Łutselkʼe (, Dëne Sųłıné Yatıé: ; "place of the ", the

cisco Cisco Systems, Inc. (using the trademark Cisco) is an American multinational digital communications technology conglomerate corporation headquartered in San Jose, California. Cisco develops, manufactures, and sells networking hardware, s ...

, a type of small fish), also spelt ''Łutsël Kʼé'', is a "designated authority" in the

North Slave Region The North Slave Region or ''Tłicho Region'' is one of five List of regions of the Northwest Territories, administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the most populous of the five regions, with a population of almost 2 ...

of the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories is a federal Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada. At a land area of approximately and a 2021 census population of 41,070, it is the second-largest and the most populous of Provinces and territorie ...

, Canada. The community is on the south shore near the eastern end of

Great Slave Lake Great Slave Lake is the second-largest lake in the Northwest Territories, Canada (after Great Bear Lake), List of lakes by depth, the deepest lake in North America at , and the List of lakes by area, tenth-largest lake in the world by area. It ...

and until 1 July 1992, it was known as Snowdrift, as the community lies near the mouth of the Snowdrift River.

History

Łutselkʼe is a First Nation community and the area was traditionally occupied by the

Chipewyan The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancest ...

Dene The Dene people () are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal, subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term ...

In 1925 the

Hudson's Bay Company The Hudson's Bay Company (HBC), originally the Governor and Company of Adventurers of England Trading Into Hudson’s Bay, is a Canadian holding company of department stores, and the oldest corporation in North America. It was the owner of the ...

opened a post followed by the

Roman Catholic Church The Catholic Church (), also known as the Roman Catholic Church, is the List of Christian denominations by number of members, largest Christian church, with 1.27 to 1.41 billion baptized Catholics Catholic Church by country, worldwid ...

. A school opened in 1960. There is a proposal ongoing for Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve, with an area of , which has the support of the community.

Demographics

In the 2021 Census of Population conducted by

Statistics Canada Statistics Canada (StatCan; ), formed in 1971, is the agency of the Government of Canada commissioned with producing statistics to help better understand Canada, its population, resources, economy, society, and culture. It is headquartered in ...

, Lutselk'e had a population of living in of its total private dwellings, a change of from its 2016 population of . With a land area of , it had a population density of in 2021. In the 2016 Census the majority of the population, 270 people, were

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

, 10 people were

Métis The Métis ( , , , ) are a mixed-race Indigenous people whose historical homelands include Canada's three Prairie Provinces extending into parts of Ontario, British Columbia, the Northwest Territories and the northwest United States. They ha ...

and 10 were

Inuit Inuit (singular: Inuk) are a group of culturally and historically similar Indigenous peoples traditionally inhabiting the Arctic and Subarctic regions of North America and Russia, including Greenland, Labrador, Quebec, Nunavut, the Northwe ...

. The main languages in the community are

Denesuline The Chipewyan ( , also called ''Denésoliné'' or ''Dënesųłı̨né'' or ''Dënë Sųłınë́'', meaning "the original/real people") are a Dene group of Indigenous Canadian people belonging to the Athabaskan language family, whose ancest ...

and English. In 2016, 115 people said they spoke an

Indigenous language An indigenous language, or autochthonous language, is a language that is native to a region and spoken by its indigenous peoples. Indigenous languages are not necessarily national languages but they can be; for example, Aymara is both an indigen ...

s as their

mother tongue A first language (L1), native language, native tongue, or mother tongue is the first language a person has been exposed to from birth or within the critical period. In some countries, the term ''native language'' or ''mother tongue'' refers ...

. Of these 115 people, 105 spoke Dene ( Chipewyan or Denesuline), 5 spoke Dogrib or Tłı̨chǫ and 5 spoke North Slavey or Hare. Another 5 people gave a

Chinese language Chinese ( or ) is a group of languages spoken natively by the ethnic Han Chinese majority and List of ethnic groups in China, many minority ethnic groups in China, as well as by various communities of the Chinese diaspora. Approximately 1.39& ...

as their mother tongue. A total of 295 knew English and another 5 knew both English and French.

Services

There is a two-person

Royal Canadian Mounted Police The Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP; , GRC) is the Law enforcement in Canada, national police service of Canada. The RCMP is an agency of the Government of Canada; it also provides police services under contract to 11 Provinces and terri ...

detachment and health centre with two nurses in the community. There is a single grocery store, the Lutselk'e Co-op, a

post office A post office is a public facility and a retailer that provides mail services, such as accepting letter (message), letters and parcel (package), parcels, providing post office boxes, and selling postage stamps, packaging, and stationery. Post o ...

and nine lodges / outfitters in the area. Education in the community is provided by the Lutsel Kʼe Dene School, which offers a comprehensive K-12 program. Additionally, there is also a community learning centre run by Aurora College. Although not accessible by road there is an airport, Lutselk'e Airport, with scheduled services from

Yellowknife Yellowknife is the capital, largest community, and the only city in the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is on the northern shore of Great Slave Lake, about south of the Arctic Circle, on the west side of Yellowknife Bay near the outlet of t ...

and an annual

sealift Sealift is a term used predominantly in military logistics and refers to the use of cargo ships for the deployment of military assets, such as weaponry, vehicles, military personnel, and supplies. It complements other means of transport, such as ...

is provided by the territorial government's ships from Hay River in the summer. Lutselk'e Water Aerodrome is available in the summer months when the lake is clear of ice.

First Nations

Łutsel Kʼe is represented by the

Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation The Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation is a First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band is headquartered in the community of Łutselk'e, formerly Snowdrift, on the East Arm of Great Slave Lake. LDFN was instrumental in the ...

and are part of the Akaitcho Territory Government.Indian and Northern Affairs Canada
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References

External links