This report captures a 3 year segment of an existing 10 year education renewal framework: a “comprehensive review and renewal of the education system in the NWT…. the first such undertaking since the early 1980s.” It includes several areas of action that highlight the continued importance of Aboriginal Language Culture Based Education (ALBCE), Elders in schools, enhanced support for teachers, post-secondary opportunities in the NWT, and community-driven education.

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The Education Renewal Framework is available on the GNWT website as of May 2018. 

Government of the Northwest Territories Department of Education, Culture and Employment. Education Renewal and Innovation Framework: Directions for Change. [Three-Year Education Renewal Action Plan], Yellowknife, June 2015.

McGregor examines social studies curricula from the point of transfer of responsibility for education to the Northwest Territories (1969-70) forward 30 years. She argues that the intention of all such curricula has been to be culturally responsive, but that this has been accomplished inconsistently. She adds the term culturally founded to refer to curricula developed by Aboriginal communities, and recommends that efforts to integrate these efforts continue. Dene Kede is the best effort toward culturally founded curriculum thus far, but requires more support for teachers, who must reconcile Dene Kede with other required social studies documents.

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As of May 2018, this paper is available open access.

McGregor, Catherine A. “Creating Able Human Beings: Social Studies Curriculum in the Northwest Territories and Nunavut, 1969 to the Present.” Historical Studies in Education Special Issue: Education North of 60 27, no. 1 (2015): 57-79.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

Highlights from 2013-2014:

Three Sahtú Communities had language nests (Délįne, Tulíta and Fort Good Hope). Teaching and Learning Centres continued (from previous years) to develop Dene Kedǝ curriculum implementation guides. An important legislative change was enacted: “Members of the Legislative Assembly may use any of the Aboriginal languages in the debates and other proceedings of the Assembly. This services is also extended to the members of the Youth Parliament and the Elders Parliament” (15). The Sahtú Dene Council distributed a dictionary for language learning in Fort Good Hope, and "offered cultural activities within the Sahtú region between the youth and Elders by practicing speaking through on the land activities.”

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The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

The 2013-2014 PDF is available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/sites/ece/files/resources/official_languages_report_2013-14.pdf

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2014.

From Report:

"People in the Sahtú Region are concerned that the health and safety of their food and water sources on the land could be threatened by contaminants, climate change, and cumulative impacts of industrial development. Sahtú communities have asked researchers to investigate and monitor the caribou, moose, fish, and water. Many of those research and monitoring projects have been ongoing for several years. Sahtú community members requested an update on the results of those projects so far, and an opportunity to give input on where the research should go next. It is important that community members are involved at every step of the way in research. The workshop report describes two examples of Sahtú communities being involved: monitoring of mercury levels in fish, and monitoring of caribou and moose health.

The good news is that researchers have found so far that, generally, the fish and wild game in the Sahtú Region are safe to eat and the water is safe to drink. Community members can feel confident that eating and drinking off the land is one of their best ways to stay healthy. It is up to community members, researchers, health officials, government agencies and co-management boards to work together to make sure things stay that way."

At the end of the report are 1- to 2-page summaries of research projects that have been going on in the Sahtú Region, with pictures and diagrams to help explain:

• Diversity of Sahba (Trout) in Great Bear Lake (Louise Chavarie)
• Long term monitoring of Great Bear Lake fisheries and the aquatic ecosystem (Kim Howland/ Deanna Leonard)
• Loche (burbot) contaminant research with Fort Good Hope (Gary Stern / Jesse Carrie)
• Watershed framework for assessing cumulative impacts of development (Krista Chin/ Julian Kanigan)
• Water quality monitoring on Mackenzie River (GNWT-ENR)
• Caribou genetics study (Jean Polfus)
• Sahtú wildlife health project (Susan Kutz / Anja Carlsson)
• Dene mapping project and wildlife study (Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı)

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Download the report PDF from the attachment field at the bottom of the page.

NWT ENR has also made this resource available on their website. 

Morgan, Shauna and the Pembina Institute. “It’s about our survival”: Keeping the Food and Water Safe in the Sahtú Region - Research Results Workshop, Tulít’a, November 27-28, 2013. Tulı́t'a: Ɂehdzo Got’ı̨nę Gots’ę́ Nákedı (Sahtú Renewable Resources Board).

This paper examines language vitality in Canada using the 2011 Census and National Household Survey data on mother tongue and conversational second language use. The Census of Population groups Aboriginal Languages into 12 families: Dene was measured as having 11,860 mother tongue speakers in 2011, lower than Cree (83,000) but higher than many others including Stoney, Blackfoot, and Innu. In addition, 67.9% of mother tongue Dene speakers reported using Dene most often at home, with a further 21.1% using it regularly in the home. Across Canada, people were more likely to speak their Aboriginal Language at home when they lived in a community (or census subdivision) where a high proportion of people shared that language. They were less likely to use it regularly if they moved to an area where most people had a different mother tongue, such as English or French. Between all Inuit, Métis, and First Nations communities in Canada in 2011, 21.7% of those able to conduct a conversation in an Aboriginal Language had acquired it as a second language.

