Champagne and Aishihik First Nations

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The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations (CAFN) together form one of the three Canadian First Nations in the Yukon of the Southern Tutchone .

First Nations Information Center. There is a permanent exhibition on the history and culture of the two tribes.

Its name is derived from two important historical settlements around Champagne Landing 10 ( Shadhäla or Shadhäla-Rą ) on the Dezadeash River , a tributary of the Alsek River, and around Aishihik ( Äshèyi , largely uninhabited today) on the north bank of Aishihik Lake , from which the Aishihik River springs from. Most of them, however, now live in the administrative headquarters of Haines Junction ( Dakwäkäda ), some also around Klukshu ( Łu Ghą ); many tribal members also reside in Whitehorse , the territory's capital.

Their traditional area extends in the drainage area of ​​the Yukon River to the northwest of British Columbia , where 12,000 of the 41,000 km² of their area were. Places that were once inhabited by Southern Tutchone, such as Kloo Lake ( K'üà Män ), Klukshu ( Łu Ghą , seasonal traditional fish camp ), Canyon, Dalton Post ( Shäwshe or Shäwshe-Neskatin , former trading post of Southern Tutchone on the Tatshenshini River ), Hutshi / Hutchi Lakes ( Chu Yäna Mǟn ), Kusawa and Takhini (both Nakhū ) are mostly uninhabited today or are only visited seasonally or for traditional / cultural reasons.

The Department of Indian Affairs and Northern Development counted exactly 550 members of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations in 2001. The Aboriginal Portal Canada gives 729 tribesmen. The tribe itself indicates the number of members in June 2014 as 1,257.

The chief is Diane Strand, and Kathy Van Bibber is one of the six councilors.

The two tribes - the Kwächä̀l Kwächʼǟn ("Champagne First Nation") and the Äshèyi Kwächʼǟn ("Aishihik First Nation") - were among the first First Nations in 1993 to sign a land rights treaty with the Yukon territory. In addition, descendants of the Chu ʼEna kwächʼǟn / Chu Yena kwächʼǟn ("Hutchi / Hutshi Lakes Volk"), the Łughą Kwächʼǟn ("Klukshu Volk") and Łuchʼǟn ("Dalton Post Volk"), the Titlʼàt kwächʼǟn River ("Dezadeashi Lakes Volk") most of them settled in Shadhäla ("Champagne"), officially part of the "Champagne First Nation" and are not counted separately as a separate First Nation.

Linguistically and culturally, like the closely related Northern Tutchons living north of them, they belong to the Northern Athabasques ; their language (sometimes only considered as a dialect / variety) the Southern Tutchone or Dän kʼè belongs to the northern Athabaskan languages , whereby they speak the Aishihik and Klukshu dialects (or subdialects).

history

Early history

The earliest livelihoods are likely to have been the caribou herds , but also moose , sheep and marmots , as well as hares and Alaska piping hares . There were also birds and fish, especially salmon . The harsh climate required a semi-nomadic life, with families gathering in spring and summer camps to fish, but also in the short fall to hunt.

Possibly they took over plank houses from their trading partners, the Tlingit , especially the Chilkat, who mainly traded furs. But most of them lived in shelters made of twigs, branches and furs. The clothing was also adapted to the climate.

Shamans excelled as healers and were responsible for making contact with spiritual powers. They also helped to find hunting prey.

From the end of the Ice Age to 5000 BC Chr.

People lived in what is now the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations for more than 10,000 years. The oldest find is a caribou antler tool that dates back to 9300 BC. BC could be dated. The hunters of the time followed woolly mammoths , bison and horses , which later became extinct.

Around 8000 BC Most of the glaciers had melted in the 4th century BC, but numerous lakes covered the region for two millennia. Forests were slow to reestablish themselves. The oldest tool tradition of the Yukon is called Northern Cordilleran , a mountain region in northern British Columbia , after its first place of discovery . The stone projectile points were quite large, the tools were obtained from coarse stones, plus a burin. The residents were extremely mobile and carried very little with them.

Microblades, 5000 to 3000 BC Chr.

Around 5000 BC The massive tools were replaced by composite tools in which bones, antlers and, above all, very small blades (microblades) were put together to make tools.

Notched tips

Around 3000 BC The technology of tool manufacture changed. The microblades disappeared and were replaced by side-notched spearheads and a wide range of scratches. For the first time, the seasonal migration based on fishing can be proven. The annual spawning courses of the salmon were established. This phase is known as the Northern Archaic tradition .

Volcanic eruptions in the White River area and the late prehistoric period (approx. 100–1750)

The region of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations is characterized by strong volcanism. In the White River area , near the Alaska-Yukon border, two of the largest volcanic explosions occurred around AD 100 and around AD 800. The second catastrophe with enormous ash showers, which probably brought life in the region almost to extinction, was followed by the phase called Late Prehistoric .

For the first time copper was processed, a material that was widely traded from the White River area. It was made into tools such as awls and arrowheads, but also into jewelry. The bow and arrow may be traced back to the influence of the Eskimos .

Obsidian came from the St. Elias Mountains , for example , red and gold agates and white chalcedony came from the area of Carmacks and from Mount Nansen further to the west, the southern Tutchone traded in various types of stone.

