The Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation is affiliated with the Northern Tutchone Council. As of April 2004, the registered population as reported by the Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation was 621, almost half of whom live outside the community.
The Little Salmon/Carmacks people are Northern Tutchone, part of the Athapaskan language grouping. They were and remain people who are very much reliant on the Yukon River and its rich salmon resources.
The Northern Tutchone people of this area are closely related to the Northern Tutchone groups of the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun and the Selkirk First Nation. They are also closely related to the Southern Tutchone people of nearby Champagne, Klukshu, and Aishihik, with whom they traded and often intermarried. A system of land and water routes connected all of these adjacent areas.
Carmacks was an important stopover on the Yukon River for people travelling to the Dawson goldfields during the gold rush of 1898. Later it became an important refueling place for the riverboats that traveled between Whitehorse and Dawson City. Many First Nations people worked in wood-camps during the sternwheeler era.
The Little Salmon/Carmacks First Nation completed their land claims negotiations, and signed their land claims and self-government agreements in July 1997. Their Final Agreement follows the structure of the Umbrella Final Agreement but contains provisions unique to them. An example of a specific provision is the Nordenskiold Wetland Special Management Area. The Little Salmon/Carmacks traditional territory is rich in renewable and non-renewable resources, and the First Nation is establishing and building co-management regimes with other levels of government. The First Nation is committed to teaching their young people about traditional law and traditional knowledge and to developing employment opportunities that reflect the old ways and values of life on the land.
