This is part of a series of profiles about the staff, leaders, and community members who are hard at work implementing Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation's vision for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. You can read the other profiles here. “I’m a guy from Łutsël K’é,” Steven Nitah says, a smile in his voice, when asked to introduce himself. And while the statement is certainly true, he is much more than that. Steven has served as member of the NWT’s Legislative Assembly, as the community negotiator for Łutsël K’é at the Akaitcho main table, as chief of the First Nation, and as the chief negotiator for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. More recently, Steven has been an advocate for Indigenous-led conservation as a member of the Indigenous Circle of Experts (ICE) for the Pathway to Canada Target 1 and as one of four Indigenous leads with the Conservation through Reconciliation Partnership.
Steven Nitah was born in his traditional territory and raised on the land by his grandparents, Abel and Mary Louise Nitah, and his great grandparents on his grandmother’s side, John and Marie Tassi. His family lived at Fort Reliance so he knows intimately the area along Pike’s Portage to Ɂedacho Kúe (Artillery Lake) and the north and south shores of McLeod Bay. “There are many other special places in Thaidene Nëné, but those are the areas that I grew up in. That’s home.” It was particularly as the family travelled by boat that Steven came to understand his responsibilities as Łutsël K’é Dene. “When you’re travelling, you’re listening to the stories of the elders,” he explains. “You’re listening to your grandparents talk about your responsibility to your territory, to ensure that the land is there for future generations, but also that our way of life can continue long into the future.” Steven’s direct involvement with Thaidene Nëné began while he was a community negotiator. “I was part of the team that worked with Canada to have an area withdrawn as an area of interest for a national park,” he says. “This was part of the broader land withdrawal for the Akaticho Process.” Later, as chief, Steven played a pivotal role in developing the framework agreement for Thaidene Nëné, an agreement that bears his signature and that of then Enrivonment Miniser Jim Prentice. When his term as chief was coming to an end, the LKDFN Council appointed Steven chief negotiator for the proposed protected area. “The elders didn’t want me to be the chief any more,” he says, with his characteristic chuckle. “They wanted me on the negotiating table.” Imagining and then working to achieve the community’s vision for Thaidene Nëné was a long and arduous process. Negotiations were stalled more than once by delays, the most significant of which was caused by devolution. “The federal government,” Steven explains, “was in the midst of transferring a variety of responsibilities to the territorial government. They didn’t want anything to further muddy the waters.” The negotiating team and the community waited for more than a year to get things back on track. There was also a six-month hiatus around 2012 when Parks Canada was gutted by the Harper government. “Budget cuts, early retirements, staff layoff, all of that stalled negotiations,” Steven says. The negotiation process became more complicated in 2015, when the Government of the Northwest Territories came to the table. “Those were hard, imaginative negotiations,” Steven recalls. The GNWT had a mandate to reduce Thaidene Nëné to 7000 km2, which, as Steven notes, was “very close to the size originally laid out by Parks Canada in the 1970s.” Thankfully, the negotiating team with Steve at the helm was able to convince the GNWT of the value of economic opportunities beyond resource extraction. “Tourism was a burgeoning economy in the NWT at that time, so that helped,” Steven adds. In the end, Thaidene Nëné was only reduced by 7000km2 through negotiations. In spite of delays and obstacles, the negotiating team was successful in their efforts. In August 2019, the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation designated Thaidene Nëné an Indigenous protected area (IPA) using their own Dene laws. Portions of the IPA are designated a national park reserve by Parks Canada and a territorial protected area and wildlife conservation area by the Government of the Northwest Territories. At final count, the protected area measures 26,376 km2. The creation of Thaidene Nëné is a testament to the determination and unity of vision of the community of Łutsël K’é and the skill of the LKDFN negotiators, but it is also a reflection of the spirit of collaboration between the parties that emerged as negotiations progressed. “Agreements like this don't come without active and willing participation by all the parties,” Steven says. “The negotiating teams for Parks Canada and the GNWT were willing to go that extra mile to do something different, to create a legal contractual agreement that recognizes Indigenous authority and jurisdiction.” “Through this many decades long process, there were a number of very interesting moments and very proud moments,” Steven notes. One such moment came in the early stages of negotiating when the Conservatives were in power. Recognizing the biases of the government under Stephen Harper’s leadership, the negotiating team put forward an economic