The Ta'an Kwach'an Council or Ta'an Kwäch’än Council is a

First Nation Indigenous peoples are culturally distinct ethnic groups whose members are directly descended from the earliest known inhabitants of a particular geographic region and, to some extent, maintain the language and culture of those original people ...

band government In Canada, an Indian band or band (french: bande indienne, link=no), sometimes referred to as a First Nation band (french: bande de la Première Nation, link=no) or simply a First Nation, is the basic unit of government for those peoples subjec ...

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

and

Lake Laberge Lake Laberge is a widening of the Yukon River north of Whitehorse, Yukon in Canada. It is fifty kilometres long and ranges from two to five kilometres wide. Its water is always very cold, and its weather often harsh and suddenly variable. Names ...

area in

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Yukon Territory Yukon (; ; formerly called Yukon Territory and also referred to as the Yukon) is the smallest and westernmost of Canada's three territories. It also is the second-least populated province or territory in Canada, with a population of 43,964 as ...

. It split from the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (Whitehorse Indian Band) to negotiate a separate land claim. The language originally spoken by the Ta’an Kwäch’än was

Southern Tutchone The Southern Tutchone are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern Yukon in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, traditionally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people, is a variety o ...

. The Ta’an Kwäch’än comprise people of Southern Tutchone,

Tagish The Tagish or Tagish Khwáan (Tagish language, Tagish: ; tli, Taagish ḵwáan) are a First Nations in Canada, First Nations people of the Athabaskan languages, Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group that lived around Tagish Lake and Marsh ...

and

Tlingit The Tlingit ( or ; also spelled Tlinkit) are indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast of North America. Their language is the Tlingit language (natively , pronounced ),

descent. Approximately 50 per cent of the Ta’an Kwäch’än citizens now live in Whitehorse, Yukon Territory, with the balance disbursed throughout the rest of Canada, in the United States of America (mostly

Alaska Alaska ( ; russian: Аляска, Alyaska; ale, Alax̂sxax̂; ; ems, Alas'kaaq; Yup'ik: ''Alaskaq''; tli, Anáaski) is a state located in the Western United States on the northwest extremity of North America. A semi-exclave of the U.S., ...

), and abroad. The Ta'an Kwäch’än take their name from Tàa'an Män (Lake Laberge) in the heart of their traditional territory - so they called themselves ″People from Lake Laberge″. Their ancestral lands extended north to Hootalinqua (Northern Tutchone: Hudinlin - ″running against the mountain″) at the confluence of the

Yukon River The Yukon River (Gwichʼin language, Gwich'in: ''Ųųg Han'' or ''Yuk Han'', Central Alaskan Yup'ik language, Yup'ik: ''Kuigpak'', Inupiaq language, Inupiaq: ''Kuukpak'', Deg Xinag language, Deg Xinag: ''Yeqin'', Hän language, Hän: ''Tth'echù' ...

and

Teslin River The Teslin River is a river in southern Yukon Territory and northwestern British Columbia, Canada, that flows from its source south of Teslin Lake to its confluence with the Yukon River. During the Klondike Gold Rush of 1896–99, the river beca ...

(Tutchone: Délin Chú; Tlingit: Deisleen Héeni), south to

Marsh Lake Marsh Lake (Mud Lake) is a widening of the Yukon River southeast of Whitehorse, Yukon, Canada. It is over 30 kilometres long and ranges from three to four kilometres wide. The co-ordinates of the lake are , and is 2,147 feet above sea level. The ...

, west to White Bank Village at the confluence of the

Takhini River The Takhini River is a watercourse in Yukon, Canada. The river is located just north of Whitehorse, Yukon, and flows from west to east, meeting the Yukon River at a point between Whitehorse and Lake Laberge. During the winter, the river freezes an ...

and Little River, and east to Winter Crossing on the Teslin River. The Ta'an Kwach'an Council signed a

Yukon Land Claims The Yukon Land Claims refer to the process of negotiating and settling Indigenous land claim agreements in Yukon, Canada between First Nations and the federal government. Based on historic occupancy and use, the First Nations claim basic rights t ...

agreement in 2002.

External links

Ta'an Kwäch’än Council web siteGovernment of Canada's Department of Indian and Northern Affairs First Nation profile
agadgagad First Nations in Yukon First Nations governments in Yukon Southern Tutchone {{FirstNations-stub

See also

External links