Editing Slavey

{{Short description|First Nation in Western Canada}}
{{About|the Canadian First Nations sometimes called the "Slave people"|the language|Slavey language|the European ethnolinguistic group|Slavs|human bondage|Slavery}}
{{use dmy dates|date=August 2024}}
{{use Canadian English|date=August 2024}}
{{Infobox ethnic group
| group = Slavey<br />(Dene Tha' & Dehcho)
| native_name      = Awokanak
| native_name_lang = [[Dene language]]
| image = Slavey girls Mackenzie River Northwest Territories - NA-1463-23.jpg
| image_caption = Slavey girls, [[Mackenzie River]], Northwest Territories
| population = 2,630 (2016 census)
| total_ref = <ref>{{Cite web|url=http://www12.statcan.gc.ca/census-recensement/2016/dp-pd/dt-td/Rp-eng.cfm?LANG=E&APATH=3&DETAIL=0&DIM=0&FL=A&FREE=0&GC=0&GID=0&GK=0&GRP=1&PID=110522&PRID=10&PTYPE=109445&S=0&SHOWALL=0&SUB=0&Temporal=2017&THEME=122&VID=0&VNAMEE=&VNAMEF=|title=Aboriginal Ancestry Responses (73), Single and Multiple Aboriginal Responses (4), Residence on or off reserve (3), Residence inside or outside Inuit Nunangat (7), Age (8A) and Sex (3) for the Population in Private Households of Canada, Provinces and Territories, 2016 Census - 25% Sample Data|publisher=Government of Canada|website=www12.statcan.gc.ca|date=25 October 2017|language=en|access-date=2017-11-23}}</ref>
| popplace = Canada ([[Northwest Territories]], [[Alberta]])
| langs = [[English language|English]], [[Slavey language|North and South Slavey language]]
| rels = [[Animism]], [[Christianity]], [[Native American Religions|Slavey Religion]]
| related = [[Sahtu|Sahtu (North Slavey)]]
}}

The '''Slavey''' (also '''Awokanak''', '''Slave''', and '''South Slavey''') are a [[First Nations in Canada|First Nations]] group of [[Indigenous peoples in Canada]]. They speak the [[Slavey language]], a part of the [[Athabaskan languages]]. Part of the [[Dene]] people, their homelands are in the [[Great Slave Lake]] region, in Canada's [[Northwest Territories]], northeastern [[British Columbia]], and northwestern [[Alberta]].

==Name==
===Cree exonym "slave"===
''Slavey'' or just ''Slave'' is a translation of Awokanak,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Slave {{!}} African-American, Abolitionists, Emancipation {{!}} Britannica |url=https://www.britannica.com/topic/Slave-people |access-date=2023-10-03 |website=www.britannica.com |language=en}}</ref> the name given to ''Dene'' by the [[Cree]] "who sometimes raided and enslaved their less aggressive northern {{sic|neighbors}}".<ref>Waldman, Carl (2006). [https://books.google.com/books?id=WxomdGVLjZ0C&pg=PA275 Facts on File Library of American History - Encyclopedia of Native American tribes]. Infobase Publishing. p. 275. {{ISBN|9781438110103}}.</ref><ref>Pritzker, Barry (2000). [https://books.google.com/books?id=uiCWatRVT0gC&pg=PA512 A Native American encyclopedia : history, culture, and peoples]. Oxford University Press. p. 512. {{ISBN|9780195138979}}.</ref><ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/north/slave-language-reclamation-1.5423252|title=Yellowknife hotel with 'slave' in name stokes conversation on reclaiming Indigenous names}}</ref> The names of the [[Slave River]], [[Lesser Slave River]], [[Great Slave Lake]], and [[Lesser Slave Lake]] all derive from this [[Cree]] name. ''Esclaves'' remains incorporated in the French names of these geographical features, since the French traded with the Cree before the English did. The people now called ''Slavey'' in English were not necessarily taken as slaves in that period.

