The Sahtú or North Slavey (historically called ''Hare'' or ''Hareskin Indians'') are a

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 ...

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 of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of

Great Bear Lake Great Bear Lake (; ) in the boreal forest of Canada is the largest List of lakes of Canada, lake entirely in Canada (Lake Superior and Lake Huron are larger but straddle the Canada–United States border, Canada–US border), the fourth-larges ...

(''Sahtú'', the source of their name),

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 Sahtú peoples live in Colville Lake, Deline,

Fort Good Hope Fort Good Hope (formerly ''Fort Hope'', ''Fort Charles'', also now known as the ''Charter Community of K'asho Got'ine''), is a charter community in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, Canada. It is located on a peninsula between Jack ...

, Norman Wells and

Tulita Tulita, which in Slavey means "where the rivers or waters meet", is a hamlet ''The Tragedy of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark'', often shortened to ''Hamlet'' (), is a Shakespearean tragedy, tragedy written by William Shakespeare sometime betwee ...

which form the

Sahtu Region The Sahtu Region is an administrative region in Canada's Northwest Territories. Coterminous with the settlement region described in the 1993 Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement, of the Sahtu is collectively owned by its I ...

of the NWT. The Dene of the region are represented by the Sahtu Dene Council 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 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, ...

to the

Arctic Ocean The Arctic Ocean is the smallest and shallowest of the world's five oceanic divisions. It spans an area of approximately and is the coldest of the world's oceans. The International Hydrographic Organization (IHO) recognizes it as an 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 Manhattan Project was a research and development program undertaken during World War II to produce the first nuclear weapons. It was led by the United States in collaboration with the United Kingdom and Canada. From 1942 to 1946, the ...

. The need for

radioactive Radioactive decay (also known as nuclear decay, radioactivity, radioactive disintegration, or nuclear disintegration) is the process by which an unstable atomic nucleus loses energy by radiation. A material containing unstable nuclei is conside ...

materials, (such as

radium Radium is a chemical element; it has chemical symbol, symbol Ra and atomic number 88. It is the sixth element in alkaline earth metal, group 2 of the periodic table, also known as the alkaline earth metals. Pure radium is silvery-white, ...

), to create

atomic weapons A nuclear weapon is an explosive device that derives its destructive force from nuclear reactions, either fission (fission or atomic bomb) or a combination of fission and fusion reactions (thermonuclear weapon), producing a nuclear explo ...

was met with the deposits mined from the Eldorado Mine at

Port Radium Port Radium is a mining area on the eastern shore of Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories, Canada. It included the settlement of Cameron Bay as well as the Eldorado (also called Port Radium) and Echo Bay mines. The name Port Radium did no ...

on Great Bear Lake. The Sahtú Dene were hired to transport the ore containing radium from the Northwest Territories to be processed in

Ontario Ontario is the southernmost Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada. Located in Central Canada, Ontario is the Population of Canada by province and territory, country's most populous province. As of the 2021 Canadian census, it ...

or the United States. Since much of the uranium that existed in Europe was under

Nazi Nazism (), formally named National Socialism (NS; , ), is the far-right politics, far-right Totalitarianism, totalitarian socio-political ideology and practices associated with Adolf Hitler and the Nazi Party (NSDAP) in Germany. During H ...

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 Yellowcake (also called urania) is a type of powdered uranium concentrate obtained from leach solutions, in an intermediate step in the processing of uranium ores. It is a step in the processing of uranium after it has been mined but before ...

but

sulfur Sulfur ( American spelling and the preferred IUPAC name) or sulphur ( Commonwealth spelling) is a chemical element; it has symbol S and atomic number 16. It is abundant, multivalent and nonmetallic. Under normal conditions, sulfur atoms ...

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'' detailed the experiences of the Sahtú Dene.

Today's Sahtu Dene First Nations

Sahtu Dene Council * Behdzi Ahda' First Nation (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 ( 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

to the

, 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 (also known as ''K’asho Gotine Dene Band'' or''K’asho Go’tine Community Council''), headquartered in

(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 Mackenzie River (French: ; Slavey language, Slavey: ' èh tʃʰò litera ...

(''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 Northern Athabaskan is a geographic sub-grouping of the Athabaskan language family spoken by indigenous peoples in the northern part of North America, particularly in Alaska ( Alaskan Athabaskans), Yukon, and the Northwest Territories. The spr ...

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 ...

, former Member of Parliament for the district of the Western Arctic * Rosemary Georgeson, mixed Sahtu/

Coast Salish The Coast Salish peoples are a group of ethnically and linguistically related Indigenous peoples of the Pacific Northwest Coast, living in the Canadian province of British Columbia and the U.S. states of Washington and Oregon. They speak on ...

multi-media artist * Stephen Kakfwi, 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, a former territorial level politician

References

External links

Official website: Sahtú Secretariat and Sahtú Dene Council

Map: Sahtú region, NWT

Sahtu Renewable Resources Board

* Photos:

an

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