On August 14, 1999, an approximately 160 to 340 year old corpse was discovered, which was slagging out of a glacier in Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Wilderness Park . The corpse of the probably frozen, about 20-year-old man, who was also called the "Canadian ice cream man" (analogous to Ötzi ), and who was soon named Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchį (Long Ago Person found) - from South Tutchone for example: "Person found a long time ago" - and related artifacts, such as a carved stick, a hat made of wood fiber and an atlatl , plus a leather bag with edible leaves and remains of a fish, were brought to Whitehorse . He was accompanied by representatives of the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations, in whose traditional area the find was made. The BC Iceman , the British Columbia ice cream man, has also been genetically examined. 240 First Nations people had their genes compared and it was found that 19 of them were related to the dead, 17 of them from the Wolfs clan.

First Europeans and Klondike gold rush

Europeans and Tlingit encouraged winter hunting, so that the periods of common settlement among the two Tutchone tribes became shorter. This in turn promoted the dispersal of families. The area of ​​the two tribes was one of the few that had not yet been visited by Europeans, because this was prevented by the Tlingit, especially the Chilkat. Further north, the Chilkoot destroyed a Hudson's Bay Company trading post in 1852 to protect their trading monopoly. Therefore, only a few gold prospectors came to the region. In return, the Chilkat provided edible seaweed, baskets made of wood fiber, shells from which jewelry could be made, slaves, but also European goods and the coveted fat of the candle fish (eulachon).

This situation changed with the Klondike Gold Rush from 1896. Now came more than 100,000 whites in the region, but the Chilkoot and Chilkat now monopolized by their passports, which are the only additions to the coast to Dawson represented, the works that were incurred for themselves . So only they worked as porters.

But as early as 1901, the Indians made up just over 10% of the Yukon's population. The Canadian government had not only succeeded in maintaining state authority over the gold rush masses, but it was also increasingly gaining it over the Indians. Missionaries also contributed.

Alaska Highway, Land Claims and Self-Government

Haines Junction was built in 1942 with the construction of the Alaska Highway and served as a supply warehouse for up to 20,000 road workers. From 1943, the Haines Highway was created, often along old trade routes, which connects the Alaska Highway with the Alaskan Haines via the Chilkat Pass.

The Kluane Game Sanctuary was set up in order to protect the wild population from the hunters who came to the region with the road construction, from which the 22,015 km² Kluane National Park emerged in 1972 (pronunciation: Klu-ah-nii). Its name is derived from Lu'An Mün, a Tutchone word that means "lake with many fish". The park administration is located in Haines Junction, and the place has thus become the main entry point into the national park.

The struggle between the two tribes for their territory began in 1973 with a program by Elijah Smith called Together Today for our Children Tomorrow , which he presented to Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau. Dave Joe was the chief negotiator of the Yukon Indians , later the Council of Yukon First Nations . Harry Allen and Dorothy Wabisca, as well as Chief Paul Birckel, were also of great importance.

In 1993 there was a first agreement with four tribes, including the Champagne and Aishihik, who have since owned an area of ​​2,427 km². The Champagne and Aishihik First Nations have co-managed the park since 1995, which also applies to the Tatshenshini-Alsek Provincial Park to the south .

Nine of the eleven member tribes of the Council of Yukon First Nations (CYFN) have now signed contracts on land claims and self-government. Most of the government's tasks have since been in their hands.

Current situation

In 1998 the tribe passed their first laws on income tax and fishing. They have been fully valid since January 1st, 1999. Some of the Indians are going back to their traditional hunting and fishing activities in order to secure their livelihood, which was forbidden to them for around fifty years.

On February 4, 2009, representatives of the First Nation and the Yukon government signed a contract that provides for bicultural teaching in kindergartens, which means that Euro-Canadian and Indian cultures should be given equal consideration. A corresponding curriculum is currently being developed for schools, which is intended to expressly encourage the use of southern Tutchone. In autumn 2009 a corresponding lesson will begin at the "St. Elias School" in Haines Junction. Since 2008, administrative employees have been trained in cooperation with Yukon College according to the needs of the First Nation. The number of participants in training in March 2009 was 30.

A cultural center should be completed by 2011.

literature

  • Catharine McClellan, "Tutchone", in: Handbook of North American Indians, Vol. 6, Subarctic, Ed. June Helm, Washington, DC: Smithsonian Institution 1981, 493-505.

See also

Web links

Remarks

  1. ↑ A HANDBOOK OF EDUCATION OF YUKON FIRST NATIONS EDUCATION RESOURCES FOR PUBLIC SCHOOLS 2013/2014 (PDF)
  2. ↑ Champagne and Aishihik First Nations ( Memento of the original from April 29, 2009 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. , of which 205 were registered as Indians, 345 were not.  @1@ 2Template: Webachiv / IABot / pse5-esd5.ainc-inac.gc.ca
  3. ↑ CAFN Annual Report (pdf)
  4. ^ KD West, JD Donaldson: Evidence for winter eruption of the White River Ash (eastern lobe), Yukon Territory, Canada . Abstract, 2000 ( Memento of April 8, 2009 in the Internet Archive ).
  5. ↑ Kwäday Dän Ts'ìnchi - "Long Ago Person Found" , in: The Genetic Genealogist, April 27th 2008
  6. ^ Maria Victoria Monsalve and Anne C. Stonemt: DNA Lineage Analysis: Genetic Affinities of the Kwäday Dän Ts'inchi Remains with Other Native Americans , in: Center for archaeological investigations 32 (2005) 9-21, ISBN 0-88104-089- 4 .