===Dehcho autonym===
The name Slavey is seldom used by the people themselves, who call themselves ''Dene.'' Indigenous [[ethnonym]]s for South Slavey people and language are ''Dehcho'', '''''Deh Cho Dene''''' ("[[Mackenzie River]] People") or ''[[Dene Tha' First Nation|Dene Tha]]''.<ref>{{cite book |author=Rice, Sally |year=2009 |url=https://www.ualberta.ca/~srice/pubs/TSL_CH06.pdf |contribution=Athapaskan eating and drinking verbs and constructions |editor=Newman, J. |title=The Linguistics of Eating and Drinking |pages=109–152 |location=Amsterdam, NL; Philadelphia, PA |publisher=John Benjamins}} Contemporary, indigenous ethnonyms for some of the Athapaskan languages represented in this paper are given in parentheses after the term likely to be more common in the traditional linguistic and anthropological literature: Babine (Witsuwit'en), Chipewyan (Dene Sųłiné), Navajo (Diné), Sarcee / Sarsi (Tsuu T'ina) South Slavey (Dehcho or Dene Tha), North Slave (Sahtu).</ref>

Though most [[Athabaskan languages|Athabaskan]] peoples call themselves ''Dene'', those in the Northwest Territories tend to use it for their particular group specifically. However, the northern Slavey are also known in English as the [[Sahtu|Sahtú]], while the southern band are known as the Deh Cho.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.dehcho.org |title=Dehcho First Nation}}</ref>

== Groups ==
The '''South Slavey''' live in [[Northern Alberta|northwestern Alberta]], northeastern British Columbia, and the southern Northwest Territories. First Nations of South Slavey people:<ref name="Presencedenetha">[https://docs.neb-one.gc.ca/ll-eng/llisapi.dll/fetch/2000/90464/90550/90718/547178/565873/592484/593662/D-20b_-_Bouchard_-_Kennedy_-_Dene_Tha__Presence_in_Northeastern_BC.pdf?nodeid=593761&vernum=-2 Dene Tha' Presence in Northeastern BC] (Prepared by: Randy Bouchard. Prepared for: Calliou Group, Calgary, Alberta on Behalf of the Dene Tha' First Nation, 14 July 2009)</ref>
*The Fort Nelson First Nation ([[Treaty 8]])<ref>[http://www.fortnelsonfirstnation.org/ Fort Nelson First Nation]</ref> in British Columbia. Own name: Dene "the people", for language Dene k'e. Historical literature Fort Nelson Indian Band, Fort Nelson Slavey Band, Fort Nelson Indians.
*The [[Dene Tha' First Nation]] in Alberta. Own name: for people ''Dene Tha{{'}}'' or ''Dene Dháa'' "ordinary people", for language ''Dene Dháh''. Historical literature by a number of names, including the following: Upper Hay River Band; Hay Lake(s) Band; Hay River Indians; Slave Band; Slavey Indians at Hay Lake(s); Upper Hay River Post Indians; and Bistcho Lake Tribe.
*The [[Dehcho First Nations]] (also called ''Deh Cho Dene'' – "Mackenzie River Dene"<ref>Shirleen Smith 1999. [http://www.collectionscanada.gc.ca/obj/s4/f2/dsk2/ftp02/NQ39593.pdf Dene treaties, anthropology and colonial relationships]. A thesis submitted to the Faculty of Graduate Studies and Research in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy, Department of Anthropology, University of Alberta. Edmonton, Alberta, Spring 1999. [''Chapter 2. In this chapter, I use the term "Slavey" in summarizing the ethnographic descriptions of Deh Cho Dene. I should clarify that this is not the term Dene use to describe themselves. In the Deh Cho region, Dene have a number of names for their people, for example: Dene from Acho Kue refer to themselves as Acho Dene, and the "Mountain Dene" from Fort Norman (part of the Deh Cho First Nations Council) refer to themselves as the Begade Shotagotine. A much more detailed discussion of Dene names is warranted for future work.'']</ref>) in the Northwest Territories:
**[[Acho Dene Koe First Nation]] – [[Fort Liard]] (Ahcho Koe or Ahcho Kue)
**[[Deh Gáh Got'ı̨ę First Nation]] – [[Fort Providence]] (Zhahti Koe or Zhahti Kue)
**[[Jean Marie River First Nation]] (Tthe'K'ehdeli Dene) – [[Jean Marie River]] (Tthek'éhdélį or Tthek'edeli)
**[[Hay River Reserve|Katl'odeeche First Nation]] (Kátłʼodehche Dene<ref>[http://www.ssdec.nt.ca/Dictionary/dict_home2.html South Slavey Topical Dictionary Kátłʼodehche Dialect]</ref>) – [[Hay River, Northwest Territories|Hay River]] with [[Hay River Reserve]] (Xátł'odehchee)
**[[Ka'a'gee Tu First Nation]] (Ka'agee Tu Dene) – [[Kakisa]] (K'ágee)
**[[Łı́ı́dlı̨ı̨ Kų́ę́ First Nation]] (Liidli Kue Dene) – [[Fort Simpson]] (Liidli Kue)
**[[Nahɂą Dehé Dene Band]] (N'ah adehe Dene) – [[Nahanni Butte]] (Tthenáágó)
**[[Pehdzeh Ki First Nation]] (Pehdzeh Ki Dene) – [[Wrigley, Northwest Territories|Wrigley]] (Pehdzeh Ki)
**[[Sambaa K'e First Nation]] (Sambaa K'e Dene) – [[Sambaa K'e]]
**[[West Point First Nation]] – West Point (Ts'ueh Nda – Spruce Point), headquartered in Hay River
[[File:Slavey Hay River.jpg|thumb|Slavey people at [[Hay River (Canada)|Hay River]], [[North-West Territories]], in 1925]]

