Katzie First Nation, Pitt Meadows, BC

The Katzie First Nation derives its name from the Halkomelem word for a type of moss, and it is also the name of an ancient village site in the immediate vicinity of the Katzie Indian Reserve at Pitt Meadows. The only other Katzie village sites permanently occupied at the time of this writing are the Katzie reserves at Barnston Island and at Yorkson Creek in Langley.
The people now known as the Katzie First Nation were granted rights and title to their territory and their resources by the Creator, by Khaals, by their first Chiefs and from the reiteration of customs from time out of mind.
Long before the emergence of any other human community in the Lower Fraser region, the Creator placed five communities, each with its own chief, at different locations on the Land. Those locations are now known as Pitt Lake, Sheridan Hill, Port Hammond, Point Roberts and Point Grey.
The Katzie people are the direct descendants of these first people. The people came to be known as the Katzie people descend primarily from Oe’lecten and his people, created at the south shore of Pitt Lake, and Swaneset and his people, created at Sheridan Hill. Xwoe’pecten and his people, created at Port Hammond, joined with Swaneset’s people at Katzie, but later moved to what is now New Westminster and gave rise to the people now known as the Kwantlen people.
Smakwec and his people, created at Point Roberts, and their history, lands, resources, and culture were closely linked to those of the Katzie people. The descendants of Smakwec and his people are many, but many have vanished. The Nicomekl, as a distinct people, vanished in the time of the smallpox epidemic of the 1700s.