SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Sharing and proper manners are some of the Dene lessons nine-year-old Brooke Yendo has learned at Mildred Hall School.

Brooke Yendo, 9, left, Christiana Football, 8 and Ehxea Antoine, 10 – all Grade 5/6 students at Mildred Hall School, said they learned the Dene laws in a kindergarten class, but the life lessons are reinforced in all of their classes, according to their principal Katey Simmons. - Evan Kiyoshi French/NNSL photo George Blondin's Dene Laws, as taught to mildred hall students Share what you have Help each other Love each other as much as possible Be respectful of elders and everything around you Sleep at night and work during the day Be polite and don't argue with anyone Young girls and boys should behave respectfully Pass on the teaching Be happy at all times Source: Shirley Desjarlais, aboriginal language teacher

Christiana Football, 9, another Grade 5 student at the school, said not talking when the teacher is talking is part of another Dene law - taken from George Blondin's book, When The World Was New: Stories of the Sahtu Dene (1990).

Blondin was a highly respected Dene elder and author who was born in the territory.

The rules are taught to students in kindergarten and reinforced throughout the rest of their time at the school, according to principal Katey Simmons.

"They take a Dene laws class in kindergarten, but the laws are integrated into our teaching in all of the classes," she said.

Yendo said in one of her classes this year a student didn't have scissors, so the teacher said, "Share what you have," which is rule number one according to Blondin's list.

Shirley Desjarlais, an aboriginal language teacher at the school, said kindergarten students talk about the concepts each week.

Traditionally, the laws weren't taught as laws, she said. Youngsters were given examples to follow and were rewarded when they behaved appropriately, but the laws themselves weren't introduced until later in life. Teens and young adults would be told the concepts they were learning were laws of their culture. They were taught the next step was for them to pass on what they'd learned to the next generations.

The laws teach the value of sharing, helping each other, treating each other like family, respecting elders and taking care of yourself physically, she said.

Simmons said aboriginal students make up more than two-thirds of their student population, but the laws aren't taught just for them.

"The lessons are good for any culture. It's all about respect, and respect of the land," said Simmons.

Simmons said the laws aren't just taught to students at her school. K'alemi Dene School, in Ndilo, and Kaw Tay Whee School, in Dettah, also teach the laws, she said.

At the kindergarten level, the teachers use stories to help get the concepts across, said Desjarlais. Many Dene legends follow the path of Yamohza, the giant "one who travels" from Dene legend, and explain how geographic landmarks around the territory came to be.

Simmons said the students learn about the sacred tree - the hiding place of Akaitcho (1796 - 1838), former-chief of the Yellowknives Dene - and why it is an important cultural landmark for the Dene today. But Simmons said the stories also often include morals.

The students learn about the Raven - "the trickster," - said Desjarlais. In one tale, recorded in Blondin's book, the Raven barricades caribou into a cave and then gathers all the food up - and after sharing it with his own family - he hides the rest for himself, she said.

"The other animals ... they tracked him and caught up with him and realized what he was doing, so they destroyed his hiding place, and took all he had gathered, and let all the caribou out," she said. "They told him that the creator put everything on this land so we all share everything."

Blondin's boiled-down list of Dene laws - featured in his book - came from a longer list the author found during his research, said Madelaine Pasquayak, an educational assistant at the school.

"Some indigenous cultures have 10 or more laws," she said. "(George Blondin) says there used to be 33 or 34 laws and then he reduced them down through all the stories to just nine. Pasquarak said people often draw a connection between the Dene laws and another famous list of rules.

"People always say they're like the 10 commandments," she said.

"But the 10 commandments start out negative, 'Thou shalt not.'"

She said the Dene laws are more positive, and it's assumed that everyone will follow them without too much trouble.

"There's an assumption everyone is going to be treating you the same way you treat them," she said.

Ehxea Antoine, 10, said his favourite part of his kindergarten Dene laws class was eating bannock.

We welcome your opinions. Click here to e-mail a letter to the editor.