Chipewyan
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| Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'Module:InfoboxImage/data' not found. A Chipewyan woman and child set out to hunt muskrat in Garson Lake, Saskatchewan. | |
| Total population | |
|---|---|
| 30,910 (2016 census)[1] | |
| Regions with significant populations | |
| Canada | |
| Saskatchewan | 12,875 |
| Northwest Territories | 7,820 |
| Alberta | 6,350 |
| Manitoba | 1,905 |
| British Columbia | 1,225 |
| Languages | |
| English, Denesuline | |
| Religion | |
| Christianity, Animism | |
| Related ethnic groups | |
| Dene, Yellowknives, Tłı̨chǫ, Slavey, Sahtu | |
The Chipewyan (/ˌtʃɪpəˈwaɪən/ Script error: No such module "Respell"., also called the Dënesųłı̨né Script error: No such module "IPA".), are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition.[2][3][4] They are part of the Northern Athabascan group of peoples, and hail from what is now Western Canada.
Terminology
The name Dënesųłı̨né, also written Denésoliné or Dënë Sųłınë́, means "the original/real people".[5][6] The term Chipewyan (Script error: No such module "Lang".) is an exonym from the Cree language meaning 'pointed hides', referring to the design of their parkas.[7]
The French-speaking missionaries to the northwest of the Red River Colony referred to the Chipewyan people as Montagnais in their documents written in French.[8] Montagnais simply means 'mountain people' or 'highlanders' in French and has been applied to many unrelated nations across North America over time. For example, the missionaries also referred to the Neenolino Innu of northern Quebec as Script error: No such module "Lang"..
Ethnography
Historically, the Denesuline were allied to some degree with the southerly Cree peoples. They warred against Inuit and other Dene peoples to the north of Chipewyan lands.
An important historic Denesuline is Thanadelthur ("Marten Jumping"), a young woman who early in the 18th century helped her people to establish peace with the Cree, and to get involved in the fur trade.[9]
The Sayisi Dene of northern Manitoba are a Chipewyan band notable for hunting migratory caribou. They were historically located at Little Duck Lake and known as the "Duck Lake Dene".
In 1956, the government forcibly relocated them to the port of Churchill on the shore of Hudson Bay and a small village north of Churchill called North Knife River. There they joined other Dene and became members of the "Fort Churchill Chipewyan Band".
In the 1970s, the "Duck Lake Dene" opted for self-reliance, and a return to caribou hunting. They relocated to Tadoule Lake, legally becoming recognized as "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)" in the 1990s.[10][11]
Culture
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Modern Chipewyan are either fluidly sedentary or semi-nomadic in lifestyle. Many still practice their traditional lifestyle for subsistence including fishing or caribou hunting although this process is modernized with the use of modern nets, tools, transportation and more.[12]
Language
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| People | Dënë Sųłinë́ ᑌᓀ ᓱᒼᕄᓀ |
|---|---|
| Language | Dënë Sųłinë́ Yatıé ᑌᓀ ᓱᒼᕄᓀ ᔭᕠᐁ |
| Country | Dënë Sųłinë́ Nëné, ᑌᓀᓱᐠᒼᕄᓀ ᓀᓀ, Denendeh ᑌᓀᐣᑌᐧ |
Denesuline (Chipewyan) speak the Denesuline language, of the Athabaskan linguistic group. Denesuline is spoken by Indigenous peoples in Canada whose name for themselves is a cognate of the word Script error: No such module "Lang". ("people"): Script error: No such module "Lang". (or Script error: No such module "Lang".). Speakers of the language speak different dialects but understand each other. There is a 'k', t dialect that most people speak. For example, people in Fond du lac, Script error: No such module "Lang". speak the 'k' and say Script error: No such module "Lang". while others who use the 't' say Script error: No such module "Lang"..
