Description
Chipewyan, Athabaskan-speaking North American Indians of northern Canada. They originally inhabited a large triangular area with a base along the 1,000-mile-long (1,600 km) Churchill River and an apex some 700 miles (1,100 km) to the north; the land comprises boreal forests divided by stretches of barren ground. 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 hail from what is now Western Canada. The following list of First Nations band governments had in August 2016 a total registered membership of 25,519, with 11,315 in Saskatchewan, 6,952 in Alberta, 3,038 in Manitoba and 4,214 in the Northwest Territories.
Language
Chipewyan, often simply called Dene, is the language spoken by the Chipewyan people of northwestern Canada.
Culture
The aboriginal Chipewyan were nomadic hunters. Whatever items they needed, they manufactured for themselves. The primacy in Chipewyan culture was on how to make what was needed from what was at hand and how to locate resources as they were needed. Chipewyan were nomads following the seasonal movement of the caribou. These animals were their chief source of food and of skins for clothing, tents, nets, and lines, although the Chipewyan also relied upon bison, musk oxen, moose, waterfowl, fish, and wild plants for subsistence. Chipewyan religious beliefs were based on the idea of power being given to human beings in dreams by animal spirits. Shamans, in particular, were believed to possess supernatural powers. Illness was believed to be the result of hostile, usually non-Chipewyan sorcerers. In curing ceremonies the shaman sang and danced to summon his spirit helpers. It was believed, however, that he would be successful only if his powers exceeded those of the sorcerer causing the sickness.