LUTSEL K'E/SNOWDRIFT - Nestled among towering pines to the extreme east of Great Slave Lake's east arm sits a tiny cabin, still unfinished. For the rest of the summer, it will be home to the ambassadors of Thaidene Nene, the Land of the Ancestors.

Eight members of the Lutsel K'e Dene First Nation, four adults and four youth, have been chosen to act as stewards and tour guides as part of the band's first Ni hat'ni Dene (Dene Watching the Land) program. The first team, two adults and two youth, went off to the camp July 1. After two weeks welcoming visitors to the Kache (Reliance) area, teaching them the history of the land, patrolling the area by boat and leading interpretive tours through the old village site, they'll switch with the next team and continue rotating until August.

This cabin near the east arm of Great Slave Lake will house employees of the new Nihat'ni Dene program, which began July 1 and aims to protect the land and teach visitors about Lutsel K'e Dene culture. - photo courtesy of Stephen Ellis

The band developed the tour in partnership with Lakehead University's school of outdoor recreation, tourism and parks. Funding for the program is coming from Parks Canada, the Canadian Boreal Initiative and Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Ocean Management, along with resources from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

Program manager Gloria Enzoe said the project has been in the works for a few years. Eventually, she hopes to expand the program to five locations in the area.

"People in Lutsel K'e are still very traditional and cultural-based. This is our lifestyle and our livelihood, and we would like to continue to live the way we have for generations to come," she said, adding the program is a way to teach visitors about the history of the land in a respectful manner.

"One of the things, as a community member, I worry about is over-advertising the area for tourists. I worry about that just a little bit because of Tsakui Theda (the Old Lady of the Falls)," Enzoe said.

The Old Lady of the Falls, located in the Reliance area of the East Arm of Great Slave Lake, is one of the most sacred healing places in Dene culture. People from across the territory make annual pilgrimages to pray there in early August.

"It makes me feel good knowing that they're coming and they understand that they have to have respect for the area," added Enzoe of the expected visitors. "My heart's full of joy to have my own people out there to be able to pass on the traditions and the culture to the youth, and in the future, as a dream, I would like to have (more) of our sacred areas protected."

Stephen Ellis, a project organizer, said the inspiration for the idea came from a similar program that's been running for more than 20 years in the Queen Charlotte Islands, B.C., called the Haida Watchmen program.

"Essentially we're taking the best parts of their program and implementing it over here," he said, adding that the Ni hat'ni Dene program is expected to help young people learn about their culture.

"It's no secret that the youth are becoming more and more town-centric and the language is not being transmitted as well, and so on. The idea is to instill some self-identity into those people, to bring them out to those areas where their grandparents came from and where their history was made and have them learn about that, because many of the youth don't really know it," he said.

Funding for the program is coming from Parks Canada, the Canadian Boreal Initiative and Aboriginal Aquatic Resources and Ocean Management, along with resources from the Department of Fisheries and Oceans.

The Ni hat'ni Dene program goes hand-in-hand with Lutsel K'e's push to have the east arm area designated as a national park.