argument for the proposed protected area. “We considered conservation to be important not just for the sake of the land, but also in terms of the economic impacts for Łutsël K’é,” he explains. The negotiating team was also successful in making the case for a lump sum payment, which the community would match through fundraising to enable Łutsël K’é to fulfill its obligations within Thaidene Nëné. This pooled funding became the Thaidene Nëné Trust, the first of its kind in Canada. The negotiating team very clearly took their marching orders from the community. “Our mandate, which we received from the elders,” Steven says, “was to implement the spirit and intent of the treaties.” To that end, the team sought “shared responsibility, shared authority, and shared jurisdiction,” a goal they repeated again and again to the other parties. Their persistence paid off; Łutsël K’é is not an advisor to, but an equal partner in the management and operations of Thaidene Nëné. The work of the negotiators and the community to protect the land of their ancestors reaches beyond the borders of Thaidene Nëné. It has already benefitted and will continue to benefit other communities in the NWT through the Protected Areas Act that was passed into law in July 2019. Not only was Łutsël K’é an active participant in the advisory committee that guided the drafting of that legislation, but their work at the negotiating table also shaped the letter and the spirit of that law. Łutsël K’é and Thaidene Nëné are also an example nationally. As Steven notes, “In an era where yesterday’s wrongs are starting to be recognized at multiple levels, Thaidene Nëné represents an opportunity to define the treaty relationship that Indigenous nations across the country have with Canada.” He adds, “There is finally an opportunity to implement the sprit and intent of the treaties both within conservation areas and beyond them.” Steven’s efforts to protect Thaidene Nëné were inspired by the elders’ mandate, but he also worked with his three children in mind. Looking to the future, Steven says, “I hope that the land continues feeding us. I hope we can continue to be Dene. I hope we can continue to keep the language alive, that we can tell the stories of the land in the language, in Dënesųłı̨né.” Steven also hopes that the economic projections the negotiating team and their advisors made become reality. “I hope Thaidene Nëné spells prosperity for our people.” This is part of a series of profiles about the staff, leaders, and community members who are hard at work implementing Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation's vision for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. You can read the other profiles here. Addie Jonasson was born Adeline Boucher in a tent on Tędhul Dezé (Snowdrift River) in the fall time. For the first eight years of her life, she lived on the land with her parents, Joe Boucher and Judith Rose Laloche, and her siblings, Albert, Ernest, Fred, John, and Samuel. In the winter, the family stayed at Snowdrift. In the summer, though, they would travel around the lake. “The deep connection that I have to the land,” Addie explains, “is because my parents taught me their traditions. They passed along the knowledge.” Addie’s first language is Dënesųłıné yatı. It was only when she was taken to residential school at eight years old that she learned to speak English. Though they weren’t allowed to speak their Indigenous languages while at school, Addie recalls finding ways to speak the language with the other kids from her community. “Most of us that went to school in the 1950s and 1960s kept our language,” she says. Addie attended residential school for 12 years, first in Fort Resolution, then in Fort Smith, before eventually graduating from Akaitcho Hall in Yellowknife. Addie married soon after finishing high school and left the North when her husband, Jerry, who was an aircraft engineer, was offered a job in Ontario. For the next 22 years, the Jonassons lived in Ontario, Manitoba, and Alberta. While Jerry worked on planes, Addie pursued a career in social work. The couple also raised two children: Laurice and Jennifer. In 1992, there was an opening in Łutsël K’é for a community social services worker. “I wanted to come back,” Addie remembers. “I missed home. I missed my roots. I especially missed the lake, the water, the space.” Addie, Jerry, and their children packed their bags and moved north. In addition to her work in social services, Addie has served her community as an elected official. She was chief of the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation from 2006-2008 and a councillor from 2004-2006 and 2014-2020. It was while she was chief that Łutsël K’é signed a memorandum of understanding with the Government of Canada to advance work on creating a national park on the East Arm of Tu Nedhé (Great Slave Lake). Addie has supported Thaidene Nëné in other ways. In 2009, she answered a call for committee members for the Thaidene Nëné Advisory Committee. “The committee helped to make sure that we protected the area, the land, the water, the animals. We wanted to make sure that our way of life wasn’t disrupted, so we would continue to live as we have living since time immemorial.” Most recently, Addie was appointed to Thaidene Nëné Xá Dá Yáłtı, the management board for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. (Xá