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PEOPLE GROUP PROFILE

The Denesuline of Canada

The Denesuline of Canada, numbering approximately 13,500 people, are No Longer Unreached. They are described as an indigenous community of Canada and can also be known as Denesuline, Dënesųłı̨né, Dënë Sųłınë́, Dene. They are an Indigenous people, with Denesuline (Chipewyan) as their ethnic/kinship group and are in the North American Indigenous people cluster of the North American Peoples. Their primary religion is Protestantism. They primarily speak Dene.

Photo by Google. (2026). Image generated by Gemini 3.1 Flash: Denesuline

Fast Facts:

Affinity Group: North American Peoples
Country: Canada
People Cluster: North American Indigenous
Primary Language(s): Dene (chp)
Primary Religion(s): Protestantism
Population: 13,500
Strategic Progress Index (SPI): No Longer Unreached
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical
People Group ID: PG043373
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Pray for the Denesuline of Canada

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Dig Deeper (Religion):

Primary Religion: Protestantism
Religious Affiliation: Christianity

80%
%
Protestantism Adherents

Dig Deeper (Language):

Primary Language: Dene
Language Family: Athabaskan-Eyak-Tlingit

80%
%
Dene Speakers

Media Resources in Dene:

Films:

Provided by the Jesus Film Project

View all resources

Bible Resources in Dene:

Provided by Faith Comes by Hearing

Or check out the Dene bible at Bible.com

Linked from YouVersion

View all resources

Explore Lostness and Next Steps

Unengaged and Unreached

Strategic Priority Index (SPI): Unengaged and Unreached (SPI: 2), which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations among which there are no known efforts focused on establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.
Lostness Priority Index (LPI): Moderately Reached People Group, (LPI: 5), 6% to 20% Evangelical.
Global Status of Evangelical Christianity (GSEC): 10% or Greater Evangelical (GSEC: 6), this people group is greater than or equal to 10% evangelical

Next steps for the Denesuline:
Begin signifcant prayer and fasting for this group
Send cross-cultural teams to discover and research this people group
Begin gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group

SPI: Unreached yet Engaged

The Denesuline are Engaged yet Unreached, which means there are less than 2% evangelical Christian populations but there are sustained efforts at establishing self-sustaining churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice.

Next steps for the Denesuline:
Continue prayer and fasting for this group
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting among this group
Begin training up local leaders to lead and develop strategies to reach their own people

SPI: No longer Unreached

The Denesuline are No Longer Unreached, which means there are more than 2% evangelical Christian populations and there are churches consistent with evangelical faith and practice. There is still more to be done among them.

Next steps for the Denesuline:
Empower local believers to begin praying for their own people
Continue gospel seed sowing and church planting
Encourage local leaders to being leading church planting strategy and looking for Unreached and Unengaged groups nearby

Pray specifically for the Denesuline of Canada

The Lord is a stronghold for the oppressed, a stronghold in times of trouble. And those who know your name put their trust in you, for you, O Lord, have not forsaken those who seek you.
readPsalm 9:9-10

Pray that God will help those who are oppressed and without hope to hear the good news of Jesus and trust in Him, for He has never forsaken those who seek Him.

There is no speech, nor are there words, whose voice is not heard.
readPsalm 19:3

Pray that God will lead them to His Word, and where it is not available, ask that He will raise up those who will produce gospel media in their heart language.

Create in me a clean heart, O God, and renew a right spirit within me.
readPsalm 51:10

Pray that as people place their faith in Christ, they will quickly repent when they sin and walk with clean hearts and right spirits as they grow in their relationship with the Lord.

And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were astonished at his teaching, for he was teaching them as one who had authority, and not as their scribes.
readMatthew 7:28-29

Pray that God will remind believers that they have His authority as they share His truth with the lost, and pray He will draw crowds of people to this message and plant it deeply in their hearts.

Denesuline Across Countries (ROP3 - 102152) reported in the following countries:

To download a comprehensive people group list in spreadsheet form, visit our Research Data page.

Peoplegroups.org relies on updates from the field and other organizations for much of our data, so if you have any updates, please contact us. We use various international naming standards. For a list of these standards and fields, visit our Definitions page.

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