Dakelh

Dakelh

Communities living within the Dakelh language area
Regions with significant populations
Canada (British Columbia)
Languages
English, Dakelh
Religion
Animism
Related ethnic groups
Other Dene peoples Especially Wet'suwet'en, Babine, Tsilhqotʼin, and Sekani

The Dakelh (pronounced [tákʰɛɬ]) or Carrier are a First Nations Indigenous people living a large portion of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada. The Dakelh also call themselves Yinka Dene ("the people on the land"), and the Babine-Witsuwitʼen-speaking bands prefer the equivalent Yinka Whut'en ("the people on the land").^[1]

The Dakelh people are a First Nations people of the Central Interior of British Columbia, Canada, for whom Carrier has been a common English name derived from French explorers naming of the people. Dakelh people speak two related languages. One, Babine-Witsuwit'en is sometimes referred to as Northern Carrier. The other includes what are sometimes referred to as Central Carrier and Southern Carrier. They speak Witsuwitʼen or Babine/Nedut'en, dialects of the Babine-Witsuwitʼen language which, like its sister Dakelh language, is a part of the Central British Columbia branch of the Northern Athabaskan languages. They belong to the Northern Athabascan or Dene peoples (Dené is the common Athabaskan word for "people").