Tsuutʼina Nation
First Nation band in Alberta, Canada
The Tsuutʼina Nation (Tsuutʼina: Tsúùtʾínà, lit. 'a great number of people', 'many people'; or 'beaver people'), also spelled Tsuu Tʼina or Tsu Tʼina, is a First Nation band government in Alberta, Canada. The Tsuu T'ina Nation 145 reserve is located directly west of Calgary, with its eastern edge directly adjacent to the southwest city limits. Their traditional territory spans a much larger area in southern Alberta. The land area of the current reserve is 283.14 km2 (109.32 sq mi), and it had a population of 1,982 in the 2001 Canadian census. The northeast portion of the reserve was used as part of CFB Calgary, a Canadian Army base, from 1910 to 1998. In 2006, the land was returned to the Nation by the Government of Canada.
The Tsuutʼina people were formerly known by the Blackfoot exonym Saahsi, typically spelled Sarcee or less frequently Sarsi. These spellings reflect the fact that the French uvular r is quite similar in pronunciation to the Blackfoot velar h. The original meaning of this term is unclear, but suggested meanings include concepts to do with being 'bold', 'hardy', 'strong-willed', or 'stubborn'. It does not appear to be related to any other modern Blackfoot word.
“Tsuutʼina Nation” enters the record as first Nation band in Alberta, Canada. Crown Archives preserves that source wording while asking what Tsuutʼina, Nation and First can confirm, complicate or overturn.
Why this record matters
“Tsuutʼina Nation” is worth following because a concise public description often conceals a longer documentary argument. Here, Tsuutʼina, Nation and First provides the most credible route into that argument.
The citation trail is more important than the brevity of the summary: it shows where individual claims can be examined in context. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 10, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q123033. The Library of Congress control number is sh85117590. Authority coordinates are 50.967, -114.350. 2 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 2001, 1910, 1998 and 2006.
A concise general-reference account can conceal disagreements about scope, terminology or the weight assigned to individual sources. The source lead contains qualifying language; that uncertainty should survive quotation, summary and reuse. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
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Questions for further research
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This entry incorporates text from “Tsuutʼina Nation” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.