Jorge Barrera
Northern News Services

Snowdrift (Aug 27/01) - One of the territory's Dene bands is helping to forge a national aboriginal body which they hope will create a new voice for the Chipewyan people in Canada.

James Marlowe, spokesperson with the Lutsel'Ke band, said Chipewyan from across the country laid the groundwork for the formation of a political and cultural body at a recent national gathering in Wollaston Lake, Sask.

"We're hoping to be incorporated by 2004," said Marlowe.

The yearly gathering, called Denesuline, brings together Chipewyan from the territory, Alberta, Saskatchewan and Manitoba. It ran from Aug. 13 to 19. The gathering began in 1986.

Marlowe said formalizing their ties with southern Chipewyan bands will not affect their relationship with Treaty 8 Dene and their land claims.

"They're separate," said Marlowe.

Marlowe said the move is about preserving and strengthening language and culture for a community that's culturally isolated in the North.

"All the drumming here is mixed with Dogrib. Down there we heard Chipewyan songs," said Marlowe who noted the predominance of Chipewyan language at the gathering. A detail that was not lost on other band members in attendance.

"The children speaking in Chipewyan was like singing," said Henry Basil, a band member who attended the conference.

Exactly what role a Chipewyan nation will play in the future of the Lutsel'Ke band is still uncertain, said Marlowe, but he believes that with time, the body will assume a more political bent.

"The good of an organization is that someday it will act as a governing body and our voice will be heard in regards to resource management," said Marlowe.

The organization also hopes to build ties with the Navajo, a politically active aboriginal group from southern US.

Lutsel'Ke will play host to the gathering in 2003.

After the gathering the Lutsel'Ke group was stuck in Fond Du Lac, Sask. for four days because their flight couldn't take off due to bad weather.