The Hesquiaht First Nation app is coming sooncoming soonalmost herenearly ready

Hesquiaht First Nation, also spelled Hesquiat, is a Nuu-chah-nulth Nation. The name is said to mean "People Of The Sound Made By Eating Herring Eggs Off Eel Grass." The Nation formed when five smaller tribes around the harbour joined together. Its territory runs roughly from Nootka Sound to Clayoquot Sound and includes Hesquiat Harbour and the Hesquiat Peninsula. The main village, Hot Springs Cove, is about 30 nautical miles from Tofino, more than an hour away by boat. Most members live in cities on Vancouver Island, mainly Port Alberni.

The Nation's language is Nuučaan̓uɫ (Nuu-chah-nulth). Hesquiaht culture includes a rich body of animal stories, skilled carving of canoes and totems, and longhouses where people share, feast, drum and dance. Each House holds cultural teachings as a sacred responsibility, and the salmon lifecycle is seen as very sacred. Four hereditary chiefs (Ha'wiih) guide the community.

The community has come through hard times, including warfare and disease in the 1800s, the 1964 tsunami that destroyed all but two homes, and the collapse of fishing and forestry in the 1990s. Today the Nation fully owns and runs Hot Springs Cove Lodge & Campground. In August 2024 it celebrated the Ah'ta'apq Creek run-of-river hydro project at Hot Springs Cove.

Hesquiaht is a member of the Nuu-chah-nulth Tribal Council and is negotiating in the BC treaty process at the council's treaty table. Learn more at the Hesquiaht First Nation website.