X̱wemelch'stn
First Nations reserve in British Columbia
X̱wemelch'stn [χʷəməltʃʼstn], usually anglicized as Homulchesan, is a large community of Squamish Nation, part of the Coast Salish ethnic and linguistic group. The name X̱wemelch'stn, translates to "Fast Moving Water of Fish", relating to the Capilano River. The village is one of the oldest and major villages of the Squamish and continues to be so, being Squamish Nation's most populated reserve. The community is also known as the Capilano Indian Reserve, formally Capilano Indian Reserve No. 5, and is named like the adjacent Capilano River after the Capilano chieftaincy, the best-known Joe Capilano. The name Kiapila'noq means "people of Kiap", and was the title of the supreme chief of the Sḵwx̱wú7mesh in the area of English Bay. Chief George Capilano was the chief who met Captain Vancouver at X̱wemelch'stn in 1792, and had met Captain Cook in 1782.
Population and Services
The community to date hold more than 502 houses, along with the newly named Chief Joe Mathias Centre, the "Li'l Ones School", the Squamish Nation Youth Centre, as well as many small businesses.
History
X̱wemelch'stn first entered recorded history at the time of the voyage of Captain George Vancouver, when it and neighboring X̱wáýx̱way, across the inlet on the eastern peninsula of what is now Stanley Park, otherwise known as Lumberman's Arch, became recorded in the Captain's journals. At the time it was a palisaded village and one of the largest Sḵwxwú7mesh villages in the Burrard Inlet.
The public source identifies “X̱wemelch'stn” as first Nations reserve in British Columbia. This brief keeps that definition visible, then builds a research path around wemelch'stn, First and Nations.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Jul 19, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q8045669. Authority coordinates are 49.317, -123.133. 1 of 1 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1792 and 1782.
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This entry incorporates text from “X̱wemelch'stn” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.