Nadleh Whut'en First Nation

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Nadleh Whut'en and Fraser Lake, view from Mt. Fraser Nadleh.jpg
Nadleh Whut'en and Fraser Lake, view from Mt. Fraser

The Nadleh Whut'en First Nation is a First Nations government of the Dakelh people, whose territory is located in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, around the east end of Fraser Lake. The nation has seven reserves which Crown-Indigenous Relations and Northern Development Canada refer to as IR#1-9. (Reserves 5 and 6 split from Nadleh Whut'en and make up Stellat'en First Nation). Until 1990, it was referred to as the Fraser Lake Indian Band.

Contents

Nadleh Whut'en has 412 registered members, of which half live on reserve.

Geography

Most of the nation's members reside in Nadleh, the main community, while others (approximately 20) live in Lejac. Nadleh is located along the banks of the Nautley (Nadleh) river, between Fraser Lake and the Nechako River. Lejac is located on the south side of Fraser Lake, on the site of the former Lejac Residential School.

Facilities at the Nadleh reserve include the Band Office, Treaty/Lands Management Office, Forestry Office, Catholic Church, convenience store, fire hall, maintenance shop, adult learning centre, health centre, outdoor hockey rink, and community smokehouse.

The Nadleh Koh School is home to an Aboriginal Head Start Programme.

Facilities in Lejac (IR#4) include Lejac Auto Body and Rocky Mountain Log Homes. The Lejac Residential School (now closed) opened in 1922, and housed children who were removed from their families and communities in the region from Vancouver to Dease Lake.

Facilities on IR#8 include Ormond Lake Cultural Camp.

Culture and government

The Nadleh Whut'en speak a dialect of the Carrier language, which is part of the Athapaskan language family. [1] Carrier people refer themselves as Dakelh, which means "people who travel by water".

The nation has one elected government chief and four elected government council members. The Nadleh Whut'en practice the traditional system of balhats (potlatch) and have five clans, whose crests are: Bear, Frog, Caribou, Beaver and Owl.

Their traditional staple foods include salmon, moose, deer, small game, and berries, all of which are still collected by most band members each year for the winter.

Language

Points of interest

Pictographs can be found painted on granite rocks on the north side of Fraser Lake on IR#2. The drawings depict animals, fish and birds.

Beaumont Provincial Park is located on Nadleh Whut'en's traditional territory, next to the Nadleh village. It was the original site of Fort Fraser, a North West Company trading post. The first fort was built in 1806, but burned down and was later moved onto today's Nadleh reserve.

In September 2006, archaeologists uncovered an axe head near the Nadleh River and estimated it to be over 1,000 years old. There are also the remains of a fishing weir in the Nadleh river, estimated to be over 100 years old.

Each year in Lejac, Catholic churches celebrate Rose Prince, known to the Dakelh as Rose of the Carrier. In her honour, an annual pilgrimage gathers people from across Canada for three days to pray and celebrate their faith.

The Cheslatta Trail to Cheslatta Lake, and the Nyan Wheti route to Fort St. James connect at Nadleh/Nautley village (Nadleh, ᘇᘫᑋ).

Prominent members

Affiliations

Nadleh Whut'en First Nation is affiliated with the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council and is in treaty negotiations with the federal and provincial governments.

It is also affiliated with Carrier Sekani Family Services, an organization that focuses on physical and mental health and provides social services to its members.

In 2009, tribal members opposed the proposed Enbridge Northern Gateway pipeline, and rejected an equity offer in 2011. [4] Opposition continued into 2012, in cooperation with the Yinka Dene Alliance. [5]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Dakelh</span>

The Dakelh or Carrier are the indigenous people of a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Sekani</span> Ethnic group

Sekani or Tse’khene are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group in the Northern Interior of British Columbia. Their territory includes the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. The neighbors of the Sekani are the Babine to the west, Dakelh to the south, Dunneza (Beaver) to the east, and Kaska and Tahltan, to the north, all Athabaskan peoples. In addition, due to the westward spread of the Plains Cree in recent centuries, their neighbors to the east now include Cree communities.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Carrier language</span> Athabaskan language spoken in British Columbia

The Dakelh (ᑕᗸᒡ) or Carrier language is a Northern Athabaskan language. It is named after the Dakelh people, a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derived from French explorers naming of the people. Dakelh people speak two related languages. One, Babine-Witsuwit'en is sometimes referred to as Northern Carrier. The other includes what are sometimes referred to as Central Carrier and Southern Carrier.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Stuart Lake</span> Body of water

Stuart Lake, or Nak'albun in the Carrier (Dakelh) language is a lake situated in the Northern Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The town of Fort St. James is situated by the lake near the outlet. Stuart Lake is 66 kilometres (41 mi) long, 10 kilometres (6.2 mi) wide and relatively shallow, with an average depth of 26 metres (85 ft).

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nechako River</span> River in British Columbia, Canada

The Nechako River arises on the Nechako Plateau east of the Kitimat Ranges of the Coast Mountains of British Columbia, Canada, and flows north toward Fort Fraser, then east to Prince George where it enters the Fraser River. "Nechako" is an anglicization of netʃa koh, its name in the indigenous Carrier language which means "big river".

