Chipewyan

For the language, see Chipewyan language.
Dënesųłı̨ne

Dene High School, La Loche, Saskatchewan

Lutsel K'e Dene School, Lutselk'e, NWT
Total population
(11,130[1] or 27,000[2])
Regions with significant populations
 Canada (Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Northwest Territories, Nunavut)
Languages
English, Denesuline
Religion
Christianity, Animism
Related ethnic groups
Dene, Yellowknives, Tłı̨chǫ, Slavey, Sahtu
"Map of North America showing in red the pre-contact distribution of Na-Dene languages"
Distribution of Na-Dene languages at pre-contact shown in red

The Chipewyan (Denésoliné or Dënesųłı̨né, meaning "people of the barrens")[3] are an aboriginal Dene ethnolinguistic group of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition.[4][5][6] They are part of the Northern Athabascan group of peoples, and come from what is now Western Canada.

Terminology

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 (in French) therefore has often been mistakenly translated to Montagnais (in English), which refers to the Innu of northern Quebec, and not the Dene (Chipewyan people).

Demographics

Chipewyan peoples live in the region spanning the western Canadian Shield to the Northwest Territories and including part of northern parts of the provinces of Manitoba, Alberta and Saskatchewan.

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 beghárehék’ą tąnısts’ęn beyası́ 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]

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)[15]
Akaitcho Territory Government (ATG) (Ɂákéchógh nęnę)

Manitoba

Keewatin Tribal Council[19]

Northwest Territories

Akaitcho Territory Government (ATG)

Saskatchewan

Meadow Lake Tribal Council (Tł'ogh tué)[27]
Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC)[32]

Historical Chipewyan regional groups

Villages in Canada with a Denesuline speaking population

The Chipewyan moved in small groups or bands, consisting of several extended families, alternating between winter and summer camps, hunting, trapping, fishing and gathering in the 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 neighbors 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 is 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, government 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 Chipewyan Dene, and becoming members of "Fort Churchill Dene 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.[38]

Language

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 dene ("people"): Denésoliné (or 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, Gąnı kuę́ speak the 'k' and say yaki ku while others who use the 't' say 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.[39]

Most Chipewyan people now use Dene and Denesuline to describe themselves and their language. The Saskatchewan communities of Fond-du-Lac,[40] Black Lake[41] and Wollaston Lake[42] 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 ʔ character in her daughter's name, Sahaiʔa. The territory argued that territorial and federal identity documents were unable to accommodate the character. 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 ʔ character in her daughter's Slavey name, Sakaeʔah (actually a cognate of Sahaiʔa).[43]

Notable Chipewyan

References

  1. ↑ Statistics Canada, 2006 Census Profile of Federal Electoral Districts (2003 Representation Order): Language, Mobility and Migration and Immigration and Citizenship Ottawa, 2007, pp. 2, 6, 10.
  2. ↑ http://www.chipewyan.com/about-us
  3. ↑ ATHABASCA DENESULINÉ INQUIRY
  4. ↑ "Taltheilei Culture". Retrieved 2013-03-26.
  5. ↑ "Archeological Traditions". canoesaskatchewan. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  6. ↑ "Denesuline (Dene)". Encyclopedia of Saskatchewan. Retrieved 2008-10-27.
  7. ↑ 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 2014-12-05.
  8. ↑ "Community Profiles (Canada Census 2011)". Retrieved 2013-06-29.
  9. ↑ "2006 Aboriginal Population Profile (La Loche)". Retrieved 2014-05-11.
  10. ↑ "AANDC (Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  11. ↑ "AANDC (Fort McKay First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  12. ↑ "AANDC (Chipewyan Prairie First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  13. ↑ Chipewyan Prairie Dene First Nation
  14. ↑ "AANDC (Fort McMurray #468 First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  15. ↑ Tribal Chiefs Association (TCA)
  16. ↑ "AANDC (Cold Lake First Nations)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  17. ↑ Cold Lake First Nations (Denesuline)
  18. ↑ "AANDC (Smith's Landing First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  19. ↑ Keewatin Tribal Council
  20. ↑ "AANDC (Barren Lands)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  21. ↑ "AANDC (Northlands)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  22. ↑ "AANDC (Sayisi Dene First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  23. ↑ "AANDC (Deninu Kue First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  24. ↑ "AANDC (Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  25. ↑ "AANDC (Salt River First Nation #195)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  26. ↑ "AANDC (Yellowknives Dene First Nation )". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  27. ↑ Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC)
  28. ↑ "AANDC (Buffalo River Dene Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  29. ↑ "AANDC (Clearwater River Dene)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  30. ↑ "AANDC (English River First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  31. ↑ "AANDC (Birch Narrows First Nation)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  32. ↑ Prince Albert Grand Council (PAGC)
  33. ↑ "AANDC (Black Lake)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  34. ↑ "AANDC (Hatchet Lake)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  35. ↑ "AANDC (Fond du Lac)". Retrieved 2016-09-09.
  36. ↑ The Chipewyan
  37. ↑ Dene
  38. ↑ "The Sayisi Dene (Manitoba)". Indian and Northern Affairs Canada. Archived from the original on May 2, 2006. Retrieved 2007-10-12.
  39. ↑ Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. 395
  40. ↑ "Prince Albert Grand Council (Fond-du-Lac)". Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  41. ↑ "Prince Albert Grand Council (Black Lake)". Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  42. ↑ "Prince Albert Grand Council (Wollaston Lake)". Retrieved 2013-05-26.
  43. ↑ Browne, Rachel (12 March 2015). "What's in a name? A Chipewyan's battle over her native tongue". Maclean's. Retrieved 5 April 2015.

Further reading

  • 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. ISBN 0-9733293-0-0
  • 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. ISBN 0-88880-003-7
  • Bussidor, Ila, Usten Bilgen-Reinart. "Night Spirits: The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene." University of Manitoba Press, March 16, 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. ISBN 0-660-14023-3
  • 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. ISBN 1-55546-139-5
  • 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. ISBN 0-12-633380-7
  • 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. ISBN 0-87474-848-8
  • 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. ISBN 0-415-97645-6
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