This document describes developing the concept of the Délı̨nę Knowledge Centre, a project which never came to fruition but was intended to be a place for the integration of Dene and scientific knowledge. It would have addressed the themes of culture, health, and environment, while providing a location and impetus for research, intergenerational knowledge transmission, and capacity building for self-government and other future projects.

Abstract: 

The Déline Knowledge Centre vision and mission were developed through three community focus groups during January 31-February 5, 2003 as well as a facilitated workshop and public meeting on February 18-20, 2003. This article provides a brief description of the Déline Knowledge Centre and its benefits to Déline, other northern communities, and all Canadians based on the planning and activities to date that have taken place primarily within our community of Déline.

Our community of Déline, “Where the River Flows,” in the Sahtu Region of the Northwest Territories, is home to approximately 650 Dene, Métis and non-Aboriginal people. It is the only human settlement on Sahtu/Great Bear Lake, the largest lake in Canada and ninth largest in the world in terms of surface area (31,326 km) and volume. Situated within the Arctic Circle, it is the largest lake in the world that is still in a relatively pristine condition, despite historical uranium mining impacts. The Sahtugot’ine have been living with the long-term impacts of the mine that operated at Port Radium on the eastern shores of Great Bear Lake. Port Radium was originally mined for radium in the 1930s and later for uranium ore, all of which was utilized in the atomic bomb dropped on Hiroshima during World War II. The mine site and surrounding area are now radioactive.

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Read this article for free on Pimatisiwin. 

Bayha, Denise, Walter Bayha, Irene Betsidea, Ken Caine, Dennis Kenny, Edith Mackeinzo, Deborah Simmons, and Marlene Tutcho. “The Délı̨nę Knowledge Centre: From Vision to Reality.” Pimatisiwin: A Journal of Aboriginal and Indigenous Community Health 1, no. 2 (2004): 163-172.

From Abstract:

This Masters Degree Project proposes and field tests an evaluation framework designed for renewable resource co-management boards and the Sahtu Renewable Resources
Board (SRRB) in particular. The framework builds on previous co-management evaluations completed in Northern Canada, as well as other more recent methods of organizational assessment. As a partnership was formed with the SRRB, the framework was tailored to reflect Board input and the specifics of this co- management regime. Field testing this evaluation framework yielded general lessons and suggestions for implementing future co- management assessments, in addition to specific findings and recommendations for the SRRB.

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This resource can be requested from the University of Calgary: http://hdl.handle.net/1880/40249

Bateyko, Darwin. Evaluating co-management in the Sahtú: a framework for analysis. Master’s Thesis, University of Calgary, 2003.

This document contains the minutes of a 2001 advisory board meeting, including remarks from Glenna Hansen (Commissioner of the Northwest Territories), Fibbie Tatti, Bill Erasmus, Elder Elizabeth Mackenzie, and a closing prayer by Andy Norwegian. The first section of the report covers language updates from each Official Language region. The second addresses Advisory Board discussions and recommendations for amendments to the OLA.

The advisory board concludes that the OLA lacks an Aboriginal Language Perspective and assigns lower status to Aboriginal Languages. They recommend that the Office of the Languages Commissioner should have expanded roles and responsibilities including extensive research, monitoring, evaluation, coordination, and planning. In addition, they comment on numerous other aspects of the act. Recommendations include: that language rights not be based on population size; that the Act apply to community governments and the private sector and be enforceable as such; that information about the act, and translated government information, be more widely developed and made accessible; and other important items.

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This document has been archived by the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment.

Office of the Languages Commissioner of the Northwest Territories [Fibbie Tatti]. Advisory Board Meeting October 23 & 24, 2001. Tabled Document, Yellowknife, 2002.

This report describes the status of Aboriginal languages in the NWT, before addressing the complex question of literacy as functional or “school” based. Its thesis is that in a changing world, multiple types of literacy are needed to navigate life in the Northwest Territories, taught both through formal education and through cultural literacy modeling by elders and parents. The authors encourage NWT communities to create and apply their own models to teach literacy, develop culturally appropriate materials, and seek the council’s support in areas where it can be most useful. To achieve this, they consulted with language coordinators and positioned themselves as a place for researching and sharing literacy models and practices.

From Introduction: 

The NWT Literacy Council has supported literacy development in all official languages since 1989. Most of our work focuses on English literacy, but we have also supported Aboriginal literacy directly. We know that people in the Aboriginal language communities believe it is important and urgent to maintain, revitalize and promote Aboriginal languages and literacy, and so we feel it is time for us as a literacy organization to try to improve our support in this area.

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This report is available on the NWT Literacy Council website. 

Northwest Territories Literacy Council. Multiple Literacies: Improving our support for Aboriginal literacy in the NWT. Yellowknife, March 2002.

