Chipewyan

• CATEGORY: Tribe
• CULTURE AREA: Subarctic
• LANGUAGE GROUP: Athabaskan
• PRIMARY LOCATION: Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Alberta, and the Northwest Territories
• POPULATION SIZE: 23,000 registered members of Denesuline First Nations (Canadian Encyclopedia, 2021); 4,815 individuals of Denesuline ancestry (Canadian Census, 2021)

The early Chipewyan (or Denesuline, as they prefer to self-identify) occupied the edge of the northern subarctic forests and the tundra beyond, where winters were long and severe and summers moderate. By the late 1700s, some Chipewyan members had moved into the forests. These people from the subarctic culture area were nomadic hunters and anglers. The most important animal was the caribou; it was the focus of their religious belief and oral literature and structured their life cycle and population distribution.

The Chipewyan people had no central organization but lived in regional bands, the size of which depended on the concentration of the caribou. Bands were larger during the caribou migrations and smaller when the caribou were dispersed. Officials from the Hudson’s Bay Company recognized two divisions: the Northern peoples (Chipewyan or Denésoliné) and the Yellowknives Déne. Today, the Chipewyan are regarded as one of the five main groups of Déne people, along with the Yellowknives Dene First Nation. The Chipewyan name means “pointed skins,” a term referring to the form of their dried beaver skins.

Early contact with Europeans centered around the fur trade, which brought both benefits and hardships, as furs were traded for necessities. However, in 1781, smallpox, brought by Europeans, destroyed a large number of the Chipewyan.

The Chipewyan had few ceremonies to mark life’s events. If the band was traveling, a woman would give birth and continue traveling within a few hours. No ceremonies marked puberty or marriage. The husband hunted with the woman’s family until the birth of the first child. Polygamy was permitted, and wives, especially the young and childless, were sometimes prizes in wrestling matches. Older people or those who were incapacitated had little value and could be abandoned if they could not keep up when traveling.

By the mid-1800s, the Chipewyan people were divided into five regional bands, and their territories existed primarily within the forests. They were divided between living on the forest edge because of hunting on the tundra and living deep within the forest, close to trading posts and missions. In the 1960s, there was an attempt to move some of the bands into towns. This effort was only partly successful; many families returned to their traditional areas and continued to hunt and fish. Some of the bands engaged in commercial fishing.

In the twenty-first century, the Chipewyan people continued to live primarily in the provinces of Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, and the Northwest Territories in northern Canada. In the 2021 census, 4,815 people reported Denesuline ancestry, though the actual number is estimated to be much higher. Numerous distinct First Nations groups exist within the Denesuline nation. Many continued to participate in traditional activities like hunting and fishing while pursuing the preservation of their cultural heritage and Déne language. Many distinct Denesuline First Nations groups pursued economic development opportunities, and some pursued land claims and self-government agreements with the Canadian government.

Bibliography

"About Us." Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, acfn.com/about-us. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Footprints on the Land: Tracing the Path of the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation. Author, 2003.

Curtis, Edward S. The North American Indian: Vol. 18, the Chipewyan, the Western Woods Cree, the Sarsi. Plimpton, 1928.

Hay, Elaine. "Denesuline (Dene)." Indigenous Saskatchewan Encyclopedia, 26 June 2019, teaching.usask.ca/indigenoussk/import/denesuline_dene.php. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

"Language Revitalization ." Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, acfn.com/language-revitalization. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

McCormack, Patricia A., et al. "Denesuline (Chipewyan)." The Canadian Encyclopedia, 26 Nov. 2024, www.thecanadianencyclopedia.ca/en/article/chipewyan. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.

Trimble, Sabina, and Peter Fortina. "Honouring Oral Histories: Wood Buffalo National Park and the Dënesųłıné." Network in Canadian History & Environment, 18 Nov. 2021, niche-canada.org/2021/11/18/honouring-oral-histories-wood-buffalo-national-park-and-the-denesuline. Accessed 9 Oct. 2025.