Land of the People
In grade school history classes, Canadians learn about the Northwest Territories as a vast, undiscovered expanse occupied by nameless Indigenous people and fur-seeking settlers employed by the Hudson’s Bay Company. What was once called the North-Western Territory covered most of the land west of pre-confederation Upper Canada. As the provinces formed, the region shrunk and became the Northwest Territories: a swath of terrain where 45,000 people are scattered across a landscape twice the size of Texas.
It is a place that exists out of sight and out of mind to most of Canada: an annexed territory of the Commonwealth whose name is a geographic reference from Ottawa. To many, it is an inhospitable afterthought.
Those who know the Northwest Territories know better.
The Dene call it Denendeh, which means land of the people. It is a place where government and resource extraction are the economic engines, but it is also a place where indigenous culture, language and identity is resilient.
In the summer of 2005, I was on my first assignment in the small community of Behchokǫ̀. I was there to photograph a celebration for the newly ratified Tłı̨chǫ Agreement: a watershed moment for self-governance of indigenous people impacted by Treaty 11.
I stood outside the band office. The smell of fried fish lingered nearby. Drummers warmed up their caribou hide drums at a fire, while other men smoked Canadian Classics on the porch of the community hall. Women gathered under a tent and joked together in their language — Tłı̨chǫ Yatıı̀ — while kids played and elders people-watched in the shade.
I approached a group of teens sitting at a picnic table near the lake shore. We chatted about my camera, hockey and the weather. Then I asked them what this celebration meant to them.
One of the boys spoke.
“We’re finally going to start living our way of life,” he said. “We don’t need people from Ottawa babysitting us.”
I was caught off-guard. I didn’t expect such a reply coming from someone so young.
“What are you going to do after high-school?” I asked. “You’re smart, you should go to university.”
“I don’t think so,” he replied.
“I’m going to be the chief one day,” he said. “And this is my land, why would I want to be anywhere else?”
---
Land of the People is a look at life in the Northwest Territories and an exploration of its identity. For 14 years I’ve been living as a guest on Chief Drygeese territory in the community of Sǫ̀mbak'è, known more commonly as Yellowknife. My work has taken me to communities, remote mine sites, far-flung bush camps and important ancestral lands in the territory. I hope this project helps Canadians get reacquainted with the Northwest Territories and amplifies the stories of the people who call it home.