Tl'azt'en Nation is a First Nations band located along the north shore of Stuart Lake near the outlet of the Tache River, in the northern interior of British Columbia. The main village belonging to Tl'azt'en Nation is Tache, 60 km north-west of Fort St. James.The small settlements of Middle River (Dzit'lain'li).on Trembleur Lake and Grand Rapids, along the Tache River between Stuart Lake and Trembleur Lake also belong to Tl'azt'en Nation. The main administrative offices are in Tache, as a school - Eugene Joseph Elementary School, Daycare, Head Start, Health Unit, Education Centre/ Learning Centre for Adults, RCMP/ Justice Office, Public Works building that supplies diesel and gasoline, water treatment plant, a newly built youth recreation center (2012), a Catholic and Christian church, one in Old Tache and one in "sunny side", a volunteer fire department with a fire hall; rec sites include a paintball park, a basketball court and a hockey rink. The village of Portage once belonged to Tla'zt'en Nation but separated in 1994 as Yekooche First Nation. The village of Pinchie once belonged to Tl'azt'en Nation separated on March 12, 2019 and is now the Binche Whut'en First Nation. Prior to 1988 Tl'azt'en Nation was known as the Stuart-Trembleur band. Tl'azt'en Nation belongs to the Carrier Sekani Tribal Council.

The Yinka Dene Language Institute (YDLI) is an organization based in Stoney Creek, British Columbia, whose purpose is the study and maintenance of the language and culture of Dakelh and other First Nations people in northern British Columbia.

François Lake Provincial Park is a provincial park in British Columbia, Canada, located at the east end of Francois Lake. Total park area is 7,214 hectares. It is about 12 km off BC Highway 16, southwest of the town of Fraser Lake. There is no potable water at the site so campers should bring their own.

The Carrier Sekani Tribal Council is a tribal council representing six First Nations in the Central Interior of British Columbia. It was originally known as the Lakes District Tribal Council. The CSTC was incorporated in 1981 and is a registered non-profit society.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Lejac Residential School</span>

Lejac Residential School was a Canadian residential school in British Columbia that operated from 1922 to 1976 by the Roman Catholic Church under contract with the Government of Canada.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Nautley River</span>

Nautley River drains Fraser Lake into the Nechako River in the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.

Yekooche First Nation is based 75 kilometers northwest of Fort St. James, British Columbia at the north end of Stuart Lake on Yekooche reserves. It is known in English as Portage due to its location along the portage route between Babine Lake and Stuart Lake.

The Cheslatta Trail is an ancient land route in British Columbia, Canada, that stretched from the Dakelh villages of Belhk'achek and Sdughachola on Cheslatta Lake to Nadleh Village on Fraser Lake. It was used by the Dakelh people for as a major trade, travel and communication line, until the construction of the Alcan Kenney Dam in 1952 caused flooding of the Cheslatta River and Cheslatta Lake, forcing the Cheslatta people from their lakeside villages.

Nyan Wheti is an ancient land route in northern British Columbia, Canada from the Dakelh villages on Fraser Lake (Nadlehbunk'ut) to villages on Stuart Lake (Nak'albun), about 50 km to the north. The name in Carrier means "The Way Across."

The Lheidli T'enneh Band also known as the Lheidli T'enneh First Nation and historically known as the Fort George Indian Band is the First Nations band government for the Lheidli T'enneh, a subgroup of the Dakelh people whose traditional territory includes the City of Prince George, British Columbia. The name means "The People from the confluence of the two rivers" in the Carrier language referring to how the Nechako River enters the Fraser River at Prince George.

The Cheslatta Carrier Nation or Cheslatta T'En, of the Dakelh or Carrier people (Ta-cullies, meaning "people who go upon water", whose traditional lands where originally where the Kitimat Kemano Project I was built, form a large portion of the Central Interior of present-day British Columbia, Canada, is a First Nation of the Nechako River at the headwaters of the Fraser River.

The Stellat'en First Nation is the band government of the Stellat'en subgroup of the Dakelh people in the Omineca Country of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada.

The Yinka Dene Alliance is a coalition of six First Nations from northern British Columbia, organized to prevent the Enbridge Northern Gateway Pipelines being built through their traditional territories. The coalition first comprised the Nadleh Whut'en, Nak'azdli, Takla Lake, Saik'uz and Wet'suwet'en First Nations. The Tl'azt'en First Nation has since joined. These bands represent the interests of around 5,000 aboriginals. They are utilizing indigenous, Canadian and international law, and organizing various public protests across Canada.

Lejac is a locality on the Canadian National Railway line in the Nechako Country region of British Columbia, located on the south shore of Fraser Lake between the communities of Fraser Lake (W) and Fort Fraser (E).

Southern Carrier, Lower Carrier or locally known as Dakelh is an endangered dialect group of the Athabaskan Carrier language of British Columbia, Canada. The dialects belonging to Southern Carrier roughly correspond to those to the south of Fort St. James. The group is divided into two subgroups, Fraser/Nechakoh and Blackwater which are further subdivided into individual dialects.

References

  1. "FirstVoices: Nadleh Whut'en Community Portal" . Retrieved 2012-10-19.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 "FirstVoices". www.firstvoices.com. Retrieved 2020-12-11.
  3. Maggie Hodgson.com
  4. "Tar Sands: First Nations Reject Enbridge Pipeline Equity Offer - "Your Money is No Good To Us."". Tar Sands Watch. 2011-02-16. Archived from the original on 2012-05-17. Retrieved 2012-10-19.
  5. "RCMP spied on B.C. natives protesting pipeline plan, documents show". thestar.com. 2012-05-09. Retrieved 2012-10-19.