The name Chipewyan is, like many people of the Canadian Prairies, of Algonquian origin. It is derived from the Plains Cree name for them, Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), "pointed skin", from Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), "to be pointed"; and Script error: No such module "Lang". (Script error: No such module "Lang".), "skin" or "hide" - a reference to the cut and style of Chipewyan parkas.[13]
Most Chipewyan people now use Dene and Denesuline to describe themselves and their language. The Saskatchewan communities of Fond-du-Lac,[14] Black Lake[15] and Wollaston Lake[16] are a few.
Despite the superficial similarity of the names, the Chipewyan are not related to the Chippewa (Ojibwe) people.
In 2015, Shénë Gahdële-Valpy (Shene Catholique-Valpy at the time), a Chipewyan woman in the Northwest Territories, challenged the territorial government over its refusal to permit her to use the letter ⟨ʔ⟩ in her daughter's name, Sahą́ı̨́ʔą (Sahaiʔa without diacritics). The territory argued that territorial and federal identity documents were unable to accommodate the letter. Sahaiʔa's mother finally registered her name with a hyphen in place of the ⟨ʔ⟩, while continuing to challenge the policy.[17] Shortly afterwards, another woman named Andrea Heron also challenged the territory on the same grounds, for refusing to accept the letter ⟨ʔ⟩ in her daughter's Slavey name, Sakaeʔah (actually a cognate of Sahaiʔa).[18] Náʔël, the sister of Sahą́ı̨́ʔą, faces the same issues.[19][20]
Demographics
Chipewyan peoples live in the region spanning the western Canadian Shield to the Northwest Territories, including northern parts of the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan. There are also many burial and archaeological sites in Nunavut which are part of the Dënesųłı̨ne group.
The following list of First Nations band governments had in August 2016 a total registered membership of 25,519, with 11,315 in Saskatchewan, 6,952 in Alberta, 3,038 in Manitoba and 4,214 in the Northwest Territories. All had Denesuline populations; however, several had a combination of Cree and Denesuline members (see the Barren Lands First Nation in Manitoba and the Fort McMurray First Nation in Alberta).
There are also many Dene (Dënesųlı̨ne)-speaking Métis communities located throughout the region. The Saskatchewan village of La Loche, for example, had 2,300 residents who in the 2011 census identified as speaking Dene (Denesuline) as their native language.[21] About 1,800 of the residents were Métis and about 600 were members of the Clearwater River Dene Nation.[22]
Commemorations
The relocation of the Sayisi Dene is commemorated by the Dene Memorial in Churchill, Manitoba.[23]
Historical Chipewyan regional groups
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Lua error in Module:Location_map/multi at line 27: Unable to find the specified location map definition: "Module:Location map/data/Canada Saskatchewan" does not exist. The Chipewyan moved in small groups or bands, consisting of several extended families, alternating between winter and summer camps. The groups participated in hunting, trapping, fishing and gathering in Canada's boreal forest and around the many lakes of their territory. Later, with the emerging North American fur trade, they organized into several major regional groups in the vicinity of the European trading posts to control, as middleman, the carrying trade in furs and the hunting of fur-bearing animals. The new social groupings also enabled the Chipewyan to dominate their Dene neighbours and to better defend themselves against their rifle-armed Cree enemies, who were advancing to the Peace River and Lake Athabasca.
- Kaí-theli-ke-hot!ínne (K'aı́tëlı́ hót'ı̨ne) ('willow flat-country up they-dwell') lived on the western shore of Lake Athabasca at Fort Chipewyan. Their tribal area extended northward to Fort Smith on the Slave River and south to Fort McMurray on the Athabasca River[24]
- Kés-ye-hot!ínne (K'ësyëhót'ı̨ne) ('aspen house they-dwell' or 'poplar house they-dwell') lived on the upper reaches of the Churchill River, along the Lac Île-à-la-Crosse, Methye Portage, Cold Lake, Heart Lake and Onion Lake. The tribal name is probably a description of adjacent Chipewyan groups for this major regional group and takes literally reference to the Lac Ile à la Crosse established European trading forts which were built with Poplar or Aspen wood.
