Dene

Gahwié got’iné, a Sahtú (North Slavey) people of Canada

People	Dene
Country	Denendeh

For the Diné people native to the Southwestern US, see Navajo. For other uses, see Dene (disambiguation).

The Dene people (/ˈdɛneɪ/) are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses:

• Most commonly, "Dene" is used narrowly to refer to the Athabaskan speakers of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada who form the Dene Nation: the Chipewyan (Denesuline), Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib), Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine), Slavey (Deh Gah Got'ine or Deh Cho), Sahtu (Sahtúot’ine), and Gwichʼin (Dinjii Zhuh).

• "Dene" is sometimes also used to refer to all Northern Athabaskan speakers, who are spread in a wide range all across Alaska and northern Canada.

Location

Dene are spread through a wide region. They live in the Mackenzie Valley (south of the Inuvialuit), and can be found west of Nunavut. Their homeland reaches to western Yukon, and the northern part of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alaska and the southwestern United States. Dene were the first people to settle in what is now the Northwest Territories. In northern Canada, historically there were ethnic feuds between the Dene and the Inuit. In 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony at Bloody Falls to reconcile the centuries-old grievances.

Behchokǫ̀, Northwest Territories is the largest Dene community in Canada.

Ethnography

The Dene include six main groups:

• Chipewyan (Denesuline), living east of Great Slave Lake, and including the Sayisi Dene living at Tadoule Lake, Manitoba.
• Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib), living between Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes.
• Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine), living north of Great Slave Lake.
• Slavey (Deh Gah Got'ine or Deh Cho), living southwest of Great Slave Lake and into Alberta and British Columbia.
• Sahtu (Sahtúot’ine), including the Locheux, Nahanni, and Bear Lake peoples, living along the Mackenzie River (Deh Cho) near Great Bear Lake.
• Gwichʼin (Dinjii Zhuh), in the Gwich'in Settlement Region.

Although the above-named groups are what the term "Dene" usually refers to in modern usage, other groups who consider themselves Dene include:

• Tsuutʼina (Tsuu T'ina), a.k.a. the Sarcee, currently located near Calgary, Alberta.
• The Dane-zaa (Danezaa, Dunne-za, or Tsattine) of northeastern British Columbia and neighbouring regions of northwestern Alberta.
• The Tahltan, Kaska Dena, and Sekani peoples of the northern area of the British Columbia Interior. Another group in this region, the Tsetsaut, lived in the Portland Canal area of the northernmost BC Coast near the border with Alaska. They are now extinct.
• The Dakelh (Carrier) peoples of the northern and central British Columbia Interior, and the Wetʼsuwetʼen, a Dakelh branch
• The Tsilhqotʼin peoples of the eponymous Chilcotin Country of the central British Columbia Interior
• The extinct Nicola Athapaskans, or Stuwix ("strangers" in the Shuswap language), migrated south from northern BC into the Nicola Valley region in the late 18th century and were absorbed into the Nicola people, an alliance of Nlaka'pamux and Syilx (Okanagan peoples).
• The Tanana Athabaskans and other peoples of Yukon and Alaska are also considered to be Dene, which is to say part of the family of Athapaskan-speaking peoples.

In 2005, elders from the Dene People decided to join the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) seeking recognition for their ancestral cultural and land rights.

The largest population of Chipewyan language (Dënesųłinë́ or Dëne) speakers live in the northern Saskatchewan village of La Loche and the adjoining Clearwater River Dene Nation. In 2011 the combined population was 3389 people. The Dënesųłinë́ language is spoken by 89% of the residents.

