Dunne-za

DUNNE-ZA  () , formerly known to outsiders as the Beaver, are an ATHABASCAN-speaking FIRST NATIONS people living in the boreal forest of the PEACE R drainage in northeast BC and neighbouring Alberta. Dunne-za means "real people." At contact with Europeans they lived in nomadic hunting groups consisting of 2 or more related families. The group size was flexible, changing according to the availability of food supplies. Groups congregated during the year for socializing and ceremonies. Unlike most other northern hunters, the Dunne-za used horses. They depended for subsistence on fish and large game: MOOSE, wood bison, ELK, CARIBOU and DEER. They ate the meat of the animals and used the hides and bones for clothing, tenting and utensils. European trade goods began reaching the Dunne-za early in the 18th century through trade with neighbouring groups. Direct contact began with the establishment of trading posts on the upper Peace R by the NORTH WEST CO in the 1790s. At contact the population may have been 1,000 people but this number declined sharply due to disease and other factors, reaching a low of less than 300 people. The population recovered and by the late 1990s was estimated to be approximately what it was at contact. FUR TRADERS were followed by gold-seekers who passed through Dunne-za territory at the end of the 19th century on their way to the Klondike (see GOLD RUSHES). The encroachment of outsiders worried the Dunne-za; in the hopes of protecting their lands they signed TREATY NO 8, which the federal government negotiated with Peace R aboriginal groups between 1899 and 1910. The treaty created RESERVES where the people subsequently tended to congregate. With the construction of the ALASKA HWY and the development of the FOREST INDUSTRY and the OIL AND GAS INDUSTRY, the Dunne-za became involved in the wage economy, though trapping and hunting continued to be important. Communities include HALFWAY RIVER, PROPHET RIVER, DOIG RIVER and BLUEBERRY RIVER. Dunne-za have a complex spiritual life based on the solitary vision quest and the interpretation of dreams. Prophets are special dreamers who use their knowledge to advise the group.