Chipewyan Explained

Chipewyan should not be confused with Chippewa.

Group:Dënesųłı̨ne
Population:30,910 (2016 census)
Total Ref:[1]
Popplace:Canada
Region1:Saskatchewan
Pop1:12,875
Region2:Northwest Territories
Pop2:7,820
Region3:Alberta
Pop3:6,350
Region4:Manitoba
Pop4:1,905
Region5:British Columbia
Pop5:1,225
Langs:English, Denesuline
Rels:Christianity, Animism
Related:Dene, Yellowknives, Tłı̨chǫ, Slavey, Sahtu
People:Dënë Sųłinë́
Language:Dënë Sųłinë́ Yatıé
Country:Dënë Sųłinë́ Nëné,
Denendeh
ᑌᓀᐣᑌᐧ

The Chipewyan (also called Denésoliné or Dënesųłı̨né or Dënë Sųłınë́, meaning "the original/real people")[2] are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition.[3] [4] [5] They are part of the Northern Athabascan group of peoples, and hail from what is now Western Canada.

Terminology

The term Chipewyan (Cree: ᒌᐯᐘᔮᐣ) is a Cree exonym meaning 'pointed hides', referring to the design of their parkas.[6]

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.[7] 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 Neenolino Innu of northern Quebec are also called French: Montagnais.

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.[8] About 1,800 of the residents were Métis and about 600 were members of the Clearwater River Dene Nation.[9]

Commemorations

The relocation of the Sayisi Dene is commemorated by the Dene Memorial in Churchill Manitoba.[10]

Governance

The Dënesųłı̨ne people are part of many band governments spanning Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.

Alberta

Athabasca Tribal Council
Tribal Chiefs Association (TCA)[17]
Akaitcho Territory Government (ATG) (Ɂákéchógh nęnę)

Manitoba

Keewatin Tribal Council[21]

Northwest Territories

Akaitcho Territory Government (ATG)

Saskatchewan

Meadow Lake Tribal Council (Tł'ogh tué)[29]
Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC)[34]

Historical Chipewyan regional groups

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.

Ethnography

Historically, the Denesuline were allied to some degree with the southerly Cree, and 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 with the fur trade (Steckley 1999).

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, joining other Dene and becoming members of "Fort Churchill Chipewyan Band". In the 1970s, the "Duck Lake Dene" opted for self-reliance, a return to caribou hunting, and relocated to Tadoule Lake, Manitoba, legally becoming "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)" in the 1990s.[40] https://uofmpress.ca/books/detail/night-spirits

Culture

The Chipewyan used to be largely nomadic, organized into small bands and temporarily lived in tepees. They wore one-piece pants and moccasin outfits. However, their nomadic lifestyle began to erode since 1717 when they encountered English entrepreneurs. The Chipewyan subsequently became important in the subarctic trade by exchanging furs and hides for metal tools, guns and cloth.[41]

Modern Chipewyan are either fluidly sedentary or semi-nomadic in lifestyle. Many still practice their traditional lifestyle for subsistence like fishing or hunting caribou although this process is modernized with the use of modern nets, tools, transportation and more.

Language

See main article: Chipewyan language. Denesuline (Chipewyan) speak the Denesuline language, of the Athabaskan linguistic group. Denesuline is spoken by Aboriginal people in Canada whose name for themselves is a cognate of the word Chipewyan; Dene Suline: dene ("people"): Chipewyan; Dene Suline: Denésoliné (or Chipewyan; Dene Suline: Dënesųłiné). 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, Chipewyan; Dene Suline: Gąnı kuę́ speak the 'k' and say Chipewyan; Dene Suline: yaki ku while others who use the 't' say Chipewyan; Dene Suline: yati tu.The name Chipewyan is, like many people of the Canadian prairies, of Algonquian origin. It is derived from the Plains Cree name for them, Cīpwayān (ᒌᐘᔮᐣ), "pointed skin", from cīpwāw (ᒌᐚᐤ), "to be pointed"; and wayān (ᐘᔮᐣ), "skin" or "hide" - a reference to the cut and style of Chipewyan parkas.[42]

Most Chipewyan people now use Dene and Denesuline to describe themselves and their language. The Saskatchewan communities of Fond-du-Lac,[43] Black Lake[44] and Wollaston Lake[45] are a few.

Despite the superficial similarity of the names, the Chipewyan are not related to the Chippewa (Ojibwa) people.

