Home · History · Who are the Carrier People?

Who are the Carrier People?

Researched and written by Doreen Patrick

The Southern Carrier people were originally known among themselves as ‘Uda ukelh, which interpreted means “people who travel by boat on water early in the morning”. According to the Sekani people, Carrier is a translation for Aghelhne. When a dakelh man died and was cremated, his widow would pack around the bones and ashes during the mourning period. The dakelh/Carrier people are part of the vast Athapaskan tribe. The people are divided into three areas and these are northern, southern and central Carriers. The Carriers all speak the same language but we have 18 different dialects in our area. When we speak we can understand each other but our vowel sound changes. For example the southern Carrier at Nazko say Goh for rabbit and ‘Ulkatcho say Gah for rabbit. Sometimes, some of our words are not even similar at all. For example, Nak’azdli say ‘awhundooh for no and at Nazko they say gwa for no. This you call a dialect difference.

In the early 1800s, when the bands were established, the Southern Carrier land was divided up into five separate bodies. Each band was an individual unit that had control over its land and resources. The band areas made up of related families ranging from more that two hundred people (the Nazkot’en) to only twenty-seven (the Cariboo Mountain Band). These families lived and worked in the same general area. The Southern Carrier bands were ‘Ulkatchot’en, Lhoosk’uzt’en, Nazkot’en, and Lhtakot’en. The fifth band was unknown but the members had hunted in the Cariboo Mountains east of the Fraser River.

‘Ulkatcho – means “people of the fat of the land”. ‘Ulkatchot’en or “people of Gatcho Lake”. They were the people who occupied the upper Blackwater river, the upper Dean river, the Gatcho, and the Qualcho lakes region.

Lhoosk’uz – meaning “half or side of a white fish is white” Lhooz – “White fish” k’uz – “half or side of”. The main reserve where the people of Lhoosk’uz are now residing is called ‘Uskai Talbun Tl’at – “Blood flows into the bay of the lake”.’uskai - means “blood”, Talbun – means “flows into” Tl’at - means “bay of the lake”.

Ndazkoh – meaning “The river flowing from the south” Ndaz – from the south and Koh – river.

Lhtakoh – meaning “Where the three rivers meet”. Lhta – meeting of three, koh – rivers.

The fifth southern Carrier band was centered in the Cariboo Mountains east of the Fraser River. The band is and was referred to as Bear Lake Band, after the Carrier name for Bowron Lakes. This band was later wiped out in 1862/63 by small pox epidemic. There is very little known about this band.