Identification

The linguist Edward Sapir first used the term Na-Dene to refer to a language family which he believed encompassed all Athabaskan languages as well as Tlingit and Haida. Scholars now use the term to refer both to this proposed language family and to those who speak the languages included within it. There is no common term used by native people to describe the entire group, although the term dene means “person” or “people” in many Athabaskan languages. There are at least forty Athabaskan or Dene languages within this family. Speakers of Athabaskan languages are located in the United States along the Pacific Coast, in the American southwest, and in western Canada and Alaska. The Navajo, who live in the American southwest, are numerically the largest single group of Na-Dene, with a population of approximately 200,000. Canadian Athabaskan groups together number about 35,000 and there are also approximately 7,000 Tlingit (1,000 in Canada) and 3,000 Haida (2,000 in Canada).

In recent years researchers have further outlined the relationships that Sapir originally proposed between the Tlingit, Haida, and Athabaskan languages. Tlingit, which is spoken in the Alaskan panhandle, northwestern British Columbia, and southwestern Yukon, is generally believed to be remotely related to Athabaskan languages. Another Alaskan language, Eyak, which was unknown to Sapir, has also been shown to be even more closely related to Athabaskan languages. Haida, which is spoken in the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia and in southeast Alaska, is generally regarded as unrelated to Athabaskan languages and Tlingit. Substantial correspondences of vocabulary and of sounds have not been demonstrated between Haida and the other Na-Dene languages. Haida will be included in the discussion of Na-Dene peoples for the purposes of this section, however, since it was included in Sapir’s original grouping.

In Canada there are many Athabaskan groups as well as Tlingit and Haida. The term that Athabaskans employ to designate themselves is Dene, and both terms, Dene and Athabaskan, have been used to refer to the entire language family and people speaking these languages. Tlingit is derived from the Tlingit word, ¬ingât, meaning “human beings.” Similarly, Haida is derived from a Haida word, hà.te or hà.de., meaning “the people.”

It is difficult to divide the Athabaskan languages within Canada into discrete languages with definite boundaries. Some languages, such as Tagish and Tahltan, which have traditionally been treated as separate languages, are mutually intelligible and might be regarded as dialects of a single language. Still other languages such as Slavey (North Slavey and South Slavey) have many dialects, only some of which are mutually intelligible. Gradual sound changes, patterns of migration, intermarriage, and trade have all conspired to change the distribution of languages and the territories occupied by speakers of these languages. Finally, over the last century many of these languages have been replaced in daily use by English. Membership in any Athabaskan group must now be extended to include descendants who speak primarily English.

Of the approximately nineteen Canadian Athabaskan languages, all but one are still spoken by at least a few people. In some cases the names for these groups have changed over time, separate dialects have been grouped as a single language, or groups have lost their independent identity. The following is a list of language names in common usage as well as alternate designations found in some sources: Beaver (Tsattine); Babine (Witsiwoten, Northern Carrier); Carrier; Chilcotin (Tsilkotin); Chipewyan (Montagnais, Yellowknife); Dogrib; Gwich’in (Kutchin, Loucheux); Han (Han Kutchin); Kaska (Nahani, Pelly Indians); North Slavey (Hare, Bearlake, Mountain, Slavey); Northern Tutchone (Tutchone); Sarsi (Sarcee); Sekani; South Slavey (Slave, Slavey); Southern Tutchone (Tutchone); Tagish; Tahltan (Nahani); Tsetsaut; Upper Tanana (Tanana, Nabesna).

The origins of the Na-Dene remain a controversial subject. Linguistically, the diversity of languages present in the north argues in favour of a northern origin for the Athabaskan language family as well as for Eyak and Tlingit. There is little proof for any definite place of origin beyond this. Since Sapir, linguists have linked the Na-Dene languages to Asian languages, but their work is not conclusive.

The archaeological record has also been used to advance theories of an Asiatic origin for Na-Dene peoples. Archaeologists specifically point to similarities in the microblade technology which characterizes many archaeological sites in Siberia and in Alaska and Yukon from between 9,000 and 7,000 years ago. Microblades are small cutting edges which were used as fleshers, skinning knives, and arrow points. Microblades from this very early period show great similarity, both in the preparation of the “core,” from which the microblades were struck, and in the shape of the microblades themselves. Microblade technology cannot, however, be definitely linked to Na-Dene peoples or their direct ancestors. In subsequent periods there is little evidence of microblade manufacture in Alaska and Yukon for several thousand years until they reappeared in a different style around 5,000 years ago. The later style of microblades is distinct both from Asian technologies and from the earlier forms in Alaska and Yukon. Even if the early microblade users were direct ancestors of the Na-Dene, something that has not been demonstrated, any connection between these groups and Asia would stem from an early time period. The later diversification of Na-Dene languages and cultures undoubtedly occurred entirely within North America.

