The Chipewyan are a Dene Indigenous Canadian people of the Athabaskan language family, whose ancestors are identified with the Taltheilei Shale archaeological tradition. They are part of the Northern Athabascan group of peoples, and come from what is now Western Canada.
Chipewyan or Denesuline, often simply called Dene, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada. It is categorized as part of the Northern Athabaskan language family. Dënësųłinë́ has nearly 12,000 speakers in Canada, mostly in Saskatchewan, Alberta, Manitoba and the Northwest Territories. It has official status only in the Northwest Territories, alongside 8 other aboriginal languages: Cree, Tlicho, Gwich'in, Inuktitut, Inuinnaqtun, Inuvialuktun, North Slavey and South Slavey.
The Dene people are an indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages. Dene is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two usages. More commonly, it is used narrowly to refer to the Athabaskan speakers of the Northwest Territories and Nunavut in Canada, especially including the Chipewyan (Denesuline), Tlicho (Dogrib), Yellowknives (T'atsaot'ine), Slavey, and Sahtu. However, it is sometimes also used to refer to all Northern Athabaskan speakers, who are spread in a wide range all across Alaska and northern Canada. The Southern Athabaskan speakers, however, also refer to themselves by similar words: Diné (Navajo) and Indé (Apache).
The Canadian Light Source (CLS) is Canada's national synchrotron light source facility, located on the grounds of the University of Saskatchewan in Saskatoon, Saskatchewan, Canada. The CLS has a third-generation 2.9 GeV storage ring, and the building occupies a footprint the size of a Canadian football field. It opened in 2004 after a 30-year campaign by the Canadian scientific community to establish a synchrotron radiation facility in Canada. It has expanded both its complement of beamlines and its building in two phases since opening. As a national synchrotron facility with over 1000 individual users, it hosts scientists from all regions of Canada and around 20 other countries. Research at the CLS has ranged from viruses to superconductors to dinosaurs, and it has also been noted for its industrial science and its high school education programs.
Athabasca is a provincial electoral district for the Legislative Assembly of Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located in the extreme northwest corner of the province. The major industries are tourism, mineral extraction, forestry, commercial fishing and trapping. The Cluff Lake uranium mine is located in this constituency, as well as the Athabasca Sand Dunes Provincial Park and the Clearwater River Provincial Park. The major communities are La Loche, Île-à-la-Crosse and Buffalo Narrows with populations of 2,136, 1,268 and 1,137 respectively.
Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River is a federal electoral district in Saskatchewan, Canada, that has been represented in the House of Commons of Canada since 1997.
The Methye Portage or Portage La Loche in northwestern Saskatchewan was one of the most important portages in the old fur trade route across Canada. The 19 km (12 mi) portage connected the Mackenzie River basin to rivers that ran east to the Atlantic. It was reached by Peter Pond in 1778 and abandoned in 1883 when steamboats began running on the Athabasca River with links to the railroad. It ranks with Grand Portage as one of the two most important and difficult portages used during the fur trade era.
La Loche is a village in northwest Saskatchewan. It is located at the end of Highway 155 on the eastern shore of Lac La Loche in Canada's boreal forest. La Loche had a population of 2,827 in 2016 and is within the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.
Black Lake is a Denesuline First Nations band government in the boreal forest of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is located on the northwest shore of Black Lake where the Fond du Lac River leaves the lake to flow to Lake Athabasca.
Turnor Lake is a community on the southern shore of Turnor Lake. From Highway 155 it is accessible by Highway 909. The community includes the Northern Hamlet of Turnor Lake and Turnor Lake 193B of the Birch Narrows First Nation.
Descharme Lake is a northern settlement on Descharme Lake in the boreal forest of northwest Saskatchewan. A 10 km access road leads west to the community from the Saskatchewan Highway 955 turn-off 87 km north of La Loche. The northern settlement is an unincorporated community in the Northern Saskatchewan Administration District.
Garson Lake is a northern settlement in Saskatchewan on the eastern shore of Garson Lake. It is located near the Alberta border and can be accessed by Highway 956 off of Highway 155. A winter road connects it to Fort McMurray, Alberta in the winter months.
Hatchet Lake Denesuline Nation is a Denesuline First Nation in northern Saskatchewan. The main settlement, Wollaston Lake, is an unincorporated community on Wollaston Lake in the boreal forest of north-eastern Saskatchewan, Canada.
The Clearwater River Dene Nation is a Dene First Nations band government in the boreal forest area of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It maintains offices in the village of Clearwater River situated on the eastern shore of Lac La Loche. The Clearwater River Dene Nation reserve of Clearwater River shares its southern border with the village of La Loche.
The English River Dene Nation is a Dene First Nation band government in Patuanak, Saskatchewan, Canada. Their reserve is in the northern section of the province. Its territories are in the boreal forest of the Canadian Shield. This First Nation is a member of the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC).
Birch Narrows Dene Nation is a Dene First Nation band government in the boreal forest region of northern Saskatchewan, Canada. It is affiliated with the Meadow Lake Tribal Council (MLTC).
Georgina Jolibois is a Canadian politician who was elected in the 2015 Canadian federal election to represent the riding of Desnethé—Missinippi—Churchill River during the 42nd Canadian Parliament. Jolibois sought re-election in the 2019 election but was defeated by her Conservative challenger Gary Vidal.
On January 22, 2016, four people were killed and seven others injured in a shooting spree in La Loche, Saskatchewan, Canada. Two brothers were killed at their home, and two teachers were killed at the Dene Building of the La Loche Community School. A 17-year-old male suspect was apprehended and placed into custody.
Clearwater River Dene Band 221 is an Indian reserve of the Clearwater River Dene Nation in Saskatchewan. It is 24 km (15 mi) east of La Loche.
Clearwater River Dene Band 222 is an Indian reserve of the Clearwater River Dene Nation in Saskatchewan. It is 11 kilometers southwest of La Loche. In the 2016 Canadian Census, it recorded a population of 822 living in 188 of its 218 total private dwellings. In the same year, its Community Well-Being index was calculated at 49 of 100, compared to 58.4 for the average First Nations community and 77.5 for the average non-Indigenous community.