In 2015, Shene Catholique-Valpy, 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, Sahaiʔa. 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. Shortly afterward, 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).[46]

Notable Chipewyan

Further reading

External links

Notes and References

  1. Web site: 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. Canada. Government of Canada, Statistics. www12.statcan.gc.ca. 25 October 2017. en. 2017-11-22.
  2. Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh
  3. Web site: Taltheilei Culture. 2013-03-26.
  4. Web site: Archeological Traditions . 2007-10-12 . canoesaskatchewan . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20071215123602/http://www.canoesaskatchewan.rkc.ca/arch/trad.htm#taltheilei . 2007-12-15 .
  5. Web site: Denesuline (Dene). Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. 2008-10-27. https://web.archive.org/web/20170810063209/http://esask.uregina.ca/entry/denesuline_dene.html. 2017-08-10. dead.
  6. Web site: 27 September 2021 . Chipewyan .
  7. Book: Petitot, Émile Fortuné Stanislas Joseph . 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 . 1876 . 2014-12-05 .
  8. Web site: Community Profiles (Canada Census 2011). 8 February 2012. 2013-06-29.
  9. Web site: 2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (La Loche). 15 January 2008. 2014-05-11.
  10. Web site: Dene Memorial . 27 February 2014.
  11. Web site: AANDC (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation) . . 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada . 2016-09-09 .
  12. Web site: AANDC (Fort McKay First Nation) . . 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada . 2016-09-09 .
  13. Web site: AANDC (Chipewyan Prairie First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  14. http://www.chipewyan.com/about-us# Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation
  15. Web site: AANDC (Fort McMurray #468 First Nation) . . 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada . 2016-09-09 .
  16. #840 The Taking of Wood Buffalo . Canadaland . . . Jesse . December 12, 2022 . 12:20 . . Brandy.
  17. Web site: Tribal Chiefs Association (TCA) . 2013-03-27 . https://web.archive.org/web/20151019083028/http://www.tcvi.ca/index.php . 2015-10-19 . dead .
  18. Web site: AANDC (Cold Lake First Nations). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  19. Web site: Cold Lake First Nations (Denesuline) . 2011-05-07 . https://web.archive.org/web/20110803165803/http://www.clfns.com/index.php . 2011-08-03 . dead .
  20. Web site: AANDC (Smith's Landing First Nation) . . 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada . 2016-09-09 .
  21. http://www.ktc.ca/ Keewatin Tribal Council
  22. Web site: AANDC (Barren Lands). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  23. Web site: AANDC (Northlands). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  24. Web site: AANDC (Sayisi Dene First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  25. Web site: AANDC (Deninu Kue First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  26. Web site: AANDC (Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  27. Web site: AANDC (Salt River First Nation #195). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  28. Web site: AANDC (Yellowknives Dene First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  29. http://mltc.sasktelwebhosting.com/crdn.htm Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC)
  30. Web site: AANDC (Buffalo River Dene Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  31. Web site: AANDC (Clearwater River Dene) . . 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada . 2016-09-09 .
  32. Web site: AANDC (English River First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  33. Web site: AANDC (Birch Narrows First Nation). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  34. http://www.pagc.sk.ca/pagc.asp?ID=19 Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC)
  35. Web site: AANDC (Black Lake). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  36. Web site: AANDC (Hatchet Lake). Crown–Indigenous Relations and Northern Affairs Canada. 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada. 2016-09-09.
  37. Web site: AANDC (Fond du Lac) . . 14 November 2008 . Government of Canada . 2016-09-09 .
  38. http://www.worldwisdom.com/public/viewpdf/default.aspx?article-title=The_Chipewyan.pdf The Chipewyan
  39. http://www.sicc.sk.ca/heritage/ethnography/dene/territory/prereserve.html Dene
  40. Web site: The Sayisi Dene (Manitoba) . 2007-10-12 . Indian and Northern Affairs Canada . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20060502082957/http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sg36_e.html . May 2, 2006 .
  41. Book: Human: The Definitive Visual Guide. Dorling Kindersley. 2004. 0-7566-0520-2. Winston. Robert. New York. 353.
  42. Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. 395
  43. Web site: Prince Albert Grand Council (Fond-du-Lac). 2013-05-26. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212123739/http://www.pagc.sk.ca/pagc.asp?ID=3. 2012-02-12.
  44. Web site: Prince Albert Grand Council (Black Lake). 2013-05-26. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20140408161847/http://www.pagc.sk.ca/pagc.asp?ID=1. 2014-04-08.
  45. Web site: Prince Albert Grand Council (Wollaston Lake). 2013-05-26. dead. https://web.archive.org/web/20120212123748/http://www.pagc.sk.ca/pagc.asp?ID=4. 2012-02-12.
  46. News: Browne. Rachel. What's in a name? A Chipewyan's battle over her native tongue. 5 April 2015. Maclean's. 12 March 2015.