Whitehorse

The Kwanlin Dün First Nation Peoples of Whitehorse

Kwanlin is our Southern Tutchone name for the canyon that carries Chu Níikwän (Shining Waters) - the Yukon River into Whitehorse. Kwanlin means “water through the canyon” and references the jade-green water rushing through the tall basalt rock columns of what is now called Miles Canyon. Dün is our word for People.

The landscape of the Traditional Territory of the Kwanlin Dün First Nation is full of our origin histories. It tells of a time when glaciers and large lakes covered the area and speaks of how our people came to live here. This was the homeland of the original people of this place – the Tagish Kwan.

Our great grandparents saw tens of thousands of stampeders arrive during the 1898 gold rush and they participated in the establishment of new settlements including Whitehorse. Our grandparents saw many of our foot-trails merged into the Alaska Highway and other roadways during World War II. After the war our parents fought for our right to vote, hold land title and educate our own children. Building on the ideas of our forbears, we signed our Self-Government and Land Claims Final Agreements in 2005.

Kwanlin Dün First Nation is now the largest landowner in Whitehorse. As an urban Self-Governing Nation we are thriving, working with our neighbours to create a sustainable, healthy and culturally rich environment for our children and future generations.

Our home is alive with history and we invite you to share in its beauty!

The Ta’an Kwäch’än Council Peoples of Whitehorse

Greetings from the Ta’an Kwäch’än. We are the people of the big lake north of Whitehorse. We call it Ta’an Män – the famed “marge of Lake LeBarge” in Robert Service’s poem. We have lived beside its sparkling waters for countless generations. We remain a land-based people to this day. While our headquarters are in Whitehorse, some of our citizens live at the small Jackfish Bay village on the south end of the lake and nearby is Helen’s Fish Camp where we hold gatherings for our whole nation.

Our timeless connections to this region are being revealed in new ways as melting ice patches in the southern Yukon yield Ice Age artifacts. We participate in ongoing studies by scientists, connecting our oral traditions to the hunting implements exposed as glacial ice melts with rapidly warming temperatures. Beautifully crafted atlatl shafts, spear points and arrowheads provide concrete evidence of our ancestors’ skills and artistry. Their life as hunter-gatherers evolved as the landscape, animals and plants changed over time. Until the advent of the Klondike Gold Rush in the 1890s, our lifeways remained the same. We still continue to follow a seasonal round of activities rooted in time-tested and shared knowledge of places and resources. 

Today as a self-governing First Nation, we mix contemporary work with our traditional harvesting skills to make a living. We invest in businesses and service industries, and participate in joint management projects with government to protect heritage and wildlife. A Southern Tutchone Ta’an Dialect Language app is available for download on Google Play for Android devices; iPhone and iPad users can download it from the App Store. Enjoy your stay in Ta’an traditional territory.

Kwanlin looked pretty different then

My Daddy brought me and my brother up here to Kwanlin – this canyon – in 1939, in June month. It looked pretty different back then before the dam. I was about five years old. He tell us the story right here about people coming through way back in 1898, white people. They had to bring all their supplies – rice, flour and sugar in sacks. No stores back then. My Daddy talk to us in Southern Tutchone language. He was born at Fish Lake. We were cutting wood over by the railroad for George Ryder – wood for the steamboats and heating people’s homes in Whitehorse. - ljàyaà Tā.

Elder Louie Smith

I've seen many changes

I attended residential school for eight years but never forgot my language. Later I taught Southern Tutchone in schools. I’ve seen many changes in Whitehorse. In the 1940s there were wooden sidewalks, a few small stores, cafés, hotels, the Old Log Church, RCMP detachment, school and hospital. There weren’t many cars – mainly steamboats, dog teams, bush planes and the train. My grandfather, Frankie Jim, supplied wood for the steamboats. I learned our traditional ways from my grandparents at summer fish camps. I still teach children to catch and dry salmon, passing down our ways as they were passed on to me.

Nakhela, Hazel Bunbury Elder