Yellowknives Dene knowledge digitized
Database to include detailed caribou-data, says traditional specialist
Evan Kiyoshi French
Northern News Services
Wednesday, January 20, 2016
SOMBA K'E/YELLOWKNIFE
Decades of "incredibly valuable" data about caribou migration, ancient gravesites and more collected by the Yellowknives Dene First Nation is being digitized, according to the community's traditional specialist.
Randy Freeman says information about caribou was discovered as staff members began the enormous task of compiling more than 40 years of Yellowknives Dene knowledge - gathered in reports and maps, plus audio and video recordings. The First Nation secured a federal grant to create a Geographic Information System (GIS) database, Freeman said, and began the lengthy task of uploading data earlier this month.
"It's a massive undertaking," he said.
It will take up to two years to finish the work and the database will mostly be for "in-house" use, said Freeman.
When exploration companies are approaching the Yellowknives Dene about potential mineral deposits, for example, the database will help to identify gravesites, traditional trails and animal habitats that need to be protected.
"There are all those sorts of assets we really do need to know the exact locations of. So that's what we're doing. It's actually very, very exciting," said Freeman.
Freeman said he couldn't reveal how much money was granted.
"It's enough to get the project going," he said.
"And we anticipate it'll go for several years. We just came across some incredibly valuable caribou data, with caribou routes and all sorts of caribou stuff from the 1980s mostly. So from a time when the caribou were numerous and they were coming into Yellowknife and what routes they took to cross the lakes. Perhaps in the future they will be doing it again and maybe it would be useful in recovery. We'll have a public web access to that caribou information."
He added that information could come online next fall.
Joe Campbell - president of TerraX Minerals Inc. - said GIS is the standard mapping tool used by exploration and mining companies. He said the systems allow users to put an infinite number of layers on top of a map, which could include the natural placement of minerals or the co-ordinates of culturally-significant sites. Marking traditional waypoints on digital maps will help exploration companies quickly identify sensitive spots, he said.
"We co-operated with (the Yellowknives Dene) in the recent past in terms of trading some of our information with their information. The mining industry today is almost solely driven by GIS systems."
Campbell said mining outfits are required to know how their operations will impact the environment and First Nations and GIS records of traditional knowledge will help them quickly learn about lands they're interested in developing.
"This is a process groups in Nunavut have gone through over the last several years," he said. "Theirs are much more sophisticated now than obviously they were at the beginning."
Judy McLinton, spokesperson for the Department of Environment and Natural Resources (ENR), stated in an e-mail that GIS is an important tool for wildlife management.
"The proposed GIS database will be very useful for both ENR and the YKDFN in managing caribou," she wrote. "ENR is also digitizing wildlife management research done before GIS technology was available."
She said the department has been using GIS for caribou management since the 1980s.
"ENR is committed to using the best scientific, traditional and local knowledge available in its decision-making," she wrote. "Digitizing traditional knowledge will allow all wildlife managers, including ENR, aboriginal governments, renewable resource boards and council, to compare all available information when making management decisions."
