Sayisi Dene

The Sayisi Dene, ("People of the East"), are Chipewyan, a Dene First Nation Aboriginal peoples of Canada group living in northern Manitoba. They are members of the "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)" and are notable for living a nomadic caribou-hunting and gathering existence.

Origin

The Chipewyan's ancestral homeland stretched west from Hudson Bay, including the area that straddles northern Manitoba and the southern Northwest Territories, as well as northern Alberta and northern Saskatchewan. Chipewyan lived in bands. Some lived near the port of Churchill, Manitoba, by Hudson Bay. Others lived at North Knife River, north of Churchill. Other lived in the Barren Lands by Nueltin Lake. Still others ("Duck Lake Dene") established a semi-settled encampment at Little Duck Lake when European traders arrived, calling the former Hudson's Bay Company trading post "Caribou Post" as it was close to the caribou migration range.cite web |url=http://www.canoesaskatchewan.rkc.ca/arch/archhist.htm |title=Human History in Far Northern Saskatchewan |publisher=rkc.ca |accessdate=2007-12-31]

Little Duck Lake

While some Chipewyan bands evolved into fur trader/hunters, the existence of Duck Lake Dene continued to be centered around hunting caribou whose migratory populations varied between decades. Canadian government officials noted a significant decrease in the caribou population of this region between 1942 and 1955. Duck Lake Dene, called "Caribou-eater Chipewyan" by Europeans, were considered the main reason for the decline. [cite web |url=http://72.14.253.104/search?q=cache:6AzGsrIg--UJ:www.brandonu.ca/Library/CJNS/14.2/video.pdf+sayisi+dene+first+nation&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=3&gl=us |title=VIDEO REVIEW |accessdate=2007-10-13 |format=html |work=brandonu.ca]

Churchill re-location

In the mid 20th century, caribou dwindled from approximately 670,000 animals in 1942 to 277,000 animals by 1955. Unable to thrive as a people, and with a vision of saving caribou as a natural resource, the government decided to relocate the Duck Lake Dene in 1956 away from caribou lands to Churchill, Manitoba where other Chipewyan Dene were located. For a decade, the Little Duck Lake band, now a part of the "Churchill Band of Caribou-eater Chipewyan", lived in tents and shanties on the outskirts of town. Around 1967, the Canadian government developed a housing project for them called "Dene Village". But the transition from a traditional nomadic caribou hunting economy to a non-migratory urban life was unsuccessful: as much as a third of the "Churchill Chipewyan" population died as a direct result of the relocation to Churchill. [cite web |url=http://tlj.unm.edu/articles/volume_5/profile_of_the_sayisi_dene_nation_of_tadoule_lake_in_northern_manitoba/index.php |author=Kwesi Baffoe |title=Profile of the Sayisi Dene Nation of Tadoule Lake in Northern Manitoba |accessdate=2007-10-12 |format=Tribal Law Journal |work=unm.edu] cite web |url=http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css/Css_35_3/BRnight_spirits.htm |title=Ila Bussidor and Üstün Bilgen-Reinart. 1997. Night Spirits: The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene |publisher=ualberta.ca |author=Jean-Guy Goulet |accessdate=2007-12-31]