The Sahtu, Sahtu Dene ("[[Great Bear Lake]] People") or North Slavey people live exclusively in the Northwest Territories.  They speak the North [[Slavey language]].

The [[Navajo]] people (Diné) of the [[Four Corners]] region of the [[Southwestern United States]] are said to be descended from the [[Nahani]], who lived where the [[Nahanni National Park Reserve]] is, and also the Slavey of [[Northern Canada]].<ref>For example, the Great Canadian Parks website suggests the Navajo may be descendants of the lost Naha tribe, a [[Slavey people|Slavey]] tribe from the [[Nahanni National Park Reserve|Nahanni]] region west of Great Slave Lake. {{cite web|title=Nahanni National Park Reserve|publisher=Great Canadian Parks|url=http://canadianparks.com/northwest/nahninp/page2.htm|access-date=2007-07-02}}</ref>

==In popular culture==
Most residents of Lynx River, the fictional town in which CBC drama ''[[North of 60]]'' is set, are Slavey. Though the word itself is seldom mentioned in dialogue (band members generally identifying themselves as Dene), the town is located in Slavey territory and on one occasion a character proposes a toast before the assembled members in the Slavey language.{{Citation needed|date=November 2021}}

==Image(s)==
<gallery>
Multilingual sign for eye clinic in Yellowknife, NT.jpg|Sign for government-run eye clinic in [[Yellowknife]], with all 11 official languages of the [[Northwest Territories]] (from top to bottom: English, French, [[Chipewyan language|Chipewyan]], [[Cree language|Cree]], [[Dogrib language|Dogrib]], [[Gwichʼin language|Gwichʼin]], [[w:Inuktitut|Inuktitut]] = ''ijinniarvik'', [[Inuvialuktun]]/[[Inuinnaqtun]], North [[Slavey language|Slavey]], South Slavey)
Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre Sign.jpg|Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre, languages in order of appearance: English, South Slavey, Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib), Chipewayan, French
</gallery>

==See also==
* [[Slavey Jargon]] (Broken Slavey)

==References==
{{reflist}}

==Further reading==
* Asch, Michael. ''Slavey Indians''. S.l: s.n, 1978.

==External links==
* [http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/images/map2.jpg Map of Northwest Coast First Nations] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20121129044335/http://www.bced.gov.bc.ca/abed/images/map2.jpg |date=2012-11-29 }} (including South Slavey (Dene-Tha)
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050315115302/http://www.mnsu.edu/emuseum/cultural/northamerica/slavey.html MNSU Slavey page]
* [https://web.archive.org/web/20050223161157/http://www.calverley.ca/Part01-FirstNations/01-032.html An account of interactions between Slaveys and George Hunter]
* {{CathEncy|wstitle=Slaves}}

{{First Nations in Alberta}}

{{Authority control}}

[[Category:Dene peoples]]