The people of the Ross River Dena Council are known as the Kaska and their language is part of the Athapaskan language family. The Ross River Dena Council is affiliated with the Kaska Tribal Council, which connects the people to their close Kaska relations in northern British Columbia and to the Liard First Nation. The Kaska of Ross River are also closely connected and related to their neighbours in Fort Norman, NWT, who make frequent visits to cultural events held at Coffee Lake, a traditional gathering area of the Kaska. Calculations generated by Indian and Northern Affairs Canada in 2004 for their internal purposes estimated the registered population of the Ross River Dena Council at 436. About 100 members live outside the community. First Nations' calculations of their population numbers may differ from Government of Canada figures and may include registered beneficiaries, non-beneficiary citizens and others.
Prior to contact with Europeans, the Kaska lived a semi-nomadic lifestyle, following game and harvesting resources from the land and water. They utilized all that the land provided, never wasting any parts of animals and devising innovative tool technology. Like many of the First Nations of the Yukon, the Kaska lived in dome structures with caribou hides as winter dwellings and brush camps for summer. The moiety structure of Wolf and Crow was established as their social system, and laws were embedded into the traditional justice and laws of the culture. Within the Kaska language there are many regional dialects; a Kaska Language Dictionary has been produced that documents them.
Today the Kaska people of the Ross River Dena Council are working toward settlement of their land claims and self-government agreements with the federal and territorial governments.
The Ross River Dena Council and its members have been working towards the healing of their people after the effects of mission schools, the loss of identity, and the upheaval of their culture due to massive change over the last 100 years, much like most of Yukon's First Nations people. The Ross River Dena people revived a unique style of drumming and singing; the Ross River Drummers now travel all over the Yukon to perform. Ross River was and remains an important site for stick gambling. Many First Nations from all areas of the Yukon travel there annually to participate.
