north of Tofino. In former times, the tribe's ancestors were in fact not one tribe, but many small tribes and family groups who lived all around Ha-ooke-min, which is now known as Kennedy Lake and which is where Tla-o-qui is located. The defining event that changed the face of Tla-o-qui-aht forever is eternalized in the name