The Subarctic People - Groups in this Region

Subarctic People

Environment / Housing

Food / Hunting / Tools

Transportation / Migration

Religion / Ceremonies / Art / Clothing

Family / Social Structure / Leadership

Tribal Relations / War

Location

The Subarctic people occupied a majority of Canada from the Yukon to Newfoundland, including parts of seven provinces and two territories.

Population

The density of the Subarctic human population was among the lowest in the world. The entire area probably had as few as 60 000 people. Weather changes were extreme and game animals depended on seasons and were scarce, making life hard for many.

Nations

Gwich'in, Han and Tutchone in the Yukon; the Tagish, Tahltan, Kaska, Sekani and Dene (Yellowknife, Dogrib, Hare, Mountain, Slavey, Chipewyan, Beaver, Sarcee) in the northwest; the Tsetsaut; the Inland Tlingit; the Cree, Ojibwa, Saulteaux, Attikamek and Innu in the East.
Note: Information on the Sarcee, Cree and Saulteaux can be found in the Plains People section. Information on the Tlingit can be found in the Northwest Coastal People section.

Languages

Algonquian was spoken by the Eastern Subarctic groups like the Innu, the Attikamek, the Cree and the Saulteaux.
- While their languages were unique, they showed similarities to the Cree language division of Algonquian language.
- The Northern Ojibwa speak Ojibwa, another Algonquian language.
The people of the Western Subarctic speak Athapascan. Examples: the Tutchone, Gwich'in (formerly Kutchin), the Han, the Dene, the Tagish, the Tahltan, the Tsetsaut, the Kaska and the Sekani.
- Some dialects were highly unique and hard to understand.
- There were more than 20 different versions of Northern Athapakan languages spoken.

Map Source - The Canadian Encyclopedia

Notes about the map:
Beothuk was a First Peoples group that went extinct, therefore they are not included in the information.

The Dene
The Dene occupied the northern fringe of the boreal forest and the tundra from the Seal River to Great Slave Lake.
The Dogrib		Dogrib People
Name	The Dogrib, a Dene people, got their name from a Cree term for Athapascan speakers.
Location	Their lands lay east of the Mackenzie River between Great Slave Lake and Great Bear Lake in the NWT
Language	Athapascan
Hare		Hare Indian dog
Name	Their name was given them by Europeans because of their dependence on the snowshoe hare for food and clothing.
Location	They lived along the Mackenzie River valley of the Northwest Territories.
Language	Athapascan
Mountain		Mackenzie Mountain
Name	Their name comes from their location beside the Mackenzie Mountains.
Location	The Mountain Indians lived between the Mackenzie Mountains and the Mackenzie River, from the Redstone River to the Mountain River.
Language	Athapascan
The Slavey		Slavey People
Name	The term Slavey was a Cree word meaning captive or, as a missionary Father Petitot indicated, timidity.
Location	Slavey (Slave) were a major Dene group in the boreal forest region of the western Canadian Subarctic. Their mountainous land extended along the Slave, Athabasca and Mackenzie rivers south from Fort Nelson, BC, on the west and from the Hay Lakes region of Alberta on the east, north to a region near Tulita and the south shore of Great Bear Lake in the Northwest Territories.
Language	Athapascan They were related linguistically and culturally to the Hare, Gwitch’in, and Dogrib.
The Beaver		Beaver People
Location	The Beaver, lived just south of the Slavey people, along the Peace River.
Language	Athapascan
Chipewyan		Chipewyan Hunters
Name	Chipewyan is a term of Cree meaning "pointed skins," but the group used more specific names in their communities. The Chipewyan have also been called Caribou Eaters and Mountainees.
Location	The Chipewyan lived in the northern portions of Manitoba, Saskatchewan, Alberta and the southern part of the NWT.
Language	Athapascan
Peoples	The Yellowknives Indians were absorbed into the Chipewyan Indians.

Tagish
Name	Their name means "it (spring ice) is breaking up" in their language.	A Tagish man with his dogsled
Location	They lived around the Tagish Lask and Marsh Lake in the Yukon.
Language	Athapascan

Tahltan
Location	They lived in the drainage basin of the Stikine River.	A Tahltan-Tlingit sculpture of their raven story
Language	Athapascan

Kaska
Location	They lived in the mountainous region drained by the Liard River in southern Yukon and Northern BC.	Liard River in BC
Language	Athapascan

Sekani
Name	They were "people of the rocks or mountains".	Bark lodge of the Sekani Indians
Location	They lived in the Finlay and Parsnip River drainages of the Rocky Mountain Trench. They diverged from the Beaver in the late 18th century.
Language	Athapascan

Tsetsaut
Name	Their name was given to them by another tribe (the Gitksan); it is a Tsimshian word meaning "people of the interior".	Portland canal
Location	They mostly inhabited the area of the Portland Canal. They were a large tribe but were almost exterminated by other tribes (including the Tahltan) around 1830. Since then they have been assimilated into other tribes.
Language	Athapascan - there are no longer any speakers of their Tsetsaut dialect of Athapascan.
Population	In 1830 there were 500 of them; by 1895 there were only 12.

Gwich'in
Cool Fact	Gwich'in knowledge of their environment was extensive; one anthropologist recorded 400 Gwich'in names for plants and animals.	Gwich'in Hunters
Location	The Gwich'in (formerly Kutchin), were the northernmost of all North American Indians, and occupied the land located primarily North of the Arctic Circle and extending across the Mackenzie drainage and northern tributaries of the Yukon River into northwest Alaska, bordering Inuit land.
Language	Athapascan Their language is incomprehensible to all others, except the Han.

Han
Location	The Han territory started at the Yukon-Alaska boundary, extending along the Yukon River from about 20 km south of Dawson northward to about 50 km south of Circle, Alaska	Yukon River
Language	Athapascan Like many others, their speech was distinct and understood by few.

Tutchones
Location	The Tutchones lived at the plateau located by the Alsek and Yukon River headwaters. Their southwest territories straddled the Coastal and St. Elias mountains and on the northeast, the Selwyn range.	Ogilvie Mountains, Yukon
Language	Athapascan

Northern Ojibwa
Location	The Northern Ojibwa, who formed their own nation when the Ojibwa split between 1680 and 1800, occupied Northern Ontario along with some Cree tribes.	Northern Ontario
Language	Algonquian - Objibway

Attikamek
Name	Also called Tête-de-Boule.	Bouclier Region, Quebec
Location	Their land, in the Bouclier region of Upper St. Maurice Rivière in Québec, was about 7000 km²
Language	Algonquian
Peoples	The Attikamek or Tête-de-Boule had two major bands, the Kikendatch and the Weymontachie.
Population	There were about 500 to 550 Attikameks back in the 1700s.

The Innu People
Name	The Innu- or ‘the people’- were called the Montagnais (French for Mountains) and the Naskapi by other people. Their own name was 'Mushua Innuts', which means ‘Barren Land People.’	Innu People
Location	The Innu People inhabited eastern Quebec and Labrador.
Language	Algonquian