K'omoks

This article refers to the ethnographic group. For other uses please see the disambiguation page at Comox.

K'omoks

Map showing traditional territory of the Island Comox; Mainland Comox not shown
Total population
850 (1983)
Regions with significant populations
Canada (British Columbia)
Languages
English, Comox
Religion
Christianity, native
Related ethnic groups
Coast Salish peoples

The K’omoks, usually known in English as the Comox people and also spelled K'omoks, are an indigenous group of Coast Salishan-speaking people in Comox, British Columbia and in Toba Inlet and the Malaspina Peninsula areas of the British Columbia mainland across Georgia Strait. Those at the town of Comox are known as by academics as the Island Comox (in their adopted Lik'wala, a dialect of Kwak'wala they refer to themselves today as K’omoks, but in their original language referring to their cultural collective Sathloot; in the Sliammon/Tla'Amin dialect they are the θaɬaθtuxʷ). Those across the strait are known by academics as the Mainland Comox and are formed of two groups, the Sliammon (ɬaʔaʔmɛn) and the Klahoose (ƛohos means «sculpin fish»). They historically spoke the Komox language, which is divided into two dialects, Island Comox and Mainland Comox. The Island Comox have close political and family ties today to the Lekwildok or Southern Kwakiutl of Campbell River and Quadra Island, who now occupy territories that were formerly K'omoks/Sathloot.

Governments

Modern-day K'omoks are organized in four band governments:

• K'ómoks First Nation (Vancouver Island)
• Tla A'min Nation (Powell River/Malaspina Peninsula)
• Klahoose First Nation (Discovery Islands)
• Homalco First Nation (Toba Inlet)

Language

Main article: Comox language