- Hoteladi Hótthę̈nádé dëne ('northern people') lived north of the Kés-ye-hot!ínne between Cree Lake, west of Reindeer Lake on the south and on the east shore of Lake Athabasca in the north.
- Hâthél-hot!inne (Hátthëlót'ı̨ne) ('lowland they-dwell') lived in the Reindeer Lake (ɂëtthën tué) region which drains south into the Churchill River.
- Etthen eldili dene (Etthén heldélį Dené, Ethen-eldeli - 'Caribou-Eaters') lived in the taiga east of Lake Athabasca far east to Hudson Bay, at Reindeer Lake, Hatchet Lake, Wollaston Lake and Lac Brochet
- Kkrest'ayle kke ottine ('dwellers among the quaking aspens' or 'trembling aspen people') lived in the boreal forests between Great Slave Lake in the south and Great Bear Lake in the north.
- Sayisi Dene (Saı́yısı́ dëne) (or Saw-eessaw-dinneh - 'people of the east') traded at Fort Chipewyan. Their hunting and tribal areas extended between Lake Athabasca and Great Slave Lake, and along the Churchill River.
- Gáne-kúnan-hot!ínne (Gąnı̨ kuę hót'ı̨ne) ('jack-pine home they-dwell') lived in the taiga east of Lake Athabasca and were particularly centred along the eastern Fond-du-Lac area.
- Des-nèdhè-kkè-nadè (Dësnëdhé k'e náradé dëne) (Desnedekenade, Desnedhé hoį́é nadé hot'įnę́ - 'people along the great river') were also known as Athabasca Chipewyan. They lived between Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca along the Slave River near Fort Resolution (Denı́nu Kų́ę́[25] — 'moose Island').
- Thilanottine (Tthı́lą́ne hót'ı̨ne) (Tu tthílá hot'įnę́ — 'those who dwell at the head of the lakes' or 'people of the end of the head') lived along the lakes of the Upper Churchill River area, along the Churchill River and Athabasca River, from Great Slave Lake and Lake Athabasca in the north to Cold Lake and Lac La Biche in the southwest.[26]
- Tandzán-hot!ínne (Tálzą́hót'ı̨ne) ('dwellers at the dirty lake', also known as Dení-nu-eke-tówe - 'moose island up lake-on') lived on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake and along the Yellowknife River, and before their expulsion by the Tłı̨chǫ along the Coppermine River. They were often regarded as a Chipewyan group, but form as "Yellowknives" historically an independent First Nation and called themselves T'atsaot'ine (T'átsąnót'ı̨ne).
Governance
The Dënesųłı̨ne people are part of many band governments spanning Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.
Alberta
Manitoba
Northwest Territories
| Tribal council | First Nations | Headquarters | Reserves / community | Area | Population | Notes and references |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Akaitcho Territory Government (Ɂákéchógh nęnę) |
Deninu Kųę́ First Nation (Deneh-noo-kweh) |
Fort Resolution (Denı́nu Kų́ę́)[25] |
Fort Resolution Settlement | 0 | 1,096 | Formerly known as Fort Resolution Dene. Denı́nu Kų́ę́ translates as "moose island place"[25] and Deneh-noo-kweh as "People of moose island"' Tribal council, name and HQ,[58] reserves and area,[59] population (February 2025)[60] |
| Akaitcho Territory Government (Ɂákéchógh nęnę) |
Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation | Łutselk'e (Łútsę̀lk'é)[25] |
Snowdrift Settlement | 0 | 868 | Formerly known as the Snowdrift Band. Łútsę̀lk'é translates as "place of the łútsę̀l", a type of small fish known as a cisco (Coregonus artedi).[25] Tribal council, name and HQ,[61] reserves and area,[62] population (February 2025)[63] |
| Akaitcho Territory Government (Ɂákéchógh nęnę) |
Salt River First Nation#195 | Fort Smith (Tthebacha)[25] |
Fitzgerald No. 196 Fort Smith Settlement Salt Plains 195 Salt River No. 195 |
Template:Cvt | 1,066 | Tthebatthıe 196, formerly Fitzgerald No. 196, is located in Alberta. Tribal council, name and HQ,[64] reserves and area,[65] population (February 2025)[66] |
| Akaitcho Territory Government (Ɂákéchógh nęnę) |
Yellowknives Dene First Nation | Yellowknife (Sǫ̀mbak'è) [25] |
Dettah Settlement Ndilo Settlement Yellowknife Settlement |
0 | 1,720 | Sǫ̀mbak'è translates as "money place".[25] Tribal council, name and HQ,[67] reserves and area,[68] population (February 2025)[69] |
