Welcome to Xa'xtsa!
XA'XTSA vision statement
Focuses to be the community that our members call home. We will create and maintain a healthy life-style-sufficiency,promotion of Ucwalmicwts and our culture.
With infrastructure and recreation opportunity services, we will be self-governing, self-supporting, equal and united community.
We will be the eyes, the ears and the voice for the present and the future to protect our children; more so, create a secure path for all other future generations to come.
Guiding Principles:
We have been given stewardship of our land. We have always used the land to sustain our people and our traditions. All our decisions are made for the good of the people. The Douglas First Nation government is guided by these principles
- Consider everything (all relevant information) before making decisions
- Consider how the decision will benefit the people
- Always attempt to achieve consensus
- Be open to change
- Be respectful to different points of view
- Be transparent and accountable to our members
- Be guided by wisdom and experience of our elders and use traditional knowledge and approaches.
About XA'XTSA
The name 'Port Douglas' originates from the colonial period, when the town, one of the earliest to be established in British Columbia, was erected adjacent to the present First Nations community in 1858. It was the starting point on the famed Harrison-Lillooet wagon road, also known in historic times as the Douglas Portage. Thousands of miners from all over the world stopped in Port Douglas before undertaking on this less than comfortable trail, which led to the Fraser River and on to the Cariboo gold fields.
The Douglas First Nation, aka the Douglas Indian Band or Xa'xtsa Nation, are a band government as defined in the Indian Act, and a subgroup of the larger St'at'imc Tribe, also referred to as Lower Stl'atl'imx. The Douglas, Skatin and Samahquam communities are related through familial ties as well as culturally and linguistically.
Xa'xtsa is made up of two communities: Port Douglas, which is situated at the northern end of Little Harrison Lake, and Tipella which is on the west side of the Lillooet River. The name 'Port Douglas' originates from the colonial period, when the town, one of the earliest to be established in mainland British Columbia, was erected adjacent to the present Xa'xtsa community in 1858. It was the starting point on the Harrison-Lillooet wagon road, also known in historic times as the Douglas Portage. It was named after James Douglas, the first Governor for the Province of British Columbia, who spearheaded the effort to construct the road. Thousands of miners from all over the world stopped in Port Douglas before undertaking on this less than comfortable trail, which led to the Fraser River and on to the Cariboo gold fields. The town reached its economic peak between 1859 and 1860, but after the completion of the Cariboo wagon road through the Fraser River Canyon, traffic through Port Douglas was re-routed, and the town was virtually abandoned by 1865. The reserve beside Port Douglas was originally allotted in 1859 by the magistrate of the town, but the current reserve allotments were first surveyed in 1884 by the Reserve Commission of the Department of Indian Affairs.
