Most, if not all, of the land in central British Columbia occupied by Dakelh, from the headwaters of the Fraser River in the east to the headwaters of the Nechako River in the west, is divided into keyohs. “The keyoh is defined by specific boundaries, ownership, and authority. Ownership of the keyoh rests in the chief or noble, the head of his large extended family that uses the keyoh. The chief (Keyohwudachun) directs and manages the keyoh on behalf of his extended family, which consists of smaller nuclear families.” - John Dewhirst, anthropologist. The keyohs predate the creation of Indian bands (now usually referred to as “First Nations”) by the provincial and federal governments, and even predate the 1793 arrival of Europeans in central British Columbia. Keyoh owners have not ceded their lands to First Nations or the provincial government or the federal government

Athapaskan, also spelled Athabaskan, is the name applied by English speaking anthropologists and linguists to a large family of Indigenous North American languages and to the people who speak those languages. Indigenous people themselves use the term “Dene” broadly and regionally “Dakelh” is the term used area around the Maiyoo Keyoh. The people of a particular village would be referred to as “Whut’en”. Susk’uz is the historic village site on the Maiyoo Keyoh so the people of the Maiyoo Keyoh are called Susk’uz Whut’en.

Dene, also known as Athapaskan, is a large group of similar Indigenous North American languages and the people who speak those languages. These languages and people are found as far north as Yukon and Alaska and as far south as northern Mexico and include Chipewyan, Dakelh (Carrier), Tsilhqot’in, Apache and Navajo.

Susk’uz is the site of the former village of Susk’uz where the people of Maiyoo Keyoh lived. It is on the north shore of Tsa Bunghun (Great Beaver Lake), east of Fort St James. At Susk’uz there are a number of known gravesites, three remaining gravestones, and depressions in the earth where there once were pit houses. The site includes the grave and headstone for Jimmy A’Huille, who was born around 1856 and became Susk’uz Keyohwudachun, assuming the title and responsibilities handed down to him by his father, around the year 1890. Jimmy A’Huille was killed by the “Spanish” flu in 1918. Oral history indicates there are, in addition to the known gravesites, many unidentified gravesites.

In 2002 Keyohwudachun Sally Sam, faced with accelerating logging of Maiyoo Keyoh, issued a notice of Aboriginal Title including the requirement that activity on the keyoh can only be with her consent. The forest companies, the provincial government and the federal government ignored this notice. Subsequently the Keyohwudachun notified the BC Treaty Commission of her intent to negotiate a treaty, but the commission declined to begin negotiations.

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