Tadoule Lake () is an isolated northern community in

Manitoba Manitoba is a Provinces and territories of Canada, province of Canada at the Centre of Canada, longitudinal centre of the country. It is Canada's Population of Canada by province and territory, fifth-most populous province, with a population ...

reachable by plane,

snowmobile A snowmobile, also known as a snowmachine (chiefly Alaskan), motor sled (chiefly Canadian), motor sledge, skimobile, snow scooter, or simply a sled is a motorized vehicle designed for winter travel and recreation on snow. Their engines normally ...

dog team A sled dog is a dog trained and used to pull a land vehicle in harness, most commonly a sled over snow. Sled dogs have been used in the Arctic for at least 8,000 years and, along with watercraft, were the only transportation in Arctic areas ...

sleds, and in winter by

winter road A winter road is a seasonal road only usable during the winter, i.e. it has to be re-built every year. This road typically runs over land and over frozen lakes, rivers, swamps, and sea ice. Segments of a winter road that cross an expanse of flo ...

. In 1973, the

Sayisi Dene The Sayisi Dene ('People under the Sun' or 'People of the East', ) are Dene Suline peoples, a Dene group, living in northern Manitoba. They are members of the Sayisi Dene First Nation (formerly known as Churchill Indian Band), located at Tadoule ...

moved here to return to their

Barren-ground Caribou The barren-ground caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest ...

hunting life. The name appears as Tos-da-ool-le in the T.B. Johnson report of 1890, and as Tas-da-ool-le on the Arrowsmith map of 1832. Of Chipewyan origin Tes-He-Olie Twe, it may be translated as "floating charcoal" for the floating cinders and burnt wood resulting from an early forest fire or "Ashes floating on the lake". The modern spelling has been in common usage since 1914. The community is located on the northwest shore of Tadoule Lake by the Seal River and is centered within the winter range of the Qamiuriak Caribou Herd (

barren-ground caribou The barren-ground caribou (''Rangifer tarandus groenlandicus''; but subject to a recent taxonomic revision) is a subspecies of the reindeer (or the caribou in North America) that is found in the Canadian territories of Nunavut and the Northwest ...

). Tadoule Lake is served by Tadoule Lake Airport for air transportation and the Peter Yassie Memorial School for K-12 education. The Sayisi Dene First Nation Relocation Settlement Trust has funded annual children's summer camps intended to promote literacy since 2016, which are well attended by the community. In recent years, Tadoule Lake is exploring the possibility of youth wilderness expeditions for the community to explore the Seal River Watershed. The Sayisi Dene and neighbouring Inuit and Cree communities are attempting to establish the watershed in which Tadoule Lake is located in to become an Indigenous Protected Conservation Area. During

2021 Western North America heat wave The 2021 Western North America heat wave was an extreme heat wave that affected much of Western North America from late June through mid-July 2021. The heat wave affected Northern California, Idaho, Western Nevada, Oregon, and Washington in ...

, on July 2 and 3, 2021, the record high temperature of was registered.

History

In 1969, some Duck Lake Dene began discussing the possibility of becoming self-reliant and returning to the ancestral lifestyle after the forced 1956 relocation of the Dene community originally at Little Duck Lake. A few families left Churchill and Dene Village to move to North Knife Lake in 1969. More would move from Churchill, this time to South Knife Lake in 1971. In 1973, the Duck Lake Dene, North Knife Lake and South Knife Lake Dene moved north to Tadoule Lake. Fred Bruemmer visited the community in 1977 as a

Globe and Mail ''The Globe and Mail'' is a Canadian newspaper printed in five cities in western and central Canada. With a weekly readership of more than 6 million in 2024, it is Canada's most widely read newspaper on weekdays and Saturdays, although it fall ...

journalist and noted that Tadoule Lake had 58 log cabins built across an area of more than 1.5 kilometres and a welcoming community that hosted him for weeks. By the 1990s, the Duck Lake Dene saw it could succeed in its new environment and changed their legal name from "Churchill, Band of Caribou-eater Chipewyan" to "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)". In 2016, Indigenous and Northern Affairs Minister Carolyn Bennett attended a formal apology ceremony at Tadoule Lake, with the government awarding more than $33 million in compensation to the Sayisi Dene. Most of the money was put in trust for community development. In recent years, concerns about drug smuggling and bootlegging have prompted the Manitoba Keewatinowi Okimakanak (MKO), an advocacy organization of 26 First Nations who are signatories to the

Numbered Treaties The Numbered Treaties (or Post-Confederation Treaties) are a series of eleven treaties signed between the First Nations, one of three groups of Indigenous Peoples in Canada, and the reigning monarch of Canada ( Victoria, Edward VII or George ...

with the Canadian government, to call for renewed efforts to addressing these issues in Tadoule Lake. The community postal address and postal code for Tadoule Lake is: General Delivery, Tadoule Lake, Manitoba R0B 2C0.

Demographics

The registered population of the Sayisi Dene First Nation living in Tadoule Lake as of February 2023 was 314, with an additional 586 members living off-reserve. The territory of Sayisi Dene consists of Churchill 1, IRI with 212.10 hectares and is governed by a Chief and three councillors. The Sayisi Dene are represented by the

Keewatin Tribal Council Keewatin Tribal Council is a tribal council representing 11 First Nations government (Canada), First Nation band governments in Northern Manitoba. Its head offices are located in Thompson, Manitoba, with a secondary office in Winnipeg. Members ...

, which represent eleven First Nations reserves in Northern Manitoba.

References

External links

Map of Churchill 1 at Statcan First Nation Detail (Sayisi Dene First Nation)
{{coord, 58, 42, 43, N, 98, 28, 49, W, display=title, type:airport Unincorporated communities in Northern Region, Manitoba Dene communities

History

Demographics

See also

References

Further reading

External links