John Curran
Northern News Services

Fort Franklin (Aug 29/05) - Delegates left the Dene National Assembly in Deline earlier this month with a renewed hope for unity and dedication to preserving their culture.

A big part of the gathering was the country food. Deline residents put a big emphasis on ensuring there was plenty of caribou and fish for Dene visiting the shores of Great Bear Lake.

As the hosting chief, Walter Bayha was extremely happy with how things went during the Aug. 15-19 event.

"After talking to the other chiefs, a lot agree we need to go back to basics with the assembly," he said. "We centred much of it on culture and building relationships ... that's what people really enjoyed."

He said this approach is what made the Dene Nation so powerful in the 1970s.

Among the relationships he's particularly focused on strengthening are those with the Dogrib communities of the Tlicho.

"About 25 per cent of the people in Deline are direct Dogrib descendants," he said. "We also share resources, the main one being we both hunt the Bathurst caribou herd."

He also points to Deline's four spiritual leaders or prophets - ?Ahtseo Ayha, ?Ahtseo Bayha, ?Ahtseo Andre and ?Ahtseo Naedzo.

"Two of them moved here from the Tlicho area," he said. "My father and grandfathers had strong relationships with the Tlicho and we need to get back to that."

The show goes on

With Colville Lake Chief Richard Kochon preparing for his wedding and unable to attend, he sent his uncle Charlie Kochon as a proxy.

"I was sick with the flu the whole time, but when you're representing the chief you have to be dead before you don't show up," said Charlie Kochon, adding he's been taking lots of spruce gum to help clear his sinuses.

The biggest discussions he was concerned with centred around the proposed Mackenzie Valley Pipeline and oil and gas development.

"Some of the chiefs aren't supporting development and some are," he said. "Because of development the caribou aren't coming back to Colville Lake."

The Arctic Indigenous Youth Alliance had a seat at the table this time around and that's something Kochon said was great to see.

"The youth are opposed to the pipeline," he said.

While the assembly stopped short of passing any resolution supporting this view, Kochon said everyone supported their right to voice their opinion.

"You have to go back to the time of the Berger Inquiry to see a time when our youth came together in this way," he said. "It's very encouraging."

Devolution debate

Talk of devolution and the transfer of province-like powers to the GNWT also got a mixed reception, said Kochon.

"There were people who said it would hurt outstanding land claims," he said.

"People couldn't agree to it, so we abstained from any decision."