Dá Yáłtı means those who speak for Thaidene Nëné in Dënesųłıné.) Along with the other appointees, over the coming months and years, Addie will provide strategic guidance to the parties (LKDFN, Parks Canada, and the GNWT) as they implement Łutsël K’é's vision for Thaidene Nëné. Addie speaks with a quiet passion about the need to protect the land of her ancestors, to ensure that the beautiful, peaceful, and abundant land that has sustained her people for millennia will be there for future generations. In her words, “When I talk about the land, I think about my grandparents who lived out on the land year-round. I want to make sure that our grandkids and great-grandkids have something to rely on, something to sustain them.” Addie has seen first hand what can happen without such protections. In the early 1970s, Addie and her family were living in Sioux Narrows. “One day, we were driving towards Dryden and we passed the Wabagoon River. The river was full of suds. That was pollution from the pulp mills. That memory has stayed with me. I never want to see anything like that happen to our lakes and rivers.” Addie sees Thaidene Nëné as an opportunity to invest in the land in the way that is different. “We’re not investing in a mine,” she says. “We are investing in the beauty of the land.” Creating an Indigenous protected area, which will attract people from across the territory and around the world, Addie believes, will sustain her community and its members in a way that the mines cannot. “Thaidene Nëné,” she notes, “will be here forever.” Addie invites visitors to experience the pristine beauty of her homeland. “Sit down by the shoreline. See the beauty, feel the tranquility. Experience the peace and the quiet. Hear the birds, the ducks. See the muskox, the moose, the bears in there natural habitat.” Do this, Addie says, and you will see why the people of Łutsël K’é are so passionate about Thaidene Nëné. “Our ancestors chose the best place for us. I say thank you to them all the time.” This is the ninth in a series of profiles about the staff, leaders, and community members who are hard at work implementing Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation's vision for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. You can read the other profiles here. Raised in Winnipeg, MB, Steve Ellis first came to Łutsël K’é as a Masters student in 1999. He was supposed to only be in the community for a few months, conducting research about environmental assessment, but as he tells it, “I made myself somewhat useful, so I ended up sticking around.” Steve, who is Chinese/Scottish, was hired on to the Wildlife, Lands, and Environment Department, eventually becoming the manager. Joined in Łutsël K’é by his partner, Tracey, in 2000, the couple and the three children that followed called the community home until 2013, when they moved to Yellowknife (the family keeps a home in Łutsël K’é, so they can go back whenever they want).
Steve describes his time in Łutsël K’é as a second childhood. Though he had done lots of canoeing and hiking before moving to the community, he had not lived off the land in the way Łutsël K’é Dene do. Thankfully, the Boucher and Catholique families took young Steve under their wings and “showed him the ropes.” “I am who I am today,” he explains, “because of those two childhoods: The childhood I had with my actual parents and the second childhood I had with the community.” Living in Łutsël K’é, Steve came to know and love many places in Thaidene Nëné. Two places deserve special mention. A massive lake that straddles the tree line, Ɂedacho Kúe (Artillery Lake) is rich with important cultural and historic sites. “It is a spectacular area with deep history. You can feel the presence of generations of people,” Steve notes. Steve also has fond memories of travelling on Tędhul Dezé (Snowdrift River) with Tracey and their eldest son Hawke when he was still in diapers. A meandering river with lovely sandbars, the Snowdrift, in Steve’s estimation, is “the perfect family float.” Steve has been involved with Thaidene Nëné since the early 2000s in variety of different capacities. In the wake of the diamond staking rush, the community was exploring conservation as a solution to its concerns about mining encroachment. As the manager of Wildlife, Lands, and Environment, it was Steve’s responsibility to coordinate and facilitate those initial conversations with the elders and the community. As things became more formalized, Steve became “the” Thaidene Nëné person for LKDFN. In 2010, he was named to the negotiating team, working alongside Steven Nitah and Larry Innes to ensure the establishment agreements reflected and respected Łutsël K’é’s vision for and responsibilities within Thaidene Nëné. Following the signing ceremony in 2019, Steve transitioned to the role of advisor to the First Nation on implementation. Continuity is important between negotiations and implementation. The intimate knowledge that negotiators have of the agreements is invaluable in providing guidance to the parties as they seek to fulfill the letter and the spirit of the agreements. Łutsël K’é is unique among the three parties in that it is the only one to have a negotiator on its implementation team. So what does Steve’s position look like day-to-day? First and foremost, he is responsible for protecting the agreements and ensuring they are