The Southern Tutchone are a

First Nations First nations are indigenous settlers or bands. First Nations, first nations, or first peoples may also refer to: Indigenous groups *List of Indigenous peoples *First Nations in Canada, Indigenous peoples of Canada who are neither Inuit nor Mé ...

people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in the southern

Yukon Yukon () is a Provinces and territories of Canada, territory of Canada, bordering British Columbia to the south, the Northwest Territories to the east, the Beaufort Sea to the north, and the U.S. state of Alaska to the west. It is Canada’s we ...

in Canada. The Southern Tutchone language, traditionally spoken by the Southern Tutchone people, is a variety of the Tutchone language, part of the Athabaskan language family. Some linguists suggest that Northern and Southern Tutchone are distinct and separate languages. Southern Tutchone First Nations governments and communities include: * Champagne and Aishihik First Nations ( Haines Junction,

Champagne Champagne (; ) is a sparkling wine originated and produced in the Champagne wine region of France under the rules of the appellation, which demand specific vineyard practices, sourcing of grapes exclusively from designated places within it, spe ...

, and Aishihik in Yukon) Many Champagne and Aishihik members also live in Whitehorse. * Ta'an Kwach'an Council (

Whitehorse, Yukon Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's Downtown Whitehorse, downtown a ...

and Lake Laberge) (Ta’an Kwäch’än - ″People of Lake Laberge″, because they called it ''Tàa'an Män'') * Kluane First Nation ( Burwash Landing, Yukon) (Lù’àn Män Ku Dän or Lù’àn Mun Ku Dän - ″Kluane Lake People″, referring to their territory around Kluane Lake). Many citizens of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation (Kwänlin Dän kwächʼǟn - "Whitehorse people", formerly ''White Horse Indian Band'') in Whitehorse are of Southern Tutchone origin; their name refers to a section of the Yukon River from Miles Canyon Basalts to the White Horse Rapids which their ancestors called Kwanlin meaning "running water through canyon” and together with the Southern Tutchone word Dän or Dün for ″people″, they referred to this location for naming the KDFN)

Southern Tutchone language

The Southern TutchoneMcClellan, C. (2001) ''My Old People Say: an Ethnographic Survey of Southern Yukon Territory''. Canadian Museum of Civilization. people named by the late Catharine McClellan; are a group of

Athabaskan Athabaskan ( ; also spelled ''Athabascan'', ''Athapaskan'' or ''Athapascan'', and also known as Dene) is a large branch of the Na-Dene language family of North America, located in western North America in three areal language groups: Northern, ...

speaking indigenous people of Southern Yukon, Canada. Today, the Southern Tutchone language is more often being called, "Dän kʼe" which means 'our way' or, "Dän k'e kwänje" which means 'our way of speaking' in the Athabaskan language. This territory stretches over the south-west Yukon, and is controversial in what is overlap with different indigenous groups of people in Yukon. The Tutchone language was separated into two groups by McClellan in which she called them Southern and Northern Tutchone. The languages themselves are close, but are different in subtle dialects.

Demographics

In the early 1950s there were close to 20,000 Southern Tutchone speaking individuals. This has since plummeted to less than a few hundred speakers. As of 2004 the number of individuals who spoke Southern Tutchone as their first language was 404, and the total number of individuals who had some knowledge of the language was 645.

Revitalization efforts

The Southern Tutchone language is an endangered language with fewer than 100 speakers. There have been revitalization efforts in place to help combat the dwindling numbers. This includes signage throughout the Yukon highlighting the language. Other revitalization efforts includes an adult immersion program focused on increasing the number of speakers in the Champagne and Aishihik traditional territory. In 2015 the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations launched the firs
Da Ku Nän Ts'tthèt (Our House is Waking Up the Land)
dance festival which focused on Southern Tutchone language and culture. This was hosted at th
cultural centre named Da Ku
meaning "our house" in Southern Tutchone. Efforts for revitalization have also included school programs throughout the territory, as well as a language nest in Haines Junction, Yukon. The Yukon Native Language Centre has played a key role in many revitalization efforts as they have developed Indigenous teacher education programs, as well as curriculum materials.

Landclaims

In other places in the Southern Tutchone region there are four First Nations governments that have settled their land claims in the Southern Tutchone cultural area these include: * Champagne and Aishihik First Nations ( Haines Junction) * Ta'an Kwach'an Council ( Lake Laberge) * Kluane First Nation ( Burwash Landing) * Kwanlin Dün First Nations (

Whitehorse Whitehorse () is the capital of Yukon, and the largest city in Northern Canada. It was incorporated in 1950 and is located at kilometre 1426 (Historic Mile 918) on the Alaska Highway in southern Yukon. Whitehorse's downtown and Riverdale areas ...

)

References

Sources

*MacClellan, C. (1987). ''Part of the land, part of the water: a history of the Yukon Indians''. *Vancouver: Douglas & McIntyre. *McClellan, C. (2001) ''My Old People Say: an Ethnographic Survey of Southern Yukon Territory''. Canadian Museum of Civilization. *https://cafn.ca/about/our-ways/ *https://cyfn.ca/agreements/umbrella-final-agreement/

External links

"Handbook of North American Indians: Subarctic", "Tutchone" pp. 493-505
{{authority control First Nations in Yukon