Carcross / Tagish First Nation
The Carcross / Tagish First Nation form one of the three Canadian First Nations in the Yukon , where descendants of the Northern Athabaskan counting Tagish usually live as a minority. Their traditional residential area was south of Whitehorse and extended south to northern British Columbia . They lived on the Tagish River between Tagish and Marsh Lake . Today, however, they are often culturally and linguistically one of the Tlingit (Lingit) .
The name Tagish ("the ice (of spring) breaks") refers to the sound that the first ice breaks in spring, while Carcross is the largest town in the region. It lies between Bennett and Nares Lake , between which herds of caribou passed, hence Caribou Crossing , or Carcross for short. In the Tagish it was called Todezane , but in the Tlingit it was called Natase Hin .
The Carcross / Tagish are descendants of Tagish in the hinterland and Tlingit (Lingit) families from the Pacific coast as well as Taku (T'aaku Ḵwáan) (also called Geese Flood Upriver Tribe ) from the Taku River and Auke (Aakʼw Ḵwáan) (also Small Lake Tribe called) from the Alexander Archipelago and the Alaska Panhandle from the area around today's city of Juneau to the Tagish. The natural surroundings and thus the way of life and culture of the two tribal groups differed greatly.
During the 19th and 20th centuries more and more Tlingit settled among the Tagish around Carcross , which had already been decimated by disease and wars , married into the local families and since they soon dominated the group culturally and linguistically, they called themselves and them Tagish living with them later than Tagish Ḵwáan ; Ḵwáan means in Tlingit (Lingit or Łingít) roughly "regional tribal group", they now consider themselves to be a tribal group of the Tlingit on (former) Tagish territory. The Tagish were culturally influenced by the Tlingit.
Today (September 2013), according to the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development, the Carcross / Tagish First Nation has 635 tribesmen.
language
Their language, the Tagish (Tā̀gish or Den k'e) , is one of the northern Athapaskan languages in northwest Canada and is linguistically so close to the neighboring Tahltan (Tāłtān or Dahdzege) and Kaska (Dene Zágéʼ) that some linguists claim Tahltan is a language with three divergent, but mutually understandable dialects (Mithun 1999).
Today there are only two native speakers among the 400 or so Tagish, a deaf speaker and a tribe member who is only partially able to speak Tagish, since most of them speak either Tlingit (Lingit), Southern Tutchone or today mostly Canadian English is the language extremely endangered and critically endangered.
Lucy Wren (Agaymā / Ghùch Tlâ) is considered the last Tagish (Tā̀gish or Den-k'e) spokeswoman for the Carcross / Tagish First Nation.
history
The original winter village of the Carcross / Tagish was about 5 km south of today's Carcross. Excavations have shown that people have lived here for 4,500 years.
Like many Indian groups on the northwest coast of North America, the Carcross / Tagish were divided into two Moietys , which in turn consisted of six clans - in addition, the line of succession and kinship were shaped by the matrilinearity (maternal line) . The clans of the Wolf Moiety (Gooch) were Daklaweidi (Orka) and Yanyedi (Wolf), the four clans of the Crow Moiety (or Yeitl) were called Deisheetaan (Beaver), Ganaxtedi (Raven), Ishkahittaan (Frog) and Kookhittaan (crow). Marriage was only allowed between the Moietys, not within.
These clans were of great importance to the culturally significant potlatches they hosted. So taught 1912, the last traditional potlatch - for Dawson Charlie - Skookum Jim and the Daklaweidi communities. This was already illegal, because the big celebrations had been banned by the government in 1884 (until 1951).
Each clan appointed a speaker, the Kaa Shaa du Heni (headman who stands up), who represented the clan at celebrations and consultations and had to speak there. In the past, only the men of the clans were entitled to vote, today the clan mothers play an important role. Each clan had its own symbols that were found on blankets, clothing, etc.
The Carcross / Tagish First Nation maintained numerous trails in the southern Yukon, Alaska, and northern British Columbia , including the Chilkoot Trail , one of the two main routes used by gold miners in the late 19th century . This trail has long been a trade route to the coast, with the Tagish establishing themselves as middlemen between the coastal Tlingit and the Athabaskan groups to the north and east. Dried seaweed, mussels and wooden boxes, but also the hair of mountain goats , which were used to make the traditional Chilkat blankets, and furs were important.
The harsh climatic conditions forced a nomadic way of life in the sense of annually repeating hiking cycles. In summer people went fishing with various nets and spears, with the fish being dried on large racks and stored as a reserve. Moose hunted in autumn and trapping in winter. The furs captured in this way were used for clothing, but also for barter and gifts. The women were responsible for collecting berries. In addition, numerous edible plants were used both for nutrition and for restoring health.
Dawson Charlie and Skookum Jim started the Klondike gold rush that brought tens of thousands of prospectors to the Yukon and its tributaries. Since the tribal area of the Carcross / Tagish was closest to the ports through which the bulk of the men arrived, they were also the first to be affected by the consequences. So the newcomers deforested large parts of the area around Lake Bennett to build boats and rafts to get them down the Yukon towards Dawson , and for firewood. To feed the numerous newcomers, caribou were hunted, and the Southern Lakes Caribou Herd was almost wiped out.
The local Indians worked as porters, often providing medical assistance to the newcomers, and getting many through the winter by providing food or fuel, shelter or shelter.
With the construction of the railway connection from Skagway to Whitehorse , which ended in Carcross , numerous workers reached the region. The Carcross / Tagish also negotiated with the railroad under Tagish Johns and managed to get many of them employed. The postal service to Dawson also provided jobs.
