Article:
The Structure Of The Denes¶øiné
Nation
At
one point in history, The Dene were a strong and great
nation with an autonomous identity. There were many of
them, and they traveled back and forth through out the
vast area of what is now the Northwest Territories, Saskatchewan,
Manitoba and Alberta. Europeans would change that forever
with boundaries. The Dene people were nomadic and traveled
freely. They lived in various groups, large or small.
The leader was chosen by their great hunting skills. The
elders were the advisors and people lived as one with
the land.
The lives of the Dene people were shaped and governed
through the spiritual forces of their environment. The
social structure was communal and collective. The political
structure of the Dene people is as ancient as the land,
rock, water and the everlasting sky. They believe the
Creator left them in charge of the land and water to the
Northern Hemisphere and took care of it for many years.
They know every river bend and very trail. There is a
common understanding among the Dene through one common
language that consists of several dialects. The Dene language
is part of the Athabaskan language group. In spite of
these small barriers the people lived collectively and
respected one another. In compiling information of ethnology
on the Dene people of the Athabaskan region we can not
separate it from ethnohistory because oral history is
what the Dene people use to explain their existence. It
is not a new innovation but rather an old ethnology unto
itself. The ethnohistorical approach will be utilized
as a means for identifying social, cultural and political
structure of the Dene people. The method of measurement
integrates generalized ethnographic observations with
the oral and written history of the people. In Saskatchewan
there is a comparison between two regional populations
of Dene groups: One group, who reside in Northern Saskatchewan,
and the other toward the northern tip of the Churchill
River or sometimes called the Northwest Dene.
Athabasca
Region:
The northern Athabasca basin accommodate four Dene bands
known as "Etthén heldélü
Dené" (caribou eaters). Their territory
is located in Northern Saskatchewan from Lake Athabasca
(west) to Hatchet Lake (East). Fond Du Lac (Ganü
kóö), Black Lake (Tazen
Tuwé) and Stoney Rapids (Deschaghe)
which are all located close to the border of the Northwest
Territories, whereas Hatchet Lake (tthöø
tuwé) is toward the southeast of the province.
Churchill
Region:
The northwest to the Churchill River basin accommodate
the remaining four groups of the Denesçøiné
people of Saskatchewan, These are Buffalo River (Ejeredesche),
English River(Bqnücvere),
Birch Narrows (Tatthüka Tuwé),
and Clearwater River ( Tth®tél
haze tuwé).
In the past, the Dene occupied the territory within the
forest - tundra margin, west of Hudson Bay and in to the
Slave River. The Dene knew no boundaries then and every
one lived freely and followed the Caribou migration pattern
in the winter and fished along the Great Lakes during
the summer. The Dene organizational structure consists
of human dynamics and patterns of adaptation. We will
examine human diversity and life ways within the environment
based upon a society's mobility, technology, specialization,
social differentiation and behavioral variables. The cultural
difference of the four Dene tribes is unique but they
share many cultural values and assumptions with the Inuit
from the Arctic Circle. The two tribes continued a way
of life that has remained similar for thousands of years.