Saskatchewan
Notable Chipewyan
- Matonabbee (Matąnebı́)
- Matooskie
- Thanadelthur (Thánadëltth'ér)
- Louis Riel, who was a grandson of a Chipewyan
- Jimmy Herman, actor from Cold Lake First Nation
- Alex Janvier, artist from Cold Lake First Nation
References
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Aboriginal Ancestry Responses (73), Single and Multiple Aboriginal Responses (4), Residence on or off reserve (3), Residence inside or outside Inuit Nunangat (7), Age (8A) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data". www12.statcan.gc.ca. Government of Canada, Statistics Canada. 25 October 2017. Retrieved 22 November 2017.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Taltheilei Culture". Retrieved 26 March 2013.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Archeological Traditions". canoesaskatchewan. Archived from the original on 15 December 2007. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Denesuline (Dene)". Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Archived from the original on 10 August 2017. Retrieved 27 October 2008.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Cook, Eung-Do (2004), A Grammar of Dëne Sųłiné (Chipewyan), Winnipeg: Algonquian and Iroquoian Linguistics, ISBN 0-921064-17-9
- ^ Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Chipewyan". 27 September 2021.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Petitot, Émile Fortuné Stanislas Joseph (1876). Dictionnaire de la langue Dènè-Dindjié, dialectes montagnais ou chippewayan, peaux de lièvre et loucheux, renfermant en outre un grand nombre de termes propres à sept autres dialectes de la même langue; précédé d'une monographie des Dènè-Dindjié, d'une grammaire et de tableaux synoptiques des conjugaisons (see preface). Paris: E. Leroux. Retrieved 5 December 2014.
- ^ Steckley 1999
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The Sayisi Dene (Manitoba)". Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Archived from the original on 2 May 2006. Retrieved 12 October 2007.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Bussidor, Ila; Bilgen-Reinart, Ustun (March 2000). Night Spirits: The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene. ISBN 9780887556432.
- ^ a b Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Winston, Robert, ed. (2004). Human: The Definitive Visual Guide. New York: Dorling Kindersley. p. 353. ISBN 0-7566-0520-2.
- ^ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. 395
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Prince Albert Grand Council (Fond-du-Lac)". Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Prince Albert Grand Council (Black Lake)". Archived from the original on 8 April 2014. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Prince Albert Grand Council (Wollaston Lake)". Archived from the original on 12 February 2012. Retrieved 26 May 2013.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Browne, Rachel (12 March 2015). "What's in a name? A Chipewyan's battle over her native tongue". Maclean's. Retrieved 5 April 2015.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."2nd N.W.T. mother demands traditional name for daughter". CBC News. 9 March 2015.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Morritt-Jacobs, Charlotte (8 January 2022). "A Dene mother is fighting for her family's traditional names". APTN News. Retrieved 21 September 2025.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."The fight to reclaim traditional Indigenous names". CBC News. 1 October 2022.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Community Profiles (Canada Census 2011)". 8 February 2012. Retrieved 29 June 2013.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (La Loche)". 15 January 2008. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Dene Memorial". 27 February 2014.
- ^ The Chipewyan
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content."Official NWT Community Names". Retrieved 19 March 2025.
- ^ Dene Script error: No such module "webarchive".