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Read the full text for free from Statistics Canada online. 

Langlois, Stéphanie and Annie Turner. “Aboriginal Languages and Selected Vitality Indicators in 2011.” Statistics Canada Catalogue no. 89-655 (2014).

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

In 2011-2012, the Sahtu Members of the NWT Official and Aboriginal Languages Boards were Theresa Etchinelle and Dora Grandejambe, with an alternate of Ann Kochon Orlias. 

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The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2012.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

Access this Resource:

The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2011.

Ouellette outlines the history and goals of Aboriginal education and curricula, in part by surveying and assessing the (over 48) Aboriginal curricula currently in use in Canada. He also provides an overview of the debates surrounding Indigenous education, including the degree to which it should be integrated with existing Canadian institutions, and which level of government should control Indigenous curricula and their implementation. Within this dissertation, Ouellette assesses Dene Kedǝ curriculum. He estimates that 30% of the supplementary material promised for teacher support was missing at the time of writing, and that teachers also lacked clear guidelines for student assessment, objectives, and evaluation materials. He comments that while strong Dene values are clear throughout the Dene Kedǝ curriculum documents, they need more additional support and materials to be practical for teachers to implement. 

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Read this thesis open access from Collections Canada. 

Read this thesis open access from Université Laval.

Ouellette, Robert-Falcon. Evaluating Aboriginal Curricula using a Cree-Métis Perspective with a regard towards Indigenous knowledge. Doctoral Thesis, Université Laval, 2011.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

One important excerpt from the 2010 report: 

“In the latter part of the 1990s, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) consulted with communities on a variety of issues while developing its long-term strategic plan. As a result, a Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Languages was developed through the document: “Revitalizing, Enhancing and Promoting Aboriginal Languages: Strategies for Supporting Aboriginal Languages”. This document outlined what the GNWT was currently doing and planning to do to support the vision of healthy Aboriginal languages. The document was intended to be a “work in progress‟ and modified as Aboriginal language communities continued to articulate their needs, define their priorities and take greater responsibility for achieving their language goals…
The contract for the Review of the Strategy for Supporting Aboriginal Languages of the NWT was awarded to the Genesis Group of Yellowknife. The final Report was submitted in November 2009. The recommendations and information from this Report forms part of the development of a GNWT Aboriginal Languages Strategy.” (4)

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The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2010.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations evaluated the Official Languages Act. The Committee encountered a number of key concerns during the hearings they held for this review. The lack of an implementation plan for the OLA, along with an absence of regulations, meant that standards for OL services were inconsistent and inaccessible to the public. Aboriginal languages speakers identified inequalities in support for French and their own languages, and a lack of communication between Aboriginal language communities and the NWT. The Aboriginal Languages Board did not succeed in bridging this gap.

Other challenges identified included:
- A lack of Interpreter/Translators in the health and justice systems, need for increased terminology development
- A lack of accountability for Government commitments
- A widening intergenerational communication gap
- Under resourced Aboriginal languages curriculum development
- Insufficient languages instruction, insufficient funding, resources, and training for instructors
- Funding for community languages programs is inconsistent, minimal, and causes interruptions in programs, prevents expansion, does not consider needs fairly, does not allow for year-round programming, and is inaccessible (information is difficult to find).

The committee also named some improvements, mostly stemming from the department of Education, Culture, and Employment:
- language nest program introduction
- Dene Kede curriculum implementation
- progresses in teacher training

One section of the report describes a meeting with Sahtú community members in Délı̨nę, 2008. Representatives emphasized on the land language and culture communication, and called for compulsory Aboriginal language instruction. They also commented that Dene Kede curriculum should be supported by Divisional Education Councils, and that school staff needed more support and training to use the curriculum properly. They also identified the challenge of having many fluent speakers without teaching certification, and the challenge of certified Dene teachers using English as a primary language. They called for more funding, more community involvement, and they did not know who the Languages Commissioner was or what their mandate and activities might be. They also requested more access to Interpreter/Translators (and training for them) particularly in the Justice system. (61-63)

In addition, the report contains some comments on Dene Kede curriculum from various study participants, replicated here.

- Tłįchǫ̨ delegates say their Language Centre really helped with implementing Dene Kede curriculum. They developed cultural resource kits, worked with teachers, developed teaching materials for different units, and run a one-week on-the-land orientation for new teachers. (55)
- Sahtú Delegates: Dene Kede needs more support from DECs.
- Summary (all): Lack of resources, supporting materials for Dene Kede implementation (75)

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The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories has made this resource available on their website. 

Standing Committee on Government Operations, Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. Final Report on the Review of the Official Languages Act 2008-2009, Reality Check: Securing a Future for the Official Languages of the Northwest Territories. Committee Report 6-16(3), Tabled May 28, 2009.