Kwakwaka'wakw (those who speak the Kwak'wala language) is a fairly recent term for the peoples formerly called "Kwakiutl." The native people of Canada refer to themselves as "First Nations" not as "Indian" or "Native American." Because First Nations is a very broad term, indigenous people identify more with their clan, village, band, tribe or family. For instance, Calvin Hunt is of the Kwagu'l band living in Fort Rupert, British Columbia.

The country of the Kwakwaka'wakw is the north end of Vancouver Island and the mainland coast of British Columbia from opposite Campbell River to Smith Inlet. The Kwakwaka'wakw are composed of several bands (or tribes) who live in specific locales and with a main village. They include:

Kwagu'ł from Fort Rupert
Mamaliliḵa̱la from Village Island
'Na̱mg̱is from Alert Bay
Ławitsis from Turnour Island
A̱'wa̱'etła̱la from Knight Inlet
Da̱'naxda'x̱w from New Vancouver
Dzawa̱da̱'enux̱w from Kingcome
Ḵwiḵwa̱sut̓inux̱w from Gilford Island
Gwawa̱'enux̱w from Hopetown
Haxwa'mis from Wakeman Sound
'Nak̕waxda'x̱w from Blunden Harbour
G̱usgimukw from Quatsino
Gwat̕sinux̱w from Winter Harbour
T̓łat̕ła̱siḵwa̱la from Hope Island
Gwa'sa̱la from Smith Inlet

The Canadian government, Indian agents and missionaries took strident efforts to curtail potlatch ceremonies, resulting in the Canadian Indian Acts of 1885 and 1915, which prohibited potlatching completely and imposed fines and incarceration as punishments. These Euro-Americans did not understand that the potlatch was a means to pass down family treasures and keep family stories and histories alive. The potlatch functioned as a kind of courthouse, recording names, events, and changes to the social and political standing of individuals. Instead, outsiders saw the potlatch as the immoral worship of pagan beings and considered the feasting and gift-giving a waste of food and property. Furthermore, such ceremonies could last for several weeks, keeping adults from jobs in the canneries and children from colonial schools. Potlatching did not cease, however. It has continued in altered forms to the present day, despite instances of imprisonment and the confiscation of ceremonial masks and regalia.

Northeastern Vancouver Island is the traditional homeland of several bands of Kwak'wala speakers. The Kwagu'ł band living at Fort Rupert has been considered one of the highest-ranked bands, with illustrious lineage from myth time to the present and important chiefs. Their home is a site of strong traditional ceremonialism. In 1849, the Hudson's Bay Company established a trading fort there, thus promoting Fort Rupert as a center for commerce and as the most prominent village during the last half of the nineteenth century. George Hunt, of Tlingit and Scottish ancestry (his father was a factor at the fort) but raised in Kwakwaka'wakw traditions, collected valuable information and hundreds of utilitarian and ceremonial objects for museums beginning in the 1890s. During the years of the potlatch ban, 1884 to 1951, the Kwagu'l continued the potlatch. In 1953, Mungo Martin (a Kwagu'l artist) staged the first "legal" potlatch at his Seamonster House on the grounds of the Provincial Museum (now the Royal British Columbia Museum).

"If we don't have our potlatches, our hearts will break."

—Mungo Martin

The potlatch—from the Chinook jargon "to give"—is made up of a series of ceremonies that are staged during important events, such as naming children, marriages, raising a totem pole, or a memorial for the deceased. The ceremonies feature dramatic representations of supernatural beings whose contact with family ancestors long ago provided them with special names, songs, dances and masks. Today, a Kwakwaka'wakw potlatch might include dances from both of the main ceremonies—the T'seka and T'asala—although in earlier times these ceremonies did not occur together. During both ceremonies, the heirs of the hosts are initiated to receive the dance privileges that belong to the family. Many guests are invited to witness this transfer of privileges, with their presence serving to validate the transaction. Guests are treated to lavish feasts and receive gifts as payment for their services as witnesses. Before contact with outsiders, gifts included carved headdresses, feast dishes, and woven robes. After contact, these traditional gifts were supplanted with cash, trade blankets, bags of flour, jewelry made from pounded silver coins, and even gas boats, sewing machines and Anglo-American furniture. Today, potlatch gifts include hand-woven or crocheted items, store-bought blankets and kitchen wear, cash, and silkscreen prints designed by Kwakwaka'wakw artists to commemorate the event.