Klahoose


The Klahoose are one of the three groups comprising the Tla'Amin or Mainland Comox. The other two divisions of this once-populous group are the Homalco and Sliammon. The three groups were split by colonialism into different band councils but united historically as the Tla A'min, known as the Mainland Comox, and K’ómoks, the larger grouping of the Comox people, also known as the Island Comox and before the merger with the Laich-kwil-tach culture. Historically both groups are a subgroup of the Coast Salish though the K’ómoks name is from, and their language today, is the Lik'wala dialect of Kwak'wala. The ancestral tongue is the Comox language, though the Sahtloot/Island dialect is extinct.
The Klahoose are governed by the Klahoose First Nation and their main community is also called Klahoose, which is located at the head of Toba Inlet. Before the Laich-kwil-tach migration to the Campbell River area, Klahoose traditional territory extended from there to Cortes Island though the latter is now also claimed by the Kwiakah, one of the four main groupings of the Laich-kwil-tach.

Klahoose First Nation

The Klahoose First Nation is a First Nations band government, the Indian Act-mandated government for the Klahoose group of Mainland Comox, whose traditional territories are located on Cortes Island at the northern end of the Strait of Georgia, and surrounding Toba Inlet, in southwestern British Columbia, Canada. Their main community is at the head of that inlet, and is also called Klahoose, which is the site of Klahoose Indian Reserve No. 1.
The Klahoose First Nation is a member government of the Naut'sa mawt Tribal Council.