Sekani in Canada

Introduction / History

The Sekani — whose name in their own language, Tsek'ene Dene, means "people of the rocks" — are an Athapaskan-speaking First Nation of north-central British Columbia. Their ancestral territory stretched across the eastern and western slopes of the Rocky Mountains, centering on the Finlay and Parsnip tributaries of the Peace River in what is now the Northern Interior of the province. Today the Sekani are represented by three bands: the Kwadacha Nation, located at the confluence of the Fox, Kwadacha, and Finlay Rivers; the Tsay Keh Dene Nation, situated at the northern tip of Williston Lake; and the McLeod Lake Indian Band, located south along the historic fur trade corridor. Their language, Sekani, belongs to the Athapaskan language family and is mutually intelligible with Dane-zaa (Beaver).

First European contact came in 1793 when explorer Alexander Mackenzie encountered the Sekani while navigating the Parsnip River. The fur trade that followed drew the Sekani into sustained contact with European traders and missionaries. Roman Catholic missionaries arrived in the region in the 1870s, and by the early twentieth century the great majority of Sekani people had been baptized into the Catholic faith. The Omineca gold rush of the 1860s devastated the community through disease and conflict. Later, the construction of the W.A.C. Bennett Dam in the 1960s flooded vast tracts of Sekani homeland, submerging traditional hunting grounds, fishing sites, and burial places beneath the waters of the Williston Reservoir, forcing entire communities to relocate — some more than once. Decades of legal struggle eventually produced a settlement with the provincial government and B.C. Hydro, though the grief of that displacement remains alive in community memory.

What Are Their Lives Like?

All three Sekani bands inhabit some of the most remote terrain in British Columbia, accessible mainly by small aircraft or difficult roads. The communities at Kwadacha and Tsay Keh Dene are fly-in communities for much of the year, lying hundreds of kilometers north of Prince George. This isolation shapes nearly every dimension of daily life, from the cost of food and goods to access to healthcare, education, and employment.

Hunting, fishing, and trapping remain central to Sekani life, both as sustenance and as cultural practice. Moose, caribou, deer, and bear are pursued across traditional territory, and fish — including trout, whitefish, and Arctic grayling — are taken from the rivers and lakes. Wild plants and berries supplement the diet. Tribal governance and band administration provide some employment, as do natural resource industries including forestry, mining exploration, and construction, though these sectors are volatile. Restorative justice programs, wilderness healing camps, and community wellness initiatives reflect the bands' commitment to addressing the social wounds left by displacement and by the residential school system. Families are typically close-knit, with elders holding honored roles as carriers of language, story, and cultural knowledge. Traditional ceremonies, drumming, and land-based gatherings mark important seasons and transitions in community life. The Sekani language is now spoken fluently by only a small number of elders, and language revitalization efforts are underway, though the work is urgent.

What Are Their Beliefs?

Roman Catholicism has been the primary religious identity of the Sekani since the late nineteenth century, and Catholic faith has shaped family life, burial practices, and the community calendar for generations. At the same time, traditional spiritual beliefs have not entirely disappeared. The pre-Christian worldview of the Sekani understood the natural world — animals, plants, rivers, and landforms — to be animated by spirits and powers. Shamans historically served as intermediaries between the human community and the spirit world, responsible for healing illness and maintaining right relationships with nature. For some Sekani people today, elements of these traditional beliefs coexist with Catholic practice. The Sekani community's spiritual landscape is therefore layered, reflecting both the legacy of missionary Christianity and the persistence of older ways of understanding the world.

What Are Their Needs?

Geographic isolation places the Sekani bands at a severe disadvantage when it comes to accessing the services most Canadians take for granted. Medical care, specialist treatment, and mental health support require costly flights or long overland journeys, making routine healthcare difficult and emergency care precarious. The legacy of residential schools has left generational trauma that continues to affect family cohesion, mental health, and community stability. Economic opportunity is limited by remoteness, and the natural resource industries on which employment depends are subject to sharp downturns. The Sekani language stands at the edge of extinction, with fluency concentrated in a small number of elders, and meaningful revitalization will require sustained resources and community commitment. Spiritually, while Catholic identity is widespread, many Sekani individuals may not yet have encountered the living Christ in a personal and transforming way, and the community would be greatly served by pastoral care, biblical teaching, and the presence of workers who are committed to walking alongside them for the long term.

Prayer Points

Pray that the Sekani people will come to know Jesus Christ personally — not merely as a religious inheritance but as a living Savior — and that his love will bring deep healing to families still carrying the wounds of cultural loss.
Pray for committed workers — ideally from within the Sekani community itself — who will share the good news faithfully in culturally meaningful ways and disciple others toward a living faith in the only Savior.
Pray for practical breakthroughs in healthcare access, economic opportunity, and language revitalization, and that the Sekani people will flourish in body and spirit on their ancestral lands.
Pray that Sekani believers will grow in confidence as followers of Christ and become a gospel-bearing people who share the hope they have found with other First Nations communities across Canada and beyond.

Text Source:   Joshua Project