Haida (, ,) is the language of the
Haida people, spoken in the
Haida Gwaii archipelago of the coast of
Canada and on
Prince of Wales Island in
Alaska. An
endangered language by the book of UNESCO, Haida currently has about 20 native speakers, though revitalization efforts are underway. At the time of Discovery of the Haida Gwaii in 1774, Haida speakers estimated about 15,000; epidemic soon led to a drastic reduction in the Haida population, which became limited to three villages:
Masset,
Skidegate, and
Hydaburg. Positive attitudes towards assimilation combined with the ban on speaking Haida in residential schools led to a sharp decline in the use of the Haida language among the Haida people, and today almost all ethnic Haida use English to communicate.