About the Gwich’in

“We are caribou people.  Caribou are not just what we eat; they are who we are.  They are in our stories and songs and the whole way we see the world.  Caribou are our life.  Without caribou we wouldn’t exist”.  ~Sarah James

About the Gwich’in

The Gwich’in are the northernmost Indian Nation living in fifteen small villages scattered across a vast area extending from northeast Alaska in the U.S. to the northern Yukon and Northwest Territories in Canada.

The word “Gwich’in” means “people of the land,” and it refers to a people who have lived in the region since before the U.S. and Canada existed. Today, the Gwich’in homelands span both countries. Oral tradition indicates the Gwich’in have occupied this area since time immemorial, or, according to conventional belief, as long as 20,000 years.