Nahanni Butte ( ;

Slavey language Slavey ( ; also Slave, Slavé) is a group of Athabaskan languages and a dialect continuum spoken amongst the Dene peoples of Canada in the Northwest Territories – or central Denendeh – where it also has official status.Dehcho Region The Dehcho Region or ''Deh Cho'' is one of five administrative regions in the Northwest Territories of Canada. According to Municipal and Community Affairs the region consists of six communities with the regional office situated in Fort Simpson ...

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 located at the confluence of the Liard and

South Nahanni River The South Nahanni River is a major tributary of the Liard River, located roughly west of Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories of Canada. It is the centerpiece of Nahanni National Park Reserve. It flows from the Mackenzie Mountains in the we ...

s in the southwestern part of the NWT. Although it was not normally accessible by road, a winter road was constructed yearly until an all-season road was completed in October 2010 as far as the Liard River. Access from there is by river taxi in summer and

ice road An ice road or ice bridge is a human-made structure that runs on a frozen water surface (a river, a lake or a sea water expanse).Masterson, D. and Løset, S., 2011, ISO 19906: Bearing capacity of ice and ice roads, Proceedings of the 21st Int ...

in winter; there are no plans for a vehicle ferry.

History

Fire feeding Ceremony at Community Arbor

Pre-European period

The

Naha is the Cities of Japan, capital city of Okinawa Prefecture, the southernmost prefecture of Japan. As of 1 June 2019, the city has an estimated population of 317,405 and a population density of 7,939 people per km2 (20,562 persons per sq. mi.). ...

and

Kaska Dena The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language, originally spoken by the Kaska, is an Athaba ...

roamed the area, for what sources point out to be millennia (allegedely up to 10.000 years ago). Prior to European exposure, the Dene people were highly mobile around the Deh Cho (

Mackenzie River The Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò literally ''big river''; Inuvialuktun: ' uːkpɑk literally ''great river'') is a river in the Canadian Canadian boreal forest, boreal forest and tundra. It forms, ...

) region. Men were mainly hunters, women used to mostly stay at home and do housework. Usually, people would travel in smaller extended-family groups from one place to another, never to settle indefinitely. The Naha tribe, used to aggressively raid settlements built by the other ethnic groups, leading to a war in an unspecified date which in turn led to the migration of a significant part of the Naha in the area now inhabited by the

Navajo The Navajo or Diné are an Indigenous people of the Southwestern United States. Their traditional language is Diné bizaad, a Southern Athabascan language. The states with the largest Diné populations are Arizona (140,263) and New Mexico (1 ...

Contemporary period

During the 1800s, most Dene families left their nomadic lifestyles and settled into more permanent communities, often close to the

trading post A trading post, trading station, or trading house, also known as a factory in European and colonial contexts, is an establishment or settlement where goods and services could be traded. Typically a trading post allows people from one geogr ...

s on the banks of the river; however most of the locals only became permanently settled in the late 1950s when the

federal government A federation (also called a federal state) is an entity characterized by a political union, union of partially federated state, self-governing provinces, states, or other regions under a #Federal governments, federal government (federalism) ...

forcefully relocated people from nearby Netla River in the area. Due to the locals tradition of closeness to nature and sites that are rich in terms of folklore, the area over the 60s generated a folklore of its own and various myths, such as one about a

Bigfoot Bigfoot (), also commonly referred to as Sasquatch (), is a large, hairy Mythic humanoids, mythical creature said to inhabit forests in North America, particularly in the Pacific Northwest.Example definitions include: *"A large, hairy, manlike ...

-like creature called a Nuk-luk which was allegedly seen in the area in the year 1964. This tradition of creating rumours and myths regarding the surrounding areas though, seems to be dating as far back as the early 1900s.

Demographics

In the

2021 Census of Population The 2021 Canadian census was a detailed enumeration of the Canadian population with a reference date of May 11, 2021. It follows the 2016 Canadian census, which recorded a population of 35,151,728. The overall response rate was 98%, which is sli ...

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 ...

, Nahanni Butte 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 2016, there were 80

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 ...

people and 40 people speak a

First Nations

The

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 ...

of the community are represented by the

Nahɂą Dehé Dene Band The Nahɂą Dehé Dene Band is a Dene First Nations band government in the Northwest Territories. The band inhabits the small community of Nahanni Butte, where 121 of its members live. The remaining 19 band members reside elsewhere. The Nahɂą ...

and belong to the

Dehcho First Nations The Dehcho First Nations is a tribal council representing the Dene (South Slavey) and Métis people of the Dehcho Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is made up of ten First Nations bands and two Métis Locals. Membership The Deh Ch ...

.Dehcho First Nations

References

External links

{{Communities of Northwest Territories Communities in the Dehcho Region Dene communities Road-inaccessible communities of the Northwest Territories