The Yellowknives , Yellow Knives , Copper Indians , Red Knives or T'atsaot'ine (Wíílíídeh dialect: Tetsǫ́t'ınę ) are indigenous peoples of Canada , one of the five main groups of the First Nations Dene who live in the Northwest Territories . The name, which is also the source for the later community of Yellowknife , derives from the colour of the tools made from copper deposits.
20-702: Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve (from the Dene , this Chipewyan name means land of our ancestors ) is a national park in the vicinity of the east arm of Great Slave Lake , located on the northern edge of the boreal forest of Canada in the North Slave Region of the Northwest Territories . It is administered by Parks Canada and is part of the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area, which also includes Territorial Protected Area and
40-493: A Memorandum of Understanding which expanded the land withdrawal area for consideration for the national park by an additional 26,350 km (10,170 sq mi) and defined a process for working together on matters pertaining to establishing a national park. Originally expected to be designated in 2009, by 2014 the negotiations still had yet to be finalized. By 2014, the government of the Northwest Territories through
60-687: A Wildlife Conservation Area administered by the Government of the Northwest Territories . The National Park Reserve covers 14,070 km2 of nationally significant boreal forest, tundra, and freshwater ecosystems. The creation of Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve works to protect caribou and pelt animals such as " lynx , wolf , red fox , wolverine , marten , moose and black bear ". Other mammals inhabiting this park reserve include Arctic fox , beaver , muskox , grizzly bear and barren-ground caribou . The area features red granite cliffs, as well as "a spectacular array of peninsulas, canyons and waterfalls as
80-570: A feasibility study proceeded from 2002 to 2004, which drew the inclusion of the Métis Nation to the process. By 2005, the Łutselk'e produced a Band Council Resolution "supporting consideration of a national park as part of a broader protection initiative for their traditional territory", in cooperation with other Akaitcho First Nations. In 2006, the Łutselk'e Dene First Nation and the Minister of Environment and Minister Responsible for Parks Canada signed
100-545: A hand in mining and trading for tools. Later European explorers who encountered and traded with Copper Indians marked on their maps the 'Yellowknife River,' which drains into Great Slave Lake from headwaters originating near the headwaters of the Coppermine River, a traditional travel corridor. In the early 1800s and 1900s, the Yellowknives were the largest and most powerful tribe in the geographic area. The Yellowknives and
120-596: A land claim settlement for their lands as part of the Akaitcho Land Claim Process. Chief Snuff of the Yellowknives signed Treaty 8 in 1899. Chief Snuff lived on the south shore and east arm of Great Slave Lake. The people who lived on the Taltson River were dubbed the Rocher River People in the 1920s. Chief Snuff had a cabin located about ten miles from Rocher River on a little piece of land beside
140-400: A wildlife conservation area. Dene The Dene people ( / ˈ d ɛ n eɪ / ) are an Indigenous group of First Nations who inhabit the northern boreal , subarctic and Arctic regions of Canada. The Dene speak Northern Athabaskan languages and it is the common Athabaskan word for "people". The term "Dene" has two uses: Dene are spread through a wide region. They live in
160-639: Is spoken by 89% of the residents. Yellowknives The historic Yellowknive tribe lived north and northeast of the Great Slave Lake ( Tinde'e - "Great Lake") around the Yellowknife River and Yellowknife Bay ( Wíílíídeh cho - " Inconnu River") and northward along the Coppermine River , northeast to the Back River ( Thlewechodyeth or Thlew-ee-choh-desseth - "Great Fish River") and east to
180-403: The Government of the Northwest Territories , and three First Nations (Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation, Deninu K'ue First Nation, and Yellowknives Dene First Nation) establishing a protected area consisting of a 14,305 km (5,523 sq mi) national park administered by Parks Canada, and a 12,220 km (4,720 sq mi) area administered by the territorial government that includes