Notable Dene

• Thanadelthur (c. 1697 – 5 February 1717) a woman of the Chipewyan Nation, a guide and interpreter, who was instrumental in forging a peace agreement between the Chipewyan and the Cree people
• Ethel Blondin-Andrew, former MP for Western Arctic (Northwest Territories)
• Leela Gilday, Canadian folk singer, Juno winner
• Jimmy Herman (1940-2013) actor, Dances with Wolves
• Matonabbee (c. 1737–1782), guide for Samuel Hearne's expedition to the Coppermine River
• Tahmoh Penikett, actor, Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse
• Eric Schweig, actor, The Last of the Mohicans
• Jim Boucher, politician, businessman
• Shannon Smallwood, justice of the Supreme Court of the Northwest Territories
• Beʼsha Blondin, elder and founder of the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation
• Glen Coulthard, professor of Indigenous studies and political science at the University of British Columbia

See also

• Alaskan Athabaskans (Alaskan Dene, Tinneh), Athabaskan peoples of the interior of Alaska
• Navajo Nation (Diné), southern Athabaskan peoples
• Apache (Inde), southern Athabaskan peoples
• Hupa, California Athabaskan peoples
• Cahto, California Athabaskan peoples
• Mattole, California Athabaskan peoples
• Eel River Athapaskan peoples (Wailaki), California Athabaskan peoples
• Galice language-speakers (Oregon Athabaskan): Chetco, Tolowa, Coquille, Tututni

Sources

• Sapir, Edward (1915), "The Na-Dene languages: A preliminary report", American Anthropologist, 17 (3): 534–558, doi:10.1525/aa.1915.17.3.02a00080, JSTOR 660504.

Further reading

• Abel, Kerry M. (1993). Drum Songs: Glimpses of Dene history. McGill-Queen's studies in ethnic history. Vol. 15. Montreal, Quebec: Buffalo. ISBN 0-7735-0992-5.
• Bielawski, E. (2004). Rogue Diamonds: Northern riches on Dene land. Seattle, Washington: University of Washington Press. ISBN 0-295-98419-8.
• Holland, Lynda; Janvier, Celina; Hewitt, Larry (2002). The Dene Elders Project: Stories and history from the west side. La Ronge, Saskatchewan: Holland-Dalby Educational Consulting. ISBN 0-921848-23-4.
• Marie, Suzan; Thompson, Judy (2002). Dene Spruce Root Basketry: Revival of a tradition. Mercury series. Hull, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 0-660-18830-9.
• Marie, Suzan; Thompson, Judy (2004). Whadoo Tehmi Long-Ago People's Packsack: Dene babiche bags: Tradition and revival. Mercury series. Gatineau, Quebec: Canadian Museum of Civilization. ISBN 0-660-19248-9.
• Moore, Patrick; Wheelock, Angela (1990). Wolverine Myths and Visions: Dene traditions from northern Alberta. Studies in the anthropology of North American Indians. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-8161-7.
• Ryan, Joan (1995). Doing Things the Right Way: Dene traditional justice in Lac La Martre, N.W.T. Calgary, Alberta: University of Calgary Press. ISBN 1-895176-62-X.
• Sharp, Henry S. (2001). Loon: Memory, meaning, and reality in a Northern Dene community. Lincoln, Nebraska: University of Nebraska Press. ISBN 0-8032-4292-1.
• Watkins, Mel (1977). Dene Nation – the Colony Within. Toronto, Ontario: University of Toronto Press. ISBN 0-8020-2264-2.
• Wake, Val (2008). White Bird Black Bird. Charleston, South Carolina: Booksurge. ISBN 1-4392-0345-8.

External links

• Dene Nation
• Athabasca Tribal Council

• "Dene Nation". Archived from the original on 19 May 2004.

• "People of the Deh Cho". Archived from the original on 15 May 2004.

• "Explore photographs, a comprehensive bibliography, and a brief history of Dene Crafts". Dene Crafts. Calgary, AB: University of Calgary. Archived from the original on 28 February 2009.

• Mackenzie, Alexander (1903) [August 1902]. Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. I. New York, NY: A.S. Barnes & Co. – via Gutenberg.org.

• Mackenzie, Alexander (1903) [August 1902]. Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793. Vol. II. New York, NY: A.S. Barnes & Co. – via Gutenberg.org.

• "1970s The rise of Aboriginal political organizations". NWT Historical Timeline. Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre. Archived from the original on 14 March 2012.