North Slavey people
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The Sahtú or North Slavey (historically called ''Hare'' or ''Hareskin Indians'') are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake (''Sahtú'', the source of their name),
Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...
, Canada. The Sahtú peoples live in Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita which form the Sahtu Region of the NWT. The Dene of the region are represented by the
Sahtu Dene Council The Sahtu Dene Council is a council that represents the Sahtu people of the Northwest Territories, Canada. The council signed a comprehensive land claim agreement in 1993 with the Government of Canada, the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land C ...
who, in 1993, signed the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Sahtú groups include the ''Hare Dene'' (K'ahsho Got'ine District, today: Colville Lake and Fort Good Hope), ''Bear Lake Dene'' (Déline District), and ''Mountain Dene'' (Tulit'a District). They call themselves also ''Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨ne'' (Trap People).


Ethnography

An early description of Sahtú cultures is given in Alexander Mackenzie's journal of his voyage down the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean in 1789. Although there are close interrelationships among the Dene communities, they are culturally and linguistically distinct. The ''K’ahsho Got’ine (Hare(skin) Dene)'' are now centred in Fort Good Hope and Colville Lake. The ''Shita Got’ine (Mountain Dene)'' have joined with the ''K’áálǫ Got’ine (Willow Lake Dene)'' (they lived around K’áálô Tué – ″Willow Lake″, today known as Brackett Lake) in the community of Tulit’a. The ''Sahtúot’ine (Sahtú Dene or Great Bear Lake Dene)'' are named after Sahtú/Great Bear Lake, and are based in Deline. Métis people, descendants of relationships established between Dene people and fur traders, reside in all five communities of the region. The Hareskin Dene called themselves ''K'a so Got’ine/Katoo Got’ine'' ("big willow people") or ''K’ahsho Got’ine/K'áshot’ Got’ine'' (″big-arrowhead-people″, mistranslated as Hareskin people, an English rendering of ''Gahwié Got’ine'' – ″Rabbit(skin) People″). The Déline community of the Sahtú Dene experienced great loss during Canada's participation in the Manhattan Project. The need for radioactive materials, (such as radium), to create atomic weapons was met with the deposits mined from the Eldorado Mine at Port Radium on Great Bear Lake. The Sahtú Dene were hired to transport the ore containing radium from the Northwest Territories to be processed in Ontario or the United States. Since much of the uranium that existed in Europe was under Nazi control, the radium deposits in Canada were vital to the creation of the first atomic bombs. Unaware of the radiation's effects, the Sahtú Dene used "cloth sacks" to transport the ore. The number of deaths caused by radiation is disputed by the Government of Canada. The government report says that the people of Deline did not handle yellowcake but
sulfur Sulfur (or sulphur in British English) is a chemical element with the symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms form cyclic octatomic molecules with a chemical formula ...
powder. The level of exposure to uranium ore without modern safety standards is expected to cause a small number of excess cancer deaths. Ultimately, the devastating effects of radiation poisoning impacted the Déline community severely. A 1999 documentary by Peter Blow entitled ''
Village of Widows A village is a clustered human settlement or community, larger than a hamlet but smaller than a town (although the word is often used to describe both hamlets and smaller towns), with a population typically ranging from a few hundred to ...
'' detailed the experiences of the Sahtú Dene.


