White River First Nation
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The White River First Nation (WRFN) is a First Nation of Upper Tanana, Northern Tutchone, and Southern Tutchone peoples in the western Yukon Territory in Canada. Its main population centre is Beaver Creek, Yukon.
The White River people historically spoke Upper Tanana, an Athabaskan language.
History
The Upper Tanana territory once extended from the Donjek River into neighbouring Alaska. The Northern Tutchone territory included the lower Stewart River and the area south of the Yukon River on the White and Donjek River drainages.
Closely related through marriages between various local bands, these two language groups were merged by the Canadian government into a single White River Indian Band in the early 1950s for administrative convenience. In 1961, the Canadian government combined the White River Band with the Southern Tutchone-speaking members of the Burwash Band at Burwash on Kluane Lake as the Kluane Band (subsequently the Kluane Tribal Brotherhood and then the Kluane Tribal Council). In 1990, the Kluane Tribal Council split its membership into the Kluane First Nation, centered in Burwash, and the White River First Nation, centered in Beaver Creek.
