People Group Profiles

“All nations will come and worship before you."

- Revelations 15:4

Straits Salish of North America


People Group Info

Total Population: 3,550

ROP3 Code: 109555
IMB Affinity Group: American Peoples
Affinity Bloc: North American Peoples
People Cluster: North American Indigenous
Language: English - (eng)
Religion: Christianity
Country of Origin: United States

Photo courtesy of PeopleGroups.info

Majority Located Where

  Mount Vernon-Anacortes, WA - 1,150

Click here to recommend other locations where this People Group resides.

Learn More

Brief Profile

The Straits Salish, a division of the Coast Salish, are a Native American people who reside in Washington state and Canada. Their tribes include the Semiahmoo, Lummi, Sooke, Songish, Saanich, and the Samish. Historically, they occupied the tip of Vancouver Island, across the Gulf and San Juan Islands to the coastal fringes of northwest Washington and southwestern British Columbia.

They are distinguished from their neighbors on the basis of language and their most important subsistence activity – reef–net fishing for the yearly runs of salmon. These tribes spoke slightly differing dialects of the same Coast Salish language. Today, very few elders speak one of the tribal dialects. The majority speak English.

Moreover, they are distinct by their annual round of subsistence activity based on the yearly runs of salmon; the most important of which was the sockeye run to the Fraser River.

They adhere either to traditional ethnic religion, belong to the Shaker Indian Church, or are evangelical Christian.

Prayer Points

  • Pray other evangelical Native American people in their area will boldly share Christian with unreached Straits Salish people.
  • Pray God will call out evangelical Straits Salish people to share Christ via words and deeds with their own people and other unreached Native American people in the area.
  • Pray God will strengthen and equip Straits Salish Christians in their understanding of and explaining the message of God's Word.


People Group Resources

Native Americans - Worldview and Trends
Learn about Native Americans, their Worldview and Trends.


Learning Resources

Learn more about "Learning Paths"
Online Courses for embracing, encountering and engaging diaspora people. Work at your own pace. Begin anytime and complete the course according to your schedule. Interactive, Hands-On Application.

Learn more about "Reaching the Nations"
This book delineates five disciplines Christians should develop in order to effectively reach the nations. More specifically, it will guide Christians to develop an engagement strategy in their locale.


Other Resources

Know God in 98 Languages
A CRU resource with 9 different witnessing models (e.g. 4 Spiritual Laws, etc.) in 98 languages.

Prayer Guide for Unreached Peoples
A 30 day guide to pray for unreached people groups.

Online Talking Bible - English
The purpose of Talking Bibles is to give non-readers and the blind access to the Bible in their native language.

Prayer Guide using the GOSPELS acronym
A prayer guide that utilizes the acronym GOSPELS to pray for workers among diaspora.

Displaying 1-1 of 1 result.
Country City Metro Area Name State / Prov. Baseline Population
United StatesAnacortesMount Vernon-AnacortesWA1,150