The Chipewyan ( , also called Denésoliné or Dënesųłı̨né or Dënë Sųłınë́, meaning "the original/real people")[Laurie Bauer, 2007, The Linguistics Student's Handbook, Edinburgh] are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition.
Terminology
The term
Chipewyan (ᒌᐯᐘᔮᐣ) is an exonym from the
Cree language meaning 'pointed hides', referring to the design of their parkas.
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.
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 Reindeer. 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, legally becoming "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)" in the 1990s.
Culture
The Chipewyan used to be largely nomadic, organized into small bands and temporarily lived in
Tipi. They wore one-piece pants and
moccasin outfits. However, their nomadic lifestyle began to erode in 1717 when they encountered English settlers. The Chipewyan subsequently became important in the
subarctic trade by
Fur trade for metal tools, guns and cloth.
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.
Language
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 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 .[Campbell, Lyle (1997). American Indian Languages: The Historical Linguistics of Native America. Oxford: Oxford University Press, pg. 395]
Most Chipewyan people now use Dene and Denesuline to describe themselves and their language. The Saskatchewan communities of Fond-du-Lac,
Despite the superficial similarity of the names, the Chipewyan are not related to the Chippewa (Ojibwe) 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 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 , while continuing to challenge the policy. Shortly afterwards, another woman named Andrea Heron also challenged the territory on the same grounds, for refusing to accept the letter in her daughter's Slavey language name, Sakaeʔah (actually a cognate of Sahaiʔa).
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.
Commemorations
The relocation of the
Sayisi Dene is commemorated by the Dene Memorial in Churchill, Manitoba.
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
Taiga 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
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
[ The Chipewyan]
-
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 Populus 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
[ — '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.
[ Dene ]
-
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
spanning Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories.
Alberta
| + Denesuline peoples in Alberta |
|
Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Despite the name, the population of this band is mixed with a "little over fifty percent" having Chipewyan ancestry in 2020 according to a former chief, whose own mother was Dene. |
Tribal council, name and , |
Headquarters are in the Northwest Territories but all reserves are in Alberta. Tthebacha meaning "beside the rapids" is the traditional Dene name for Fort Smith. |
Manitoba
| + Denesuline peoples in Manitoba |
|
They have a Cree and Dene population. Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Formerly known as Fort Churchill Indian Band. Tribal council, name and , |
Northwest Territories
| + Denesuline peoples in the Northwest Territories |
|
Formerly known as Fort Resolution Dene. Denı́nu Kų́ę́ translates as "moose island place"[ and Deneh-noo-kweh as "People of moose island"' Tribal council, name and ,] |
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).[ Tribal council, name and ,] |
Tthebatthıe 196, formerly Fitzgerald No. 196, is located in Alberta. Tribal council, name and , |
Sǫ̀mbak'è translates as "money place".[ Tribal council, name and ,] |
Saskatchewan
| + Denesuline peoples in Saskatchewan |
|
The reserve is about northwest of Île-à-la-Crosse ( Kuę́ ). Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
The name originates from the English River where the "poplar house people" ( Kés-ye-hot'ı̨në) inhabited the area for periods during the year. Most families, who now reside in Patuanak ( Bëghą́nı̨ch'ërë) and La Plonge 192 by Beauval had traditionally lived down river. Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Tribal council, name and , |
Notable Chipewyan
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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.
-
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, 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.
-
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.
-
VanStone, James W. The Changing Culture of the Snowdrift Chipewyan. Ottawa: Queen's, 1965.
-
Wilhelm, Andrea. Telicity and Durativity: A Study of Aspect in Dëne Sųłiné (Chipewyan) and German. New York: Routledge, 2007.
External links
