[clarification needed] The Tsuutʼina people were formerly known by the Blackfoot exonym Saahsi,[6] typically spelled Sarcee or less frequently Sarsi.

[6] The Tsuutʼina are an Athabaskan group, once part of the more northerly Dane-zaa ('Beaver Indians') nation, who migrated south onto the Great Plains during the early 18th century, before written records of the area.

During the summer, Tsuutʼina bands met on the open prairie to hunt bison, and participate in dances, festivals, and ceremonies.

[12] Explorer David Thompson said that the Tsuutʼina lived in the Beaver Hills near present-day Edmonton during the 1810s,[13]: 532  where they cohabited with the Cree.

These reserves offered the Tsuutʼina a means of survival following the disruption of their traditional lifestyle, and it allowed for the westward expansion of farming and European settlement.

By the time the Tsuutʼina settled into their reserve in 1881, outbreaks of smallpox, scarlet fever, and inter-tribal warfare reduced their population to a mere 450.

[citation needed] Beginning in the late 2000s, the proximity of the Nation's territory to the city of Calgary led to disagreement over Alberta's plans to construct the southwest portion of Highway 201, a ring road.

A 2009 referendum by the Nation rejected a plan to transfer reserve land to the Province of Alberta to permit construction of the southwest portion of the ring road.