The
Kitasoo are one of the 14 tribes of the
Tsimshian people in
Canada, who inhabit, along with
Xai'xais people of
Heiltsuk ethnic affiliation, the village of
Klemtu,
British Columbia. The name
Kitasoo derives from the Tsimshian name
Gidestsu, from
git- (people of) and
disdzuu, which refers to a large, tiered house-depression. The Kitasoo, along with the
Gitga'ata Tsimshians at
Hartley Bay, B.C., are often classed as "
Southern Tsimshian," their traditional language being
the southern dialect of the
Tsimshian language. Their band government is the
Kitasoo/Xaixais First Nation, a member government of the
Oweekeno-Kitasoo-Nuxalk Tribal Council.