being followed. In his words, “I play an important role in educating the parties. Unfortunately, sometimes that also means reminding the parties what they agreed to.” Steve has a number of other roles as well. He does external relations work with the other parties. He is supporting the development of the governance approach. He also advises the Thaidene Nëné manager on big picture things like strategic planning, budgeting, and annual workplans. Lastly, he is responsible for overseeing funding and managing relationships with funders. Steve has been involved with the process long enough that he can shed some light on the why and how of LKDFN’s success in realizing their goal to protect Thaidene Nëné. Statistically, Steve notes, Łutsël K’é is like most other northern communities: it struggles with things like poverty, substance abuse, overcrowding. For many communities, there is no clear pathway out of this situation. Łutsël K’é is fortunate to be located in a place that is beautiful and accessible, but more importantly a place that Parks Canada has had an interest in for a half-century. Furthermore, while there may be divisions within the community, by and large, Łutsël K’é Dene share a commitment to protecting their land, maintaining their authority over their land, and ensuring the continuation of culture and lifestyle as land-based people. According to Steve, “This consistency of vision has allowed Łutsël K’é to achieve its goals as a community.” If you’re familiar at all with the strategic plan that the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation developed this past year for Thaidene Nëné, you will know that the first goal is: Łutsël K’é leading. And the community is doing just that. They are the only one of the three parties with staff on the ground, staff who, in spite of the newness of the Indigenous Protected Area and the pandemic, have been busy establishing systems and delivering programming. Steve notes that the impact of this leadership is palpable in the community: “You can see it in the ownership the community has of the Thaidene Nëné office. You can see it in relationship to Frontier Lodge. You can see it in the activity in the community in relation to Thaidene Nëné.” The community’s leadership has import beyond the boundaries of Thaidene Nëné. To borrow from Steve, “Through Thaidene Nëné, Łutsël K’é is re-setting the power dynamics with crown governments.” When Steve looks to the future, he sees Łutsël K’é continuing to lead the management and operations of Thaidene Nëné in partnership with Parks Canada and the GNWT. He sees local people involved and engaged in a meaningful way and securing liveliehoods through Thaidene Nëné. He sees young people who can imagine a future for themselves in the community because of the opportunities afforded by Thaidene Nëné. He sees Łutsël K’é as a place that people want to move back to as opposed to a place they want or have to move away from. This is the eighth in a series of profiles about the staff, leaders, and community members who are hard at work implementing Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation's vision for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. You can read the other profiles here. Born in Yellowknife, NT, Iris was brought to Łutsël K’é, then called Snowdrift, when she was only a week old by her custom adopted mother, Florence Catholique. Her biological parents are Catherine Doctor and Stewart McLean. Iris has four siblings: Stephanie Catholique Poole, Melissa Doctor, Forrest Doctor, and the late Erica Doctor. When she wasn’t in school, young Iris spent weeks and months living and learning on the land with her mother, Florence, her grandparents, Jonas and Madeline Catholique, and her extended family. As a result, Iris carries both traditional land-based skills and Western academic skills. Iris continues to be an active land user and harvester. She and her partner, Thomas Lafferty, can often be found on the land, sharing traditional knowledge and skills with their four children, Devin, Tanner, Kiana, and Hayden. Iris also shares the knowledge the elders passed on to her with youth in Łutsël K’é. There are too many special places within Thaidene Nëné for Iris to choose just one. However, two places of significance for her are Ɂedacho Kúe (Artillery Lake) and Kaché (Fort Reliance). Both places remind Iris of her sons’ first caribou harvest when they were ten years old. Teaching her children how to travel, harvest, and honour the Dënesųłıné way of life is very important to Iris: “I feel the only way to keep our traditions alive is to actually get out on the land and show our children our way of life. Those teachings will live on in their memories for them to pass on to their children.” Iris has worked for the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation for 20 years in various roles. Though only formally appointed to the Thaidene Nëné staff team in 2020, Iris had been actively involved in protecting Thaidene Nëné as a community member since the early 2000s: “It’s very important for me to be involved with anything that has to do with our territory; I attended all of the public meetings, I did interviews with the negotiators, I talked to elders and the community as a whole.” The dream of Thaidene Nëné, Iris notes, “has always been on the mind of our people. If you go back to the signing of Treaty 8 in 