Today's Sahtu Dene First Nations

Sahtu Dene Council *
Behdzi Ahda' First Nation The Behdzi Ahda' First Nation is a Dene First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band's main community is Colville Lake. The Behdzi Ahda' First Nation is a member of the Sahtu Dene Council. Under the Sahtu Dene and Metis ...
(headquartered in Colville Lake (''K'áhbamį́túé'' – ″ptarmigan net place″), ancestral homeland of the ''K'ahsho Got'ine (Hare(skin) Dene)'', the surrounding area is still inhabited by them, reserve: Colville Lake Settlement, Population: 219) *
Délı̨nę First Nation The Délı̨nę First Nation is a Dene First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band's main community is Deline, Délı̨nę, the only populated place on Great Bear Lake. All of its powers and respon ...
( Deline (''Délınę'') – ″Where the Water Flows", pronounced ′day-li-neh′, located near the headwaters of the Bear River (''Sahtu De''), where it rushes out of Great Bear Lake to the Mackenzie River, a place nearby where the lake seldom freezes over was a fishing place for the ''Sahtúot’ine/Sahtugotine (Bear Lake Dene)'', reserve: Fort Franklin Settlement, Population: 981, Sahtú Dene families are often related to ''K'ahsho Got'ine (Hare(skin Dene)'', Gwich’in and ''Shita Got'ine (Mountain Dene)'' peoples. The people of Great Bear Lake had to be hardy and resourceful to survive in the past. Within living memory, they lived a nomadic life, following fish and game with the seasons. Many still supplement their diets by hunting, fishing and trapping at least part of the time. Homes often feature a traditional lodge or tipi used to smoke meat and fish. In contrast, many of these same homes today are equipped with satellite dishes to pull in North American television.) *
Fort Good Hope First Nation The Fort Good Hope First Nation is a Dene First Nations in Canada, First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band's main community is Fort Good Hope. The Fort Good Hope First Nation is a member of the Sahtu Dene Council. Und ...
(also known as ''K’asho Gotine Dene Band'' or''K’asho Go’tine Community Council''), headquartered in Fort Good Hope (or the Charter Community of K'asho Got'ine), called ''Rádeyîlîkóé'' – "Where the Rapids Are" by the local ''K'ahsho Got'ine (Hare(skin) Dene)'', is located on a peninsula between Jackfish Creek and the east bank of the Mackenzie River, about 145 km (90 mi) northwest of Norman Wells, reserve: Fort Good Hope Settlement, Population: 869) *
Tulita Dene First Nation The Tulita Dene First Nation is a Dene First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band's main community is Tulita, along the Mackenzie River. The Tulita Dene First Nation is a member of the Sahtu Dene Council. Under the Sa ...
(''Tulita Band Council'', also known as ''Begade Shotagotine First Nation'', headquartered in Tulit'a – "Where the two Rivers Meet", which was formerly known as Fort Norman, reserve: Fort Norman Settlement, Population: 670) – they are as ''Begade Shotagotine (eng)'', ''Begaa Deh Shuh Tah Got’ie (North Slavey)'' or as ''Begaee Shuhagot'ine (South Slavey variety)'' also members of the Dehcho First Nations of the South Slavey


Language

Sahtú speak the North Slavey language, which belongs to northwestern Canada group of Northern Athabaskan languages.


Notable Sahtu people

*
Ethel Blondin-Andrew Ethel Dorothy Blondin-Andrew (born 25 March 1951) is a Canadian politician, educator, and public servant. She became the first Indigenous woman to be elected to the Parliament of Canada in 1988 when she became a member of Parliament for the di ...
, former Member of Parliament for the district of the Western Arctic * Rosemary Georgeson, mixed Sahtu/ Coast Salish multi-media artist *
Stephen Kakfwi Stephen Kakfwi (born 1950 in Fort Good Hope, Northwest Territories) is a Canadian politician, who was the ninth premier of the Northwest Territories. His sixteen-year tenure in the cabinet of the Northwest Territories is the longest in the Territo ...
, politician and was the ninth Premier of the Northwest Territories * Rick Rivet (born 1949), Neo-expressionist painter"The Fellows: 1999."
''Eiteljorg Fellowship for Native American Fine Art.'' Accessed 4 May 2014.
*
James Wah-Shee James Wah-Shee (born 1945 as James Washie) is Tłı̨chǫ elder and a former territorial level politician from Northwest Territories, Canada. He served as a Member of the Northwest Territories Legislature from 1979 until 1987. In the 1970s Wah-S ...
, a former territorial level politician


See also

* Hare Indian Dog *
Saoyú-ʔehdacho Saoyú-ʔehdacho (also known as Sahoyue-Edacho, Sahoyúé-§ehdacho, Saoyú and Æehdacho and Grizzly Bear Mountain and Scented Grass Hills) is a cultural landscape in the Northwest Territories, Canada, comprising two peninsulas in Great Bear L ...
, a National Historic Site of Canada with spiritual and historical significance to the Sahtu


References


Further reading

* Auld, James and Robert Kershaw, Eds. ''The Sahtu Atlas: Maps and Stories from the Sahtu Settlement Area in Canada's Northwest Territories''.
orman Wells, N.W.T. Orman may refer to: People *Aldona Orman (born 1968), Polish actress *Alen Orman (born 1978), Austrian football player * Charles Orman (1859–1927), British cricketer and soldier *Fikret Orman (born 1967), Turkish businessman *Greg Orman (bor ...
Sahtu GIS Project, 2005. * Blondin, George. ''When the World Was New: Stories of the Sahtú Dene''. Yellowknife, N.W.T., Canada: Outcrop, the Northern Publishers, 1990. * Canada. ''Implementation Plan for the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement''. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1993. * Kuhnlein, H V, et al. 1995. "DIETARY NUTRIENTS OF SAHTU DENE/METIS VARY BY FOOD SOURCE, SEASON AND AGE". ''Ecology of Food and Nutrition''. 34, no. 3: 183. * Sahtu Heritage Places and Sites Joint Working Group. ''Rakekée Gok'é Godi = Places We Take Care of''. ellowknife, NWT?: Sahtu Heritage Places and Sites Joint Working Group 2000.


External links


Official website: Sahtú Secretariat and Sahtú Dene Council

Map: Sahtú region, NWT



Sahtu Renewable Resources Board


* Photos:

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Tulita, Fort Norman, Sahtú Region
{{Aboriginal peoples in the Northwest Territories Dene peoples