Culture Camp
Saoyú-ʔehdacho National Historic Site
“We are part of the Land and the Land is part of us”
Funding from the Stories of Canada Program supported the Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government’s vision to create a new Cultural Camp in the community of Délı̨nę – the small but vibrant Dene community of 500 people on the beautiful shores of Sahtú – Great Bear Lake.
Délı̨nę is also where the Saoyú-ʔehdacho National Historic Site office is located.
Saoyú-ʔehdacho National Historic Site exemplifies a new approach to managing Parks Canada places – cooperatively managed by the Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government and Parks Canada. The site is located on the traditional territory of the Sahtúgot’ı̨nę (Sahtú Dene people) within the Sahtú Settlement Region.
Saoyú - Grizzly Bear Mountain - and ʔehdacho - Scented Grass Hills – are two peninsulas that reach into the Sahtú from the south and west. They are significant cultural sites for the Sahtúgot’ı̨nę.
(Map 11,451 KB JPG)
“The connection between the Sahtú and the Sahtúgot’ı̨nę is underscored in the names itself. That we are part of the Land and the Land is part of us. We are one and an extension of the other.”
- Mandy Bayha, Director of Culture, Language, and Spirituality Department, Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government [2021]
Saoyú-ʔehdacho National Historic Site and other sacred sites on Sahtú are accessible only by boat in the summer, or a long journey by snowmobile in the winter. For many community members, being out on the land can be prohibitively expensive with the cost of equipment and fuel, and requires knowledge, skill, planning, and resources.
Délįnę’s Cultural Camp - “A space for healing & reconciliation through our perspectives”
Conceived of by Délı̨nę’s leaders as a way for the community to have access to a traditional camp within town, the Cultural Camp, completed in 2020, has hosted many events where community members participate in traditional cultural activities in an easily accessible setting.
Three McPherson tents and a large wooden tepee equipped with stoves, outdoor fire grills and a picnic area provide the space needed to host moose hide tanning workshops, storytelling and teachings, drum making workshops, as well as community gatherings and feasts.
“The Cultural Camp is an intentional movement to create space for healing and reconciliation to happen but through our own perspectives and culturally safe spaces. It is also a space that will serve to help us build back and make connections that have been lost for some time i.e. traditional skills building.”
- Mandy Bayha, Director of Culture, Language, and Spirituality Department, Délı̨nę Got’ı̨nę Government [2021]
Wooden tripod for cooking and wood pile at the Cultural Camp in Délı̨nę for programming. The wood is also available to community members in case of emergencies; such as power outages, where furnaces stop running and winter temperatures regularly fall between -30 to -50.
The Camp provides a comfortable space for Elders to share cultural teachings, traditional practices and values integral to Sahtúgot’ı̨nę ways of life, and for youth to feel connected to, and part of something unique and special.
Large wooden teepee and McPherson tents equipped with wood stoves at the Cultural Camp.
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