The influence of Russian missionaries from Alaska was already noticeable in the 19th century, but it was not until 1899 that the Anglican Bishop Bompas visited the southern Yukon. Gustave Johnson worked here as a lay missionary. In 1901 Bishop Bompas moved from Forty Mile near Dawson to "Caribou Crossing". There he was the first to baptize Daisy Mason, the daughter of Skookum Jim , who had been one of the initiators of the Klondike gold rush . The first school opened in 1903 in the bishop's residence, a converted roadhouse . The church was consecrated on August 8, 1904. In 1905 IO Stringer followed as bishop. Reverend J. Hawksley became the first Yukon Indian superintendent in 1914 . On July 30, 1917, the church was moved from the south side of the rapids to the other side of the Nores River .
In 1911 the Residential School opened , which all Indian children had to attend. Head was Archdeacon Canham from Fort Selkirk . Indian children were soon arriving from all over the Yukon. The public school was for whites only, so children who left the boarding-like schools did not receive any formal education.
The expansion of the Alaska Highway during the Second World War , which began in 1942, brought about an even more dramatic upheaval in living conditions . The numerous American construction workers brought in diseases to which the Indians had little resistance. Tuberculosis , in particular, was rampant, and many children were sent to Charles Camsell Hospital in Edmonton , where they were long separated from their families. Tobacco and alcohol were consumed to a considerable extent, trapping and hunting neglected, and welfare soon took the place of independent living. In addition, the Americans carried out the Partly the usual racial segregation, so that Indians and blacks got separate seats in the cinema, school and restaurant. Chief Johnny Johns tried to improve, especially he asked for land for his tribe.
In 1947 the Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development responsible for Indians established a branch in Carcross, which forced many changes. The potlatches could only be celebrated in secret and on a small scale. Only English was allowed to be spoken in the residential school, and other cultural idiosyncrasies, such as dances, were strictly prohibited. Violators were punished with fines or imprisonment, in school also with corporal punishment.
It was not until 1960 that Indians were allowed to take part in national elections for the first time, and in 1961 for the first time in the elections to the parliament of the Yukon in Whitehorse . But the leaders of the Carcross and Tagish, like Johnny Johns, did not at first know how to change their situation. So they got information from Australia and bet on the rights of the indigenous people . The Yukon Native Brotherhood and the Yukon Association of Non-status Indians (YANSI) were founded in the Yukon . The latter tried to get the tribal members not recognized by the state as Indians. These had often lost their status because they had left their tribe in search of work or because they had married non-Indians. The latter applied to women until 1985 when the corresponding passage in the Indian Act was changed. This split the Carcross / Tagish further.
The founders of the regional Indian movement were Joanie and Ted Anderson in Whitehorse. Even Elijah Smith , one of the spokesmen of Yukoners Indian Movement was, in some of the meetings in the Council for Yukon Indians present (today Coudert Residence). Smith induced Mike Smith and Dave Joe to study law to lead the lawsuits that lay ahead. The most important principle was not to accept any difference between status and non-status Indians, but to consider the Yukon Indians as a unit. In 1980, the two organizations merged accordingly to form the Council for Yukon Indians . A women's organization, the Yukon Indian's Women Association , joined these organizations in the 1970s . Anne Wally of the Kookhittaan Clan rose to be the first female chief in the 1980s.
In the 1960s, Ida Calmegane from the Deisheetaan Clan and Annie Auston from the same clan were employees of the first Indian organization to include the Yukon, the Yukon Indian advancement association . Clara Schinkel from the same clan was one of the key negotiators with the Yukon government when it came to self-government.
In 1973 a delegation led by Elijah Smith and several Yukon chiefs - including Dan Johnson of the Carcross / Tagish - presented a resolution to the Prime Minister in Ottawa . This resolution, entitled Together Today For Our Children Tomorrow , marked the beginning of the negotiation process with the government. Edi Bohmer played an important role in the complicated negotiations.
In 1984 the Nacho N'yak Dun and the Carcross / Tagish under Chief Stanley James fought against mere cash compensation for the lost land, and there should be no self-government, no hunting and fishing rights. It was not until May 29, 1993 that the first contractual agreement, an umbrella final agreement, was reached. By 2004, 11 of the 14 tribes in the Yukon had signed the treaty. The negotiations on self-government were extremely difficult. The negotiations of the Carcross / Tagish were conducted by representatives of the six clans and Chief Andy Carvill.
The South Klondike Highway was opened in 1978, the rail connection to Skagway interrupted its operations from 1982 to 1988. In 1990, however, the SS Tutshi, one of the few remaining original ships, burned down. In 1991 the railway depot became the visitor center, and in 2003 the railway started operating again in Carcross. The Carcross / Tagish built the Four Mountains Resort to participate in tourism.
archeology
The tribe manages the Tagish North-West Mounted Police Post Historic Site some 30 km east of Carcross. It was written in October 1897. 43 civil servants lived in the 15 buildings and led the operations in connection with the collection of taxes and the enforcement of state order. Many Carcross / Tagish students also took part in the archaeological excavation campaign in summer 2007.
literature
See also
- First Nations history
- List of Indian tribes recognized in Canada
- Yukon International Storytelling Festival
Web links
- Carcross / Tagish First Nation website
- Tagish page on FirstVoices, language examples
- TLINGIT TRIBES, CLANS AND CLAN HOUSES (incl.Carcross / Tagish) (PDF; 559 kB)
Remarks
- ↑ - Registered Population, Carcross / Tagish First Nations ( Memento of the original from June 10, 2015 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ First Peoples Language Map of British Columbia - Den k'e (Tagish) , archive.org, March 22, 2015.
- ↑ Kaska Language Website ( Memento of the original from February 24, 2012 in the Internet Archive ) Info: The archive link was inserted automatically and has not yet been checked. Please check the original and archive link according to the instructions and then remove this notice.
- ^ Ethnologue Languages of the World - Tagish
