{{Short description|Village of Kwakwaka'wakw people}} {{Use Canadian English|date=February 2026}} {{Use mdy dates|date=September 2023}} '''Gwayasdums''' is a village of the Kwakwakaʼwakw peoples on the west side of Gilford Island in the Johnstone Strait region of the Central Coast of British Columbia, Canada.<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54853.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Gwayasdums (Former First Nation Village)"]</ref> The village, located on Retreat Pass, is on '''Gwayasdums Indian Reserve No. 1'''.<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/65365.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Gwayasdums 1 (Indian reserve)"]</ref> Other spellings of the name are '''Kwaustums''' and '''gwaʼyasdams'''<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/54853.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Gwayasdums (Former First Nation Village)"]</ref> and '''Gwaʼyasdams'''.
The locality has also been known as '''Health Bay''',<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/27058.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Health Bay (locality)"]</ref> also the name for an adjoining body of water at {{coord|50|41|01|N|126|34|51|W|display=-inline|source:BCNames|name=Health Bay (bay)}}<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/27057.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Health Bay (bay)"]</ref> which is a side bay. '''Health Lagoon''' is nearby Gwayasdums just to the south<ref>[http://apps.gov.bc.ca/pub/bcgnws/names/27060.html BC Names/GeoBC entry "Health Lagoon"]</ref> at {{coord|50|41|43|N|126|34|02|W|display=inline|source:BCNames|name=Health Lagoon}}.
==History== Gwayasdums, which today has about 70 residents, is the ancestral home of the Kwikwasut’inuxw, though it has been used by many other Kwakwaka'wakw groups over time. The village was destroyed by the Nuxalk in 1856, possibly in relation to a famine at Bella Coola resulting from the closing of Fort McLoughlin. The survivors joined the Mamalilikulla at Memkumlis on Village Island. The Gwawa’enuxw, the Haxwa’mis, and the Dzawada’enuxw began to use Gwayasdums as a joint winter village Between 1865 and 1879. In the 1890s the Kwikwasut'inuxw began to return though joint occupation and use continued into the 20th Century.<ref>{{Cite web |url=https://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/Kwakwaka_wakw/gwayasdums--gilford-island-.html |title=Simon Fraser University Virtual Village project, Gwayasdums page |access-date=August 29, 2017 |archive-date=December 16, 2016 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20161216204117/http://www.sfu.ca/brc/virtual_village/Kwakwaka_wakw/gwayasdums--gilford-island-.html |url-status=dead }}</ref>
==See also== *List of Kwakwaka'wakw villages
==References== {{reflist}}
==External links== *[http://khfn.ca/wp-content/uploads/2013/09/hith-alis-lax-gwa-yas-dums.pdf ''Hith Alis Lax Gwa-yas-dums: Moving for Crisis to Hope at Gwa-yas-dums Village''], report prepared for the KHFN by Bob Chamberlin, William Trousdale, and Jeff Cook, Plan Canada, Summer 2008 *[http://khfn.ca/ Kwikwasut'inuxw Haxwa'mis First Nation website] {{coord|50|42|00|N|126|36|00|W|display=title|source:BCNames|name=Gwayasdums}}
Category:Kwakwaka'wakw villages Category:Central Coast of British Columbia Category:Indigenous conflicts in Canada