Lutsel K’e Dene, Northwest Territories
Title: Learning From the Changes: Climate, Land, and People
Action: The Lutsel K’e Dene relate being on the land to being where they belong. They are happier, healthier and more at peace when living their day-to-day lives in the bush. Unfortunately health and wellness activities that happen in Lutsel K’e, often do not include an on-the-land component to them. This has resulted in the inability of programs and workshops to identify and disseminate information linking health, wellness and climate change together.
The purpose of this project is to bring together elders, youth and adults in the community to raise awareness and promote more education concerning climate change, specifically local and pragmatic impacts on the Lutsel K’e Dene people. The project is designed with 4 goals: Education and awareness of the various aspects of climate change; Knowledge transfer between elders on youth; Spiritual and emotional healing on the land; and Establishing a baseline for health adaptation in the community (health and wellness plan).
Results: A summer on-the-land camp was organized. Ecology North was contracted to provide training on the basic concepts related to climate change to help participants improve their understanding of climate change. Elders related oral accounts of land conditions in the past and youth were able to discern differences between current conditions and those described by the Elders. Knowledge translation between youth and Elders was achieved.
Outputs: The community produced a report of activities and results.