Blomqvist’s thesis assesses a culture-based correctional program for Aboriginal offenders in the NWT. Participants take place in bush camps, where they practice land-based skills. Blomqvist finds that while the programs do not address all of the participants’ needs, they do allow individuals to re-establish relationships with family and community, important for creating a life after release. This research was conducted largely in Fort Good Hope.

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This thesis is not currently available online, but is listed on the Trent University database and may be obtained by contacting the author for permission. 

Blomqvist, Jennifer. Exploring the Interface Between Corrections and Culture: A case study of correctional reform in the Northwest Territories. Master’s Thesis, Trent University, 2002.

This project gathered regional feedback on the Sahtú Land Use Plan. The survey was developed to educate people about land designation and policy options and allow respondents to provide input. Participant data would help define the criteria for multi-use areas under the plan. The team used interviews and workshops (in all Sahtú communities except for Colville Lake) and sampled 15% of the population. Respondents identified important sites in the land, along with concerns about the environment and cultural conservation, and the importance of balanced development.

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This resource was found in the Circumpolar Collection at the University of Alberta Cameron Library, call number E 99 B376 M37 2001.

Blomqvist, Jennifer. Mapping our Future Survey, Report on Community Interviews and Workshops April-May 2001. Fort Good Hope: Sahtú Land Use Planning Board, Sahtú Nek’e Ɂeghálats’eyeda Kesórı́daot’sedéhɂa Ke, 2001.

T’Seleie spent five days in each Sahtú community, speaking with people to create an inventory of existing Scientific and Traditional Ecological Knowledge materials. She provides a chart of community projects to do with land use and traditional knowledge, and adds more detailed notes about relevant workshops and projects in her appendix. Some key examples include the Dene Nation Land Use Mapping Project (1979-83), the Fort Good Hope Language Group (1982-84) formed by Cynthia Chambers and funded by the NWT Language Commission, and the Colville Lake Fort Good Hope Traditional Ecological Knowledge Project (1989-1993).

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A physical copy of this document was accessed in UAlberta Cameron Library, Circumpolar Collection (accessed Jul. 2017). Call number E 78 N79 T79 2000.

T’Seleie, Bella. Land Use Information in the Sahtú Region, A Community Based Inventory. Tulıt’a: Sahtú Renewable Resources Board, 2000.

This manual contains a number of useful tools for language revitalization, including a historical assessment of language shift in Canada and a language vitality chart. Regarding Dene Language, some useful facts and statistics are expressed in the section on the status of Aboriginal Languages in the Northwest Territories:

• The text lists the 1996 home-language to mother-tongue ratio for North Slavey as 59%. While it has 1986 data for the other official languages, it adds that North Slavey data “has only recently been gathered through the Canada census…. The results of the Census data from 1991 and 1996 are inconclusive with respect to language shift.” (20)
• A 1992 Language Report interviewed 160 people in Délı̨nę, Tulı́t’a, and Fort Good Hope, to determine that 63% of respondents learned North Slavey as a first language, 54% was their most fluent language, and 45% use it most frequently at home (20).

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This resource is available on the NWT Literacy Council website.

Crosscurrent Associates. Languages of the Land: A Resource Manual for Aboriginal Language Activists. Yellowknife: NWT Literacy Council, 1999.

This paper discusses the tension between official bilingualism and minority language rights in Canada. Its overview of the first decade of the Official Languages Act in the Northwest Territories highlights key strengths and opportunities for improvement in Official Languages policy.

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Fettes, Mark. “Life on the Edge: Canada’s Aboriginal Languages Under Official Bilingualism” In Language and Politics in the United States and Canada: Myths and Realities, edited by Thomas K. Ricento and Barbara Burnaby, 117-149. Mahwah, N.J.: Lawrence Erlbaum, 1998.

Read Fettes' chapter in the Google Books preview. 

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.

From Introduction: “This report is available in French. It is also made available in other NWT Official Languages upon a reasonable request to: the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment. Language Services Section.” (1)

Notable events from this reporting year:
Dene Kede curriculum grades 7-9 was still in development at this time, through consultations with Elders and the committee. The draft version was piloted in the next fiscal year, “with field evaluations completed late in the 1997/98 fiscal year. Several teaching units were developed to support the curriculum.” (4)
Teaching and learning centres continued to develop in materials and programs, with DECs. Included “development of teaching kits in North Slavey (Traditional Dene Food Kit, Traditional Dene Games).” (5)
The Conclusion closes by recognizing the simultaneous importance of government services and the need for a larger community role “in the delivery of language services and programs, and the establishment of priorities for language development, that many NWT official languages will survive and may one day flourish again.” (20)

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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. Older reports are archived with the Department of Education, Culture, and Employment. 

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 1997.