Nooksack people
The Nooksack logo, with Kulshan and its foothills, a Nooksack man in a shovel nose canoe, and the Nooksack River. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 1,800 | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Whatcom County, Washington | |
| Languages | |
| English, Nooksack | |
| Religion | |
| American Indian pantheism, Christianity, other | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| other Coast Salish peoples |
The Nooksack (/ˈnʊksæk/; Nooksack: Noxwsʼáʔaq or Nuxwsá7aq) are an Indigenous people of the Pacific Northwest Coast. Today, the majority of them are federally recognized as the Nooksack Indian Tribe, located in the mainland northwest corner of Washington state along the Nooksack River near the small town of Deming (in western Whatcom County), and 12 miles south of the Canadian border. As of 2008, they had more than 1,800 enrolled citizens. Their terms for citizenship include descent from persons listed in a 1942 tribal census.
They are part of the Coast Salish people and have traditionally spoken Nooksack, one of the Salishan family of languages. It is closely related to the Halkomelem language of coastal British Columbia, and at one time was considered a dialect of the latter. At the time of European encounter, the Nooksack people occupied territory extending into present-day British Columbia. But the setting of the border between Canada and the United States split the people into two territories. Halkomelem was still dominant in the Nooksack watershed in the US.