200-538: The Northwest Territories Devolution Act took administrative control of the 33,690 km (13,010 sq mi) park study area, and by the following year initiated a "matrix of protected area designations" that included a scaled-down National Park Reserve of 14,000 km (5,400 sq mi) in combination with a range of territorial designations, conserving 75 percent of the 33,690 km (13,010 sq mi) area. Public consultations on
220-588: The Thelon River . They used the major rivers of their traditional land as routes for travel and trade as far east as Hudson Bay , where early European explorers such as Samuel Hearne encountered them in the 1770s. The Yellowknives helped lead Hearne through the Canadian Arctic tundra from Hudson Bay to the Arctic Ocean in search of the legendary copper deposits that the Yellowknives, or 'Copper Indians', had
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#1732873010234240-612: The Tłı̨chǫ (Dogrib), who also lived on the north shores of Great Slave Lake, were ancestral enemies. In the 1830s it was reported that the Dogrib almost wiped out the Yellowknives, the remnants of which - although opinions vary - either scattered south of Great Slave Lake or inter-married with the Dogrib. Following the discovery of gold in the Yellowknife area, a great mix of Dogrib, Chipewyan , and remnant Yellowknife members congregated and settled in
260-536: The Dene People decided to join the Unrepresented Nations and Peoples Organization (UNPO) seeking recognition for their ancestral cultural and land rights. The largest population of Chipewyan language (Dënesųłinë́ or Dëne) speakers live in the northern Saskatchewan village of La Loche and the adjoining Clearwater River Dene Nation . In 2011 the combined population was 3389 people. The Dënesųłinë́ language
280-589: The Dene and the Inuit . In 1996, Dene and Inuit representatives participated in a healing ceremony at Bloody Falls to reconcile the centuries-old grievances. Behchokǫ̀ , Northwest Territories is the largest Dene community in Canada. The Dene include six main groups: Although the above-named groups are what the term "Dene" usually refers to in modern usage, other groups who consider themselves Dene include: In 2005, elders from
300-515: The Mackenzie Valley (south of the Inuvialuit ), and can be found west of Nunavut . Their homeland reaches to western Yukon , and the northern part of British Columbia , Alberta , Saskatchewan , Manitoba , Alaska and the southwestern United States. Dene were the first people to settle in what is now the Northwest Territories . In northern Canada, historically there were ethnic feuds between
320-504: The NWTMN and Parks Canada . The Government of Canada announced its proposed boundary for a national park reserve in the Thaidene Nene area on July 29, 2015 and launched formal consultations on the boundary. On February 15, 2019, the Łutselk'e Dene First Nation voted to approve the creation of Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve. On 21 August 2019, an agreement was signed by Parks Canada ,
340-438: The community or within the traditional villages of Dettah or Trout Rock. With government funding, the Dene village of Ndilǫ was developed in the mid 1950s on the tip of Latham Island (the northern point of Yellowknife's Old Town). The Yellowknives Dene First Nation was formed in 1991 (formerly known as Yellowknife B Band) following the collapse of a territorial-wide comprehensive land claim negotiation. They currently negotiate
360-479: The forests give way to northern tundra". Various migratory bird species also stage and nest in the area, including ducks and songbirds . Consideration for the creation a 7,340 km (2,830 sq mi) national park in the region was withdrawn in 1970 under the Territorial Lands Act , but in 2001 the Łutsël K'é Dene First Nation (previously Snowdrift) re-considered the proposal. Consultations for
380-579: The smaller proposed boundaries finished in 2016. The federal government's 2016 budget named the Thaidene Nene proposal in its allocation of funds to help the National Park Reserve to realization. On June 10, 2015, Parks Canada and the Northwest Territory Métis Nation negotiators reached an agreement in principle on most elements of an Impact and Benefit Agreement . The agreement is subject to internal review and consultation by both
400-531: The water, called Snuff Channel, connected to the Taltson River. The Yellowknives continued to reside in this area until the early 1960s, when they were forced to relocate after their schoolhouse was burned down in a fire. Shortly after, the Taltson River hydro dam was built. The last chief of the Rocher River Yellowknives was Chief Pierre Frise in the 1960s; he was strongly opposed to the building of
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