Sahtu people

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For other uses, see Sahtu (disambiguation).
Sahtu

Hare Indian Dog and Sahtu tipis, 1845-1848
Total population
 Canada ( Northwest Territories)
1,235 (2006)[1]
Languages
English, Sahtu (North Slavey)
Religion
Christianity, Animism
Related ethnic groups
South Slavey
Sahtu communities in the Northwest Territories

The Sahtú (or North Slavey, Hare) are an Aboriginal Dene people living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake (Sahtú, the source of their name), Northwest Territories, Canada. The Sahtú peoples live in Colville Lake, Deline, Fort Good Hope, Norman Wells and Tulita which form the Sahtu Region of the NWT.[2][3] 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[4] (K'ahsho Got'ine District), Bear Lake (Déline District), and Mountain (Tulit'a District).[5]

Ethnography

An early description of Sahtú cultures is given in Alexander Mackenzie's journal of his voyage down the Mackenzie River to the Arctic Ocean in 1789.[6]

The Déline community of the Sahtú Dene experienced great loss during Canada's participation in the Manhattan Project. The need for radioactive materials, (such as radium), to create atomic weapons was met with the deposits found near the Great Bear Lake. The Sahtú Dene were hired to transport the ore containing radium from the Northwest Territories to be processed in Ontario or the United States. Since much of the uranium that existed in Europe was under Nazi 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.[7][8][9]

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 but sulfur powder.[10]

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.

Todays Sahtu Dene First Nations

Sahtu Dene Council[11]

  • Behdzi Ahda First Nation (headquartered in Colville Lake, NT, which is known as K'áhbamį́túé - ″ptarmigan net place″ by the Hare(skin) Dene (K'ahsho Got'ine), which is their ancestral homeland and the surrounding area is still inhabit by them, reserve: Colville Lake Settlement, Population: 219)
  • Deline First Nation[12] (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 Great Bear Lake to the Mackenzie River, a place nearby where the lake seldom freezes over was a fishing place for the Sahtugotine (Bear Lake people), reserve: Fort Franklin Settlement, Population: 981)
  • Fort Good Hope First Nation (also known as K’asho Gotine Dene Band, headquartered in Fort Good Hope (or the Charter Community of K'asho Got'ine), called Rádeyîlîkóé - "Where the Rapids Are" by the local Hare(skin) Dene (K'ahsho Got'ine), 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 (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 (Begaa Deh Shuh Tah Got’ie or Begaee Shuhagot'ine) 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.[5]

Notable Sahtu people

See also

References

  1. ↑ http://www.languagegeek.com/dene/kashogotine/north_slavey.html
  2. ↑ Sahtu Communities
  3. ↑ About MACA - Sahtu
  4. ↑ Robert Gordon Latham (1850). The natural history of the varieties of man. J. Van Voorst. p. 303. 
  5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 "Sahtu North Slavey". firstnationseeker.ca. Archived from the original on 2007-06-07. Retrieved 2007-10-15. 
  6. ↑ Voyages from Montreal Through the Continent of North America to the Frozen and Pacific Oceans in 1789 and 1793
  7. ↑ The Dene People of Great Bear Lake Call for a Federal Response to Uranium Deaths in Deline
  8. ↑ Deline Poisoned? Past area mining linked to cancer
  9. ↑ Nuclear Genocide in Canada
  10. ↑ CDUT Final Report Summary
  11. ↑ The Sahtu Secretariat Incorporated (Sahtu Dene Council
  12. ↑ Website of the Deline First Nation

Further reading

  • Auld, James and Robert Kershaw, Eds. The Sahtu Atlas: Maps and Stories from the Sahtu Settlement Area in Canada's Northwest Territories. [Norman Wells, N.W.T.]: Sahtu GIS Project, 2005. ISBN 0-9737630-0-0
  • Blondin, George. When the World Was New: Stories of the Sahtú Dene. Yellowknife, N.W.T., Canada: Outcrop, the Northern Publishers, 1990. ISBN 1-919315-21-7
  • Canada. Implementation Plan for the Sahtu Dene and Metis Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement. Ottawa: Indian and Northern Affairs Canada, 1993. ISBN 0-662-21422-6
  • Kuhnlein, H V, et al. 1995. "DIETARY NUTRIENTS OF SAHTU DENE/METIS VARY BY FOOD SOURCE, SEASON AND AGE". Ecology of Food and Nutrition. 34, no. 3: 183.
  • Sahtu Heritage Places and Sites Joint Working Group. Rakekée Gok'é Godi = Places We Take Care of. [Yellowknife, NWT?: Sahtu Heritage Places and Sites Joint Working Group], 2000.

External links

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