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Snuneymuxw's social organization was made up of local groups, which consisted of several households of closely related kin. Each group had its own winter village, or if small, lived with several small groups in a common winter village. At the time of contact with Europeans, there were five locally named groups, "Kwelsiwlh", "Teytexen", "Yeshexen", "Enwines" and "Xwsol'exwel". The first four groups lived in the winter village "Sti'ilup" at Departure Bay, while the fifth, "Xwsol'exwel" wintered on Nanaimo Harbour. In the fall all five local groups had separate fishing villages on the Nanaimo River. Each household within a local group was made up of a set of brothers with their wives, children and slaves. Married sisters with their husbands and other relatives might also be included. This household group was further divided into nuclear families, which were, to a certain degree, self-sufficient and responsible for their own food needs. A single family lived within a partitioned section of a Longhouse and maintained separate storage areas and cooking hearths. Families shared food when needed and worked cooperatively in activities such as building weirs, constructing houses, or participating in deer drives or duck hunting. These shared ventures occurred more frequently in the fall and winter months when families lived together in their permanent villages
Above is a picture of a traditional Longhouse, which provided a close family bond and thus, maintained strong traditional values. Below is SFN housing after Europeans separated the families into smaller groups. This is the area now called Nanaimo Reserve #1.
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