Dene

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The Dene (Dené) are an aboriginal group of First Nations who live in the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. Dene is a compound of two words: De means "flow" and Ne meaning "Mother Earth".^[1] Dene homeland is referred to as Denendeh, meaning "the Creator's Spirit flows through this Land".^[1] The Dene speak Athabaskan languages.

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.^[2] 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.

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

Ethnography

The Dene include five main groups:

• Chipewyan (Denesuline), living east of Great Slave Lake, and including the Sayisi Dene living at Tadoule Lake, Manitoba
• Tli Cho (Dogrib), living between Great Slave and Great Bear Lakes
• Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine), formerly living north of Great Slave Lake, and now absorbed into the Chipewyan
• Slavey (Deh Gah Got'ine or Deh Cho), living along the Mackenzie River (Deh Cho) southwest of Great Slave Lake
• Sahtu (Sahtu' T'ine), including the Locheux, Nahanni, and Bear Lake peoples, in the southwestern NWT.

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

• Tsuu T'ina, ^[3] aka the Blackfoot, currently located near Calgary, Alberta.
• The Dakelh (Carrier) peoples of the Northern and Central Interior of British Columbia, and their subgroup the Wet'suwet'en
• The Tsilhqot'in people of the eponymous Chilcotin District of the Central Interior of British Columbia
• The Tahltan, Kaska, and Sekani people of the Northern Interior of British Columbia, and also the Beaver people (Danezaa or Dunneza) of Northeastern British Columbia and northwestern Alberta. Another group in this region, the Tsetsaut people, lived in the Portland Canal area of the northernmost BC Coast near the border with Alaska. They are now extinct.
• Another extinct people, the Nicola Athapaskans, aka the Stuwix ("strangers" in the Shuswap language), migrated south from northern BC into the Nicola Valley region in the late 1700s and were absorbed into the Nicola people, an alliance of Nlaka'pamux and Okanagan peoples.
• the Gwich'in and Tanana and other peoples of Yukon and Alaska are also considered to be Dene, which is to say part of the family of Athapsakan-speaking peoples.

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

The largest population of Dene people live in northern Saskatchewan in the village of La Loche. Its population is estimated to be over 6000 people – 95% of which are Dene.^{[citation needed]}

Language

The Dené speak Northern Athabaskan languages (Northwestern Canada group) of the Na-Dené language family. The Dené have two linguistic relatives in the US: the Diné (Navajo), and the T'Inde (Apache), who speak Southern Athabaskan.

Notable Dene

• Ethel Blondin-Andrew, former MP for Western Arctic, the federal riding that comprises the Northwest Territories.
• Leela Gilday, Canadian folk singer, Juno winner (2007), nominee (2003), 3x Canadian Aboriginal Music Award winner (2002)
• Kathy Ettibar, well-known Canadian chat personality and musician
• Tahmoh Penikett, Actor, Battlestar Galactica and Dollhouse. Tahmoh's mother, Lulla Sierra Johns, is part of the Dene Nation and was born in a tent in Snag.
• Paul Andrew, journalist, broadcasting in Dene, and National Aboriginal Achievement Award recipient
• Richard Van Camp [1], Dogrib writer, storyteller, and children's book author from Fort Smith Northwest Territories
• Lynx River, the fictional town on the Canadian television series North of 60 was a Slavey Dene community.^[4]

References

See also

• Athapaskan languages
• Navajo Nation ("Dine")

Further reading

External links

• Dene Nation
• People of the Deh Cho
• Dene Crafts: Explore photographs, a comprehensive bibliography, and a brief history of Dene Crafts.
• 1970's The Rise of Aboriginal Political Organizations NWT Historical Timeline, Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre

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