Bella Bella was a Heiltsuk village located on Denny Island. To the Heiltsuk peoples,
Bella Bella was known as 'Qélc. In 1880, Methodist missionaries encouraged the people of Bella Bella village, the central
village the Heiltsuk people had congregated to after a devastating smallpox epidemic,
to favour more European-centred means of accommodation. Because of this push, residents
relocated the village of Bella Bella to Campbell Island, three kilometres north of
McLoughlin Bay. The original cite of the abandoned Bella Bella village on Denny Island
village is now known as Old Bella Bella.1