The Kaska or Kaska Dena are a First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living mainly in northern British Columbia and the southeastern Yukon in Canada. The Kaska language , originally spoken by the Kaska, is an Athabaskan language.
12-647: The Kaska Dena constituted five local bands: Kaska Dena communities and First Nations include: The Kwadacha First Nation ( Fort Ware ) belongs to the Kaska Dena tribal council but consists of Sekani people. Kaska Dena also live in British Columbia communities of Fireside and Muncho Lake , between Watson Lake and Fort Nelson along the Alaska Highway . Historically the Kaska people have had
24-748: A Sekani First Nation but a member of the Kaska Dena tribal council. The area is part of the traditional territory of the Sekani -speaking people, the Kwadacha, and called Tahche in their language. In 1927, the Hudson's Bay Company (HBC) established an outpost of Fort Grahame , naming it the Whitewater trading post. It was first built in Deserters Canyon farther along Finlay River, but
36-494: A respectful relationship with the land and the environment. Kaska took part in the traditional First Nations seasonal round, following game like caribou and other seasonal food like berries. They used waterways like the Liard River and Frances River to travel from Dease Lake to Frances Lake . They also had several established bush trails for travelling. By one account, the name of the asbestos-mining ghost town Cassiar
48-503: A substantial loss of the Kaska language. Lower Post was the location of the residential school that the Kaska children had to attend until it closed in 1975. In 2005, the film One of Many by the French filmmaker Jo Béranger (original French title, Voyage en mémoires indiennes , 2004) profiled Sally Tisiga, a Kaska person, in search of her cultural identity. Fort Ware Kwadacha , also known as Fort Ware or simply Ware ,
60-610: Is an aboriginal community in northern British Columbia , Canada, located in the Rocky Mountain Trench at the confluence of the Finlay , Kwadacha and Fox Rivers, in the Rocky Mountain Trench upstream from the end of the Finlay Reach (north arm) of Williston Lake . The population is about 350. It is in the federal electoral riding of Prince George-Peace River . The community is home to Kwadacha First Nation ,
72-487: Is believed to be a variant of Kaska, the town being named for the Kaska people; by another account, the word the name Cassiar derives from is a Kaska word either for a black bird, or for the fibrous asbestos ore upon which the town was built. After colonization of Yukon , the building of the Alaska Highway, and the government's attempts at assimilation, the Kaska people have lost much of their culture. This includes
84-586: Is no cellular service. Most air service and call traffic is exchanged southward to Mackenzie and Prince George. The mountains which flank the western side of the Trench northwest from Fort Ware are the Omineca Mountains , vast subgroup of the Stikine Ranges . The nearby Muskwa-Kechika Management Area and Kwadacha Wilderness Provincial Park comprise a vast and rugged alpine region spanning
96-399: Is said to take around two weeks to traverse. A bridge has been completed across the river that lies on the south side of the village. The community has a small public airport known as Fort Ware Airport . Telephone service was installed in the community by Northwestel in early 1986, connected by satellite to the long-distance network. Dial-up internet was provisioned circa 2005. There
108-593: The District Manager of Fur Trade (1927-1932). William reportedly portaged across Canada to set up Telegraph Creek Trading Post, meeting and hunting with Louis Riel along the way. The HBC post was closed on 31 May 1953. The community of Fort Ware was relocated from its original location due to the flooding of the lower Finlay Valley by Lake Williston in the late 1960s. Some current inhabitants of Fort Ware are relocatees (and their descendants) who formerly lived at locations (such as Finlay Forks, located at
120-707: The confluence of the Finlay and Parsnip Rivers ). Before the Bennett Dam was completed on the Peace River in 1967, the combined flow of the Finlay and Parsnip were the beginning of the Peace River, but which itself is now the Peace Arm of Lake Williston . Finlay Forks was one of several native communities that were flooded out during the creation of Lake Williston (British Columbia's largest lake and one of
132-616: The world's largest man-made lakes). No provincial highways reach the community, but a logging road extends north from the Prince George region. A 70 km logging road connects the community with the Tsay Keh Dene village, whose people are closely related. Additionally there are a series of horse trails following the rocky mountain trench north, ending at the Alaska highway . These trails are not accessible by vehicle and thus
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#1732783905230144-539: Was later relocated near the meeting of Fox, Kwadacha and Finlay Rivers. It became a "full-fledged" post in 1929. The fort introduced the local Kwadacha people to its wares as well as commercial trapping, still a mainstay of life in the region and for the Kwadacha First Nation . . In 1938, the fort was renamed Fort Ware after William Ware (1872-1957). Ware had worked for HBC since 1895, rising from Chief Factor company store at Telegraph Creek in 1911 to
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