Wet'suwet'en

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Wet'suwet'en
Wet'suwet'en fishing on Bulkley River

Total population
2,447 [1]
Regions with significant populations
Canada (British Columbia)
Languages
English, Babine-Witsuwit'en
Religions
Christianity, traditional beliefs

The Wet'suwet'en's bridge across the Bulkley River, Hagwilget, 1872

Wet'suwet'en (also known as Hwotsotenne, Witsuwit'en, Wetsuwet'en, Wets'uwet'en) are a First Nations people who live on the Bulkley River and around Broman Lake and Francois Lake in Northwestern British Columbia.

The Wet'suwet'en are a branch of the Babine-Witsuwit'en. They speak Witsuwit'en, a dialect of the Babine-Witsuwit'en language which, like its sister language Carrier, is a member of the Athabaskan family.

Their oral history, called kungax, recounts that their ancestral village, Dizkle, once stood upstream from the Bulkley Canyon. This cluster of cedar houses on both sides of the river was said to be abandoned because of an omen of impending disaster. The exact location of the village has not yet been discovered.[2]

Like most of the first nation peoples of BC they have never signed a formal treaty and are in the process of negotiating a treaty now.^{[citation needed]}

[edit] Communities

The four main communities are:

Burns Lake I.R. (Burns Lake Band);
Palling I.R. No. 1. (Wet'suwet'en First Nation formerly known as Broman Lake Band);
Hagwilget Village on east side of the Bulkley Canyon, near Hazelton. Hagwilget means "gentle or quiet people".
Moricetown, British Columbia.