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'Capturing a whole way of life' The GNWT recognizes 414 Gwich'in place names in the Gwich'in Settlement Area
Lyndsay Herman
Northern News Services
Published Monday, August 5, 2013
NORTHWEST TERRITORIES
It took more than two decades of work, but traditional names for places in the Gwich'in Settlement Area are on their way to preservation.
Tom Andrews, left, manager of the NWT Cultural Places Program and Ingrid Kritsch, research director for the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, take a look at a map at the Prince of Wales Northern Heritage Centre in Yellowknife, displaying the 414 place names officially approved by the GNWT. - Lyndsay Herman/NNSL photo |
Ingrid Kritsch and Alestine Andre, both employees of the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, have compiled the names, significance, stories, and, when possible, photographs of 900 traditional Gwich'in places in traditional Gwich'in Territory, which encompasses area in both the NWT and the Yukon.
In June, 414 of those place names, of more than 500 submitted, were officially recognized by the GNWT through the NWT Cultural Places Program. The recognition of the names means they will be included on future maps produced of the area.
"(The GNWT is) one of the few jurisdictions in the country that is so open to this kind of initiative," said Kritsch.
The names include Hehnjuu Deett'yah Njik, also known as the Sainville River, or Chii Chyaa Njik, also known as Pierre's Creek.
Three-hundred-twenty-six place names were for areas that did not already have an official name, 80 replaced past official names, and eight will be used in conjunction with another name.
Tom Andrews, manager of the NWT Cultural Places Program, said the only other official recognition of this size was granted to 306 Inuvialuktun place names in 2006.
He added some recent applications pending approval have also submitted high volumes of aboriginal place names.
Andre, who is Gwich'in, and Kritsch started the work while on a contract for an archeologist 21 years ago.
The archeologist had asked the pair to interview elders in Tsiigehtchic about significant locations to the east of the hamlet, where he was working, in order to gather context for what he was finding.
When the contract ended a year later, Gwich'in elders asked Kritsch and Andre to come back and do the same work for the rest of the Gwich'in traditional land.
"Elders felt the information was not being passed on and it was very important for future generations to know their culture and take pride in their deep connection with the land," said Kritsch.
Kitsch and Andre did return the following year, once previous work and education commitments came to an end.
When the Gwich'in Tribal Council created the Gwich'in Social and Cultural Institute, Kritsch and Andre were the first on staff.
"It is a pleasant surprise today to look back and really look at the work we carried our with our elders," said Andre.
Andre's childhood was surrounded by a lot of the information they later recorded during their 20 years of work.
"We grew up with stories and we grew up listening to the stories about hunting and travelling and we hear about the place names. The names always come up when you're telling travelling stories. Today, I can listen to the same travelling stories and I know exactly where those places are. It's like a mental map in my mind."
The next step for the project is what Andre and Kitsch are calling an online atlas, where viewers will be able to find the traditional name, information, and stories associated with places marked on a map of the Gwich'in Settlement Area.
"I hope it brings a lot of awareness to ... the whole of the Gwich'in people that live in our area, to know how extensively our people used the land," Andre said.
"It's information that will be there for our young people and for our people and those who are interested in our way, culture and language. It's like capturing a whole way of life."
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