The Na-Dene peoples are widely distributed across western and northern North America. Within Canada, Athabaskan peoples are found across the subarctic between the coastal ranges of the Pacific and Hudson Bay, Tlingit along the Pacific coast of southeast Alaska and inland to adjacent parts of British Columbia and Yukon, and Haida on the Queen Charlotte Islands of British Columbia.

The location of the Na-Dene peoples has changed only slightly in the last three centuries in response to the arrival of Europeans in their territory. Following the establishment of York Factory on Hudson Bay in 1682, the Chipewyan, the first Na-Dene group to trade with Europeans, shifted their territory southward. On the northwest coast the Tlingit came into contact with Russian explorers in 1741, and during the nineteenth century Tlingit traders settled in the interior and eventually occupied a portion of Yukon and British Columbia.

Changes in the territories occupied by other Na-Dene groups are difficult to document. Terms such as Dogrib, Slavey, Beaver, and Kaska were not used consistently by early travellers in the region since most observers could not differentiate the languages accurately. However, it is known that the Sarsi occupied new territory after the introduction of horses to the northern plains, moving southward within Alberta and allying themselves with the Blackfoot.

European settlement has changed the distribution of the native population within Na-Dene territory. Fur trading posts became centres of economic activity, where furs and supplies of meat and fish were exchanged for trade goods, and eventually some natives resided at the posts. Tlingit and Haida were already settled in permanent villages before the arrival of European explorers, but some of these were decimated by disease while others came under military attack by Europeans. Many village sites were abandoned as Tlingit and Haida moved to larger towns such as Masset, Ketchikan, and Juneau.

There has been a rapid influx of non-natives to much of this region in the last century. Non-native farmers and ranchers moved into that part of the territory of the Sarsi, Beaver, and Chilcotin which was suitable for agriculture. Thousands of miners travelled to the Klondike in Yukon following the discovery of gold in 1896, and Dawson City was built on the traditional lands of the Han people. The development of mineral resources was a major factor in the growth of towns such as Dawson City and Whitehorse in Yukon and later Yellowknife in the Northwest Territories. Oil and natural gas developments contributed to the growth of other centres. During World War II thousands of U.S. army troops and construction workers built the Alaska Highway and Canol Road and other roads soon followed across the north. In the period after the war, these new transportation links facilitated the exploitation of renewable resources including furs, seafood, and forest resources.

In some areas the Canadian government negotiated treaties with Na-Dene groups. Treaty 7 was negotiated with the Sarsi in 1887; Treaty 8 in 1899 with the Chipewyan, Beaver, and some Slavey; Treaty 10 with some Chipewyan communities; and Treaty 11 in 1921 with other Dene groups along the Mackenzie River valley. Although reserves were set up in accord with treaty provisions in some areas (but not in Treaties 8 and 11) and other aspects of the treaties were implemented, some of the treaties’ terms, especially respecting the cession of land, are still in dispute. As well, in the last two decades treaty making in the form of land-claims negotiations has taken place in those parts of Yukon and British Columbia not covered by existing treaties.

Prior to the fur trade the population of Athabaskan groups was quite dispersed. Camps consisted of only a few dwellings occupied by one or more extended families. The population density of this region was relatively low, as it is today. The Na-Dene groups of the northwest coast, the Tlingit and Haida, lived in larger settlements with as many as fifty houses, but the total population of these groups was still relatively small. Although the population was dispersed, the availability of game, fish, and other resources often brought together larger groups at specific times of the year for hunting, fishing, or religious gatherings.

Athabaskans moved within their home territory to locate game, productive fish lakes and streams, or other food resources. Hunters travelled widely in search of large game – be it caribou, moose, or bison – and their families also moved camp on a regular basis. Resources such as small game, fish, berries, roots, and medicinal plants which are most abundant in specific areas were targeted by family groups in their seasonal movements. Tlingit and Haida also dispersed at certain times of the year to take advantage of specific resources such as salmon, halibut, herring roe, oolichan, shellfish, and sea mammals.

Contemporary settlement patterns vary. The Sarsi reserve includes suburban housing developments adjacent to Calgary and individuals from various groups have settled in other large cities such as Edmonton and Vancouver. Some of the Beaver reserves include agricultural lands with dispersed houses. In most of the smaller northern communities the houses are grouped quite closely together, much like villages in the rest of Canada. Native and non-native portions of the village may be partially separated because of historic settlement patterns. This may also be true when two distinct native groups live within one village, as in Fort Chipewyan where both Cree and Chipewyan are present.