Tadoule Lake re-location

In 1969, some Duck Lake Dene began discussing the possibility of becoming self-reliant and returning to the ancestral life-style. In 1973, the Duck Lake Dene moved north and set up a new community at Tadoule Lake (pronounced "Ta-doo-lee", derived from the Dene "ts'eouli", translated as "floating ashes"). The Tadoule Lake settlement is one of the most northern and isolated settlements in Manitoba, reachable only by plane, dog team or snowmobile. The nearest rail link is back in Churchill, 250 miles away. The settlement is located by the underdeveloped, wild, and rugged Seal River, about 80 km. south of the treeline, and centered within the winter range of the Qaminuriak Caribou Herd (barren-ground caribou). The Sayisi, with a population of around 360 people, have found it difficult, but not impossible, to return to ancestrally traditional hunting and trapping ways. They deal with spousal, drug and alcohol abuse. But by the 1990s, the Duck Lake Dene saw it could succeed in its new environment and changed its legal name from "Churchill, Band of Caribou-eater Chipewyan" to "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)". [cite web |url=http://www.educationcanada.com/browse.phtml?sid=fn&eid=760&a=eip&lang=eng |title=Employer Info: Sayisi Dene Education Authority |accessdate=2007-10-12 |work=educationcanada.com] cite web |url=http://www.oralhistory-productions.org/articles/AnUnauthorizedBiographyoftheWorld.htm |title=An Unauthorized Biography of the World: Oral History on the Front Lines, Ts'eouli -- Floating Ashes |accessdate=2007-10-12 |author=Michael Riordon |publisher=Between the Lines, Toronto, Canada, 2005 |work=oralhistory-productions.org ] [cite web |url=http://www.ainc-inac.gc.ca/ch/rcap/sg/sg36_e.html |title=The Sayisi Dene (Manitoba) |accessdate=2007-10-12 |format=Indian and Northern Affairs Canada |work=inac.gc.ca] [cite web |url=http://www.legalaid.mb.ca/pdf%20documents/PILC_history.pdf |title=IN THE PUBLIC INTEREST: The first 25 years of The Public Interest Law Centre |accessdate=2007-10-13 |format=Public Interest Law Centre, Winnipeg, Manitoba, 25th Anniversary, 1982-2007 |work=publicinterestlawcentre.ca]

Ila Bussidor, Chief of the "Sayisi Dene First Nation (Tadoule Lake, Manitoba)", co-authored a 1997 book entitled, "Night Spirits, The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene" a chronicle of the band's ordeal from Little Duck Lake to Churchill to Tadoule Lake. Bussidor is currently working on a land claim settlement on behalf of her people, in addition to working with other First Nations on public works and community management projects. [cite web |url=http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/si/inac/content/docs_governance_management_part3-e.html |title=Sharing the Story - Experiences of Six First Nations Communities |accessdate=2007-10-15 |date=2006-07-17 |publisher=Public Works and Government Services Canada]

Language

Sayisi Dene speak the Dene Suline language, of the Athabaskan linguistic group. Teaching their language to children and young adults who became English language speakers in Churchill is a priority. Elder Betsy Anderson said: [cite web |url=http://www.sicc.sk.ca/heritage/sils/ourlanguages/dene/eldersquotes/index.html |title=Dene Quotes from Elders |accessdate=2007-10-15 |publisher=sicc.sk.ca] :"“There was a time when all the people and all the animals understood each other and spoke the same language." ("Yanízü Denes¶øiné chu tücvadíe üøághe yati hoþa ¿eønedárení hél ttvi ¿eøedárí ttvagh nisnü.")

Notes

Further reading

* Bussidor, Ila, and Üstün Bilgen-Reinart. " [http://www.quasar.ualberta.ca/css/Css_35_3/BRnight_spirits.htm Night Spirits The Story of the Relocation of the Sayisi Dene] ". Manitoba studies in native history, 10. Winnipeg, Man: University of Manitoba Press, 1997. ISBN 0887556434

External links

* [http://sdiprod2.inac.gc.ca/FNProfiles/FNProfiles_Details.asp?Band_Number=303 Official website: Sayisi Dene First Nation]
* [http://tlj.unm.edu/articles/volume_5/profile_of_the_sayisi_dene_nation_of_tadoule_lake_in_northern_manitoba/index.php Profile: Sayisi Dene Nation of Tadoule Lake, Northern Manitoba]
* [http://www.oralhistory-productions.org/articles/AnUnauthorizedBiographyoftheWorld.htm Ts'eouli -- Floating Ashes]
* [http://www.pwgsc.gc.ca/si/inac/content/docs_governance_management_part3-e.html Photo, Chief Ila Bussidor]
* [http://www.gov.mb.ca/tgs/map/pdf/map16.pdf Topo map, Sayisi Dene location at Tadoule Lake] - see quadrant D17