1900, you will hear the words: as long as the sun shines, grass grows, and the rivers flows we shall protect our traditional homeland.” The Thaidene Nëné team, with Iris at the helm, is helping to realize those promises and to provide economic opportunities for the community in a sustainable manner. As the manager of Thaidene Nëné, Iris oversees the day-to-day implementation of the Thaidene Nëné agreements of which there are two, one with the Government of Canada and one with the Government of the Northwest Territories. Designated by the Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation in 2019, the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area includes a national park reserve, a territorial protected area, and soon a wildlife conservation area. Though she is an employee of LKDFN, Iris feels a much broader sense of accountability: “I have a big responsibility not only to the land within Thaidene Nëné but to the people who live within the borders of the Indigenous protected area and the ancestors and elders who have passed on.” There is never a dull moment in the Thaidene Nëné offices. While COVID-19 has slowed things down elsewhere, in Łutsël K’é, the Thaidene Nëné team is, in Iris words, “moving forward full throttle carrying out its work plan and implementing initiatives for the Indigenous protected area and community.” Iris currently supervises eight full time employees and five contractors. At present, she is focused on building the capacity of the existing Thaidene Nëné staff, delivering programming locally, and supporting guardian activities, though plans are afoot to expand the team, but also to develop a visitor’s centre, parks office, and staff housing for Thaidene Nëné. When it’s safe to do so, Iris and the community of Łutsël K’é look forward to welcoming visitors from around the world: “Thaidene Nëné has so much Dënesųłıné history, so many stories and beautiful places. I would invite everyone to come and visit our piece of the world when it is safe to travel. People who come to visit often leave with great memories and long-lasting friendships.” This is the seventh in a series of profiles about the staff, leaders, and community members who are hard at work implementing Łutsël K’é Dene First Nation's vision for the Thaidene Nëné Indigenous Protected Area. You can read the other profiles here. The Ni Hat’ni Dene are not the only guardians that work out of the Thaidene Nëné office. Laura Jane Michel, who is the community’s traditional knowledge archivist, is also a guardian, in this case of stories, place names, and knowledge. Amongst other things, Laura Jane is responsible for managing the community’s TrailMark database, which is a repository for a wide range of documents containing information about the people and land of Thaidene Nëné, including transcripts, recordings, theses, photographs, and GPS data. Laura Jane Michel was raised in Łutsël K’é by her late parents, Mary Jane and Antoine Michel: “They taught me and my siblings everything we needed to know about living on the land, like camping, hunting, and how to survive.” (Laura Jane’s brother, Jason, is a Ni Hat’ni Dene guardian). In addition to sharing their language and culture with their children, Antoine and Mary Jane also passed on their love for land. “I crave being out on the land all the time. If I don’t go out, I feel so lost. I feel so bored.” Now, Laura Jane is sharing her passion for the Land of the Ancestors with her daughter, Serena. Laura Jane had a hard time identifying her favourite spots in Thaidene Nëné because there are so many. She eventually landed on two places, both of which have connections to her father. The first is Kache (Fort Reliance): “I like going to the gathering in August. I also like doing the hike to Perry Falls and asking the Lady of the Falls for help and guidance. My late dad always told me: if you feel sick or anything, that’s where you go. You have to believe in her for her to help you.” The second place is Ptarmigan River at the north end of Ɂedacho Tué (Artillery Lake): “I love fishing there in the fall time. My late dad had a lodge at Ptarmigan River, so that’s where I learned about fishing and caribou.” Like others in the community, Laura Jane is looking forward to welcoming those from away to the Land of the Ancestors. She just asks that visitors have respect for the land and the people: “Thaidene Nëné is our traditional territory, it’s a sacred place.” A good visitor, she explains, will respect local beliefs and protocols, like asking permission before visiting certain places or paying the land and the water when travelling through the park. Thaidene Nëné exists because of the respect that Łutsël K’é Dene have for the land and all the beings that inhabit it. Maintaining these relationships and the health and wellbeing of the land, the water, and the animals is vital for ensuring that future generations are able to live as the ancestors did. |
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March 2024
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VISIONWe are the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation. Our vision for Thaidene Nëné is:
Nuwe néné, nuwe ch'anıé yunedhé xa (Our land, our culture for the future). We’re working with our partners to permanently protect Thaidene Nëné—part of our huge and bountiful homeland around and beyond the East Arm of Tu Nedhé. |