Heiltsuk

The Heiltsuk were Indigenous peoples of the central coast of what is now British Columbia, organized in groups linked to winter villages and extended families. They probably first encountered Europeans in 1793 and became intermediaries in the coastal fur trade.

In 1833 the Hudson's Bay Company established Fort McLoughlin on Campbell Island near a Heiltsuk village. The post drew traders from neighbouring peoples, and a Heiltsuk settlement grew beside it at McLoughlin Bay.