This is my home land.
This is where my ancestors have always lived.
I know the land well. I know where I need to go to get what I need.
I never feel out of place here.
This is where I have a sense of responsibility and a role to play here.
The land is what gives us our identity as who we are as a people,
and the land is what nourishes us.
It's our fridge and our pillow. And if you don't take care of your fridge and your pillow,
you're going to go cold and hungry very quickly.
My name is Steven Nitah.
I'm from Lutselk'e, in the Northwest Territories of Canada.
We are on the east side of the Great Slave Lake
We're about 200 kilometers by boat to Yellowknife, the northern city of 20,000.
We are part of the Dene Nation
Lutselk'e is managed through the Lutselk'e Dene Band,
a band membership of 800 or so people right now.
It means a place of little fish or minnows.
It's kind of deceiving really since we have some of the trophy trout the world comes to catch.
Lutselk'e is a conduit that allows us to travel into the tundra and go into the south into the boreal--
and go west on the Great Slave Lake.
So it's a natural location to get us into our territories.
The community is ours. We make it work, and we feel a sense of responsibility
for each other and to the land.
I grew up on land. I was raised by grandparents and great grandparents.
This time of the year we would be making our way into the boreal for the trapping season.
You'd go there, and you'd survive. You'd bring a little bit of supplies with you, but you're
depending on the land to supply you with all the food you need.
It's the way of life that my great grandfathers lived.
Thaidene Nene is an area of our territory that identified that we want to manage using
the legislation that protects the land from industrial development.
I'm the chief negotiator for Lutselk'e Dene First Nations. I am working with a team that's
negotiating a national park reserve with Parks Canada and also another protected area
in partnership with the government of Northwest Territories.
Right behind us would be the proposed federal park.
Further to the west is the proposed territorial park.
And Lutselk'e will be pretty much right in the middle of it.
Thaidene Nene is different in the sense that Lutselk'e will plan
and manage the park using our own resources.
and it will be a joint venture type of arrangement between Lutselk'e and both levels of Crown,
federal and territorial government, where we will work together in the management and
operations of Thaidene Nene.
With Thaidene Nene, it allows us to protect the sacred and key areas that we use.
It allows us to think a little bit more open-mindedly about
development outside of Thaidene Nene.
But it takes both to create an economy up here.
It is a resource extractive economy.
We don't create things up here. We bring things in. And we want to bring tourists in to create
a balance, by way of a conservation economy.
Thaidene Nene is designed so that people can use it, continue to use it as they always have.
We encourage visitors to come and experience Thaidene Nene--
learn who we are and how we live and use the land.
It allows for our people today to feel comfort knowing that there's going to be land that's
going to be unspoiled for future generations to continue their relationship with the land.
I've worked with and lived with many elders that created the vision of Thaidene Nene for us.
And many of those have passed on. So the ability for me to work with my community and
my team to reach a successful conclusion to the creation of Thaidene Nene
means a great deal, and it's very special.
It’s the land -- and it's our culture and our language that feeds who we are, and--
that's our gift to the mosaic of human family.
That's where would we have an input of what's important to us.
The Northwest Territories is so special because of the environment.
The vastness of it kind of feeds the mentality of the people.
If you want to do anything, you got to do it in a big way to get it done.
And the people have accomplished some great stuff.
Lutselk'e is very happy to protect our neck of the boreal forest -- very happy to do that.