SLAVEY (Etchareottine)

Among the Athapascan-speaking peoples of Canada’s north country was a tribe known as the Slavey, pronounced SLAY-vee, or Slave. The name is the translation of Awokanek, given to them by the CREE, traditional enemies who sometimes raided and enslaved their less aggressive northern neighbors. The Slavey thought of the Cree as Enna, “the enemy.” Another name for the Slavey, bestowed by the CHIPEWYAN is Etchareottine, thought to mean “ ’people dwelling in the shelter” or “people sheltered by willows.” Etchaottine, an alternate spelling, is generally applied to one of the Slavey subtribes. Like other Athapascans, the Slavey referred to themselves as Tinneh or Dine for “the people.” The Slavey occupied territory west of the Great Slave Lake and Mackenzie River as far as the Rocky Mountains, along the southwestern tributaries of the Mackenzie, including the Hay, Liard, and Nelson Rivers, in Canada’s present-day Northwest Territories, Alberta, and British Columbia.

Like other SUBARCTIC INDIANS, the nomadic Slavey were organized as a number of independent and loosely knit bands, some having a headman with limited authority, which might increase in times of war. An informal council of hunters typically settled disputes. The Slavey are reported to have treated women and the elderly with greater respect than other northern Athapascans did. For the first year or more after marriage, husbands were required to obtain food for their parents-in-law. Moose, caribou, and smaller game were tracked. Fish were equally important to the diet. Berries were another staple food. Slavey winter dwellings consisted of low, tent-shaped wooden huts, chinked and covered with earth or moss. Summer dwellings were small conical tents covered with animal hides, brush, or bark. Sometimes two of these lodges were placed side by side so that two families could share a fire. For transportation, tribal members used showshoes, toboggans, and canoes covered in birch or spruce bark and sometimes moosehide.

The Slavey believed in guardian spirits. Shamans supposedly had the most powerful spirits of all. The dying confessed their sins to the shamans and family members, a practice thought to delay death. An important ceremony was the Drum Dance, performed when a tribal member returned or visitors arrived. Instruments included plank drums, tambourine drums, and rattles made of skin. One of the drummers began the ceremony with a speech presenting the reason for the event and a song asking for help in the performance. The ceremony, lasting from hours to days, had a number of specific dances—the Rabbit Dance, Tea Dance, Round Dance (a religious ceremony just for the drummers), and a performance by a single singer/drummer.

In the early 18th century, the Slavey were driven north by the Cree, some of them taking refuge on the islands in the Great Slave Lake. Alexander Mackenzie, exploring for the North West Company, was the first known non-Indian to have contact with them, in 1789. Hudson’s Bay Company traders and missionaries soon arrived in their homeland. In the first part of the 19th century, some Slavey merged with DOGRIB and HARE (kawchotTINE) around Great Bear Lake, becoming known as Sahtu Dene, or Bear Lake Indians. They provided furs to Hudson’s Bay Company traders at Fort Franklin, founded in 1825.

Contemporary Slavey groups include the Dene Tha’ Tribe in Alberta; the Fort Nelson and Prophet River First Nations in British Columbia; and the Fort Liard, Fort Norman, Fort Providence, Fort Simpson, Fort Wrigley, and Hay River First Nations in the Northwest Territories.