Dene

Across the boreal forests, tundra and great lakes of north-western Canada live the Dene, a family of First Nations who speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene simply means "people". In its narrow sense the name covers the nations of the Northwest Territories who make up the Dene Nation; more broadly it can include all the Northern Athabaskan-speaking peoples from interior Alaska to Hudson Bay. Our maps label their homeland Dënéndeh.

The core Dene groups are the Dënesųłinë́ (Chipewyan) east of Great Slave Lake, the Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib) between Great Slave and Great Bear lakes, the Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine) north of Great Slave Lake, the Slavey (Deh Cho) to the south-west, the Sahtu around Great Bear Lake and the Mackenzie River, and the Gwich'in of the far north-west. Other peoples who see themselves as Dene include the Tsuut'ina near Calgary, the Dane-zaa, Tahltan, Kaska and Sekani of northern British Columbia, and the Dakelh (Carrier). Northern Athabaskan comprises some 31 languages, spoken from interior Alaska to Hudson Bay; the Dënesųłinë́ language itself has dialects whose speakers understand one another.

No people lived in what is now the Northwest Territories before the Dene. Most lived in small, mobile bands of related families, moving between winter and summer camps to hunt, trap, fish and gather. Caribou supplied food, clothing and tools; the Sayisi Dene of northern Manitoba, for example, are known for hunting the migrating herds. Storytelling has always been central to Dene life. Their northern neighbours were the Inuit, and relations were sometimes violent: in 1771 the explorer Samuel Hearne recorded the killing of about 20 Inuit by Chipewyan and other Dene men at Bloody Falls on the Coppermine River. Dene and Inuit representatives held a healing ceremony at the site in 1996.

The name Chipewyan comes from a Cree word for "pointed hides", after the cut of their parkas; despite the similar sound, they are unrelated to the Chippewa (Ojibwe). Chipewyan contact with English traders began around 1717, and a young Chipewyan woman, Thanadelthur, helped make peace with the Cree so that her people could join the fur trade. Chipewyan bands later grouped around trading posts, acting as middlemen and trappers. In 1899 Treaty 8 was negotiated with Dene groups in the south, and after oil was found in the Mackenzie valley Canada sought Treaty 11, signed in 1921. Many Dene felt Treaty 8 had not been honoured. In 1956 the government forcibly moved the Sayisi Dene to Churchill; in the 1970s they returned to caribou country at Tadoule Lake.

Dene communities stretch across the Northwest Territories, northern Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba, British Columbia and the Yukon. The biggest Dene community in Canada is Behchokǫ̀, in the Northwest Territories. Dënesųłinë́ bands had more than 25,000 registered members in 2016, and in La Loche, Saskatchewan, the language is spoken by most residents. Modern land claims have reshaped governance: the Tłı̨chǫ Agreement, signed in 2003 and in force from 2005, created a Tłı̨chǫ government with title to some 39,000 square kilometres between Great Bear and Great Slave lakes. In 2005 Dene elders also joined the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization to press for recognition of their land and cultural rights.

Our 1492 map draws Dene territory under the labels "Dënéndeh" and "Denendeh (Dënësųłinë́ Nëné)", the second marking the Chipewyan homeland. The outlines are approximate and based on present-day territories. Around them lie the lands of the Inuit, the Cree and the Métis.