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- ^ Page Module:Citation/CS1/styles.css has no content.Brown, Jesse; Morin, Brandy (12 December 2022). "#840 The Taking of Wood Buffalo". Canadaland (Podcast). Canadaland. Event occurs at 12:20.
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Further reading
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- Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Footprints on the Land: Tracing the Path of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Fort Chipewyan, Alta: Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, 2003. Template:ISBN
- Birket-Smith, Kaj. Contributions to Chipewyan Ethnology. Copenhagen: Gyldendal, 1930.
- Bone, Robert M., Earl N. Shannon, and Stewart Raby. The Chipewyan of the Stony Rapids Region; A Study of Their Changing World with Special Attention Focused Upon Caribou. Mawdsley memoir, 1. Saskatoon: Institute for Northern Studies, University of Saskatchewan, 1973. Template:ISBN
- Bussidor, Ila, Usten Bilgen-Reinart. "Night Spirits: The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene." University of Manitoba Press, 16 March 2000. (Memoir of a Dene Woman's experiences in Churchill, Manitoba.)
- Clayton-Gouthro, Cecile M. Patterns in Transition: Moccasin Production and Ornamentation of the Janvier Band Chipewyan. Mercury series. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization, 1994. Template:ISBN
- Cook, Eung-Do. 2006. The Patterns of Consonantal Acquisition and Change in Chipewyan (Dene Suline). International Journal of American Linguistics. 72, no. 2: 236.
- Dramer, Kim, and Frank W. Porter. The Chipewyan. New York: Chelsea House, 1996. Template:ISBN
- Elford, Leon W., and Marjorie Elford. English-Chipewyan Dictionary. Prince Albert, Sask: Northern Canada Evangelical Mission, 1981.
- Goddard, Pliny Earle. Texts and Analysis of Cold Lake Dialect, Chipewyan. Anthropological papers of the American Museum of Natural History, v. 10, pt. 1–2. New York: Published by order of the Trustees [of the American Museum of Natural History], 1912.
- Grant, J. C. Boileau. Anthropometry of the Chipewyan and Cree Indians of the Neighbourhood of Lake Athabaska. Ottawa: F.A. Acland, printer, 1930.
- Human Relations Area Files, inc. Chipewyan ND07. EHRAF collection of ethnography. New Haven, Conn: Human Relations Area Files, 2001.
- Irimoto, Takashi. Chipewyan Ecology: Group Structure and Caribou Hunting System. Senri ethnological studies, no. 8. Suita, Osaka, Japan: National Museum of Ethnology, 1981.
- Li, Fang-kuei, and Ronald Scollon. Chipewyan Texts. Nankang, Taipei: Institute of History and Philology, Academia Sinica, 1976.
- Lowie, Robert Harry. Chipewyan Tales. New York: The Trustees, 1912.
- Paul, Simon. Introductory Chipewyan: Basic Vocabulary. Saskatoon: Indian and Northern Education, University of Saskatchewan, 1972.
- Scollon, Ronald, and Suzanne B. K. Scollon. Linguistic Convergence: An Ethnography of Speaking at Fort Chipewyan, Alberta. New York: Academic Press, 1979. Template:ISBN
- Shapiro, Harry L. The Alaskan Eskimo; A Study of the Relationship between the Eskimo and the Chipewyan Indians of Central Canada. New York: American Museum of Natural History, 1931.
- Sharp, Henry S. Chipewyan Marriage. Mercury series. Ottawa: National Museum of Canada, 1979.
- Sharp, Henry S. The Transformation of Bigfoot: Maleness, Power, and Belief Among the Chipewyan. Smithsonian series in ethnographic inquiry. Washington, D.C.: Smithsonian Institution Press, 1988. Template:ISBN
- VanStone, James W. The Changing Culture of the Snowdrift Chipewyan. Ottawa: [Queen's Printer], 1965.
- Wilhelm, Andrea. Telicity and Durativity: A Study of Aspect in Dëne Sųłiné (Chipewyan) and German. New York: Routledge, 2007. Template:ISBN
External links
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