Within a month of arriving in Yellowknife, I started work with the Indian Brotherhood of the NWT – now the Dene Nation — as a community development worker to assist with the operations of the first Joint Dene Metis Assembly in Fort Good Hope.
Fort Good Hope is a Dene community located on the shores of the Deh Cho (Mackenzie River). I was hired by the beautiful and very capable Georgina Blondin. One of the first tasks at hand was to charter Twin Otters for transport of delegates from all communities.
It was quite intimidating. The only air travel I had undertaken was the flight to Yellowknife and a flight to The Pas, Man., to escort a young girl going home just a couple of months prior. Having some panic during the takeoff and normal flight sways and dips, this little girl patted my hand to tell me things would be OK!
Thankfully, having met people in the aviation industry upon my arrival, I drove to Ward Air to talk and learn about the capacity and load limits of Twin Otters and how to make arrangements to charter them. I then chartered all available Twin Otters and smaller planes from Yelllowknife, Inuvik and Norman Wells on wheels and floats to ferry delegates or freight directly or through Norman Wells into Fort Good Hope.
Arriving early, tents were set up on the river’s shore, as Fort Good Hope did not have a hotel. Elders were booked with families. Non-perishable food supplies started to arrive and when meat and other fresh items were brought in, we used the large community cold storage and freezer built years earlier to save food for people in homes without such.
There was no large community hall. All the meetings were held outdoors beside the Deh Cho.
This joint meeting was an achievement in term of the Dene and Metis working together on a joint land claim and eventual self-government deal. It was exhilarating to see the determination of the Dene not to be betrayed and settled upon reserves under the Indian Act and to see the Metis take their place as a formally recognized Indigenous group with rights of their own.
I was a logistics person to begin with but quickly realized that many hands were needed prior, during and after the assembly. From sun-up to sun-down – and we know the sun doesn’t go down farther North — I flew about doing all things that needed to be done or to assist others. One person told me that all he saw was my hair flying “nearly horizontal.”
I didn’t get to hear much of the proceedings, but from time to time would be able to listen to the impassioned speeches of delegates either directly or through translation with huge hope for change and direction to proceed.
Witness to history
I knew I was a witness to history. From my time in Manitoba, I understood that reserve life under the Indian Act was to be forgotten as soon as the people were moved on what now is known as “open-sky prisons.” I knew the Metis were often confined to federal lands, meaning on the highways and railway allowances as they were often not permitted to live in communities. Life for the people was going to be different in the North!
The governments begrudgingly accepted the fact the normal pace of resettling or unsettling the Dene and Metis people would not be the same as it had been in the south. This change resulted, I noted, at times of a build-up of resentment from the general public-at-large.
I became ill from working full steam for so many long and hard hours.
Upon feeling better, I returned to the Gold Range. One night I was on the floor and noted an elderly couple standing and looking in my direction. I kept on serving, thinking they must be looking for someone else or a place to sit. I served at least two trays of drinks before I asked them if they needed help.
They both smiled at me and shook my hand. They wanted to thank me for all the hard work I had done for the people in Fort Good Hope. I felt honoured that people would patiently wait just to say “thank you.” Hard workers recognize other hard workers.
It was disappointing to see the comprehensive land claim/self-government initiative break down several years after the assembly. Both groups had real fears that existing rights would vanish in the fine print of the written agreements or the simple attrition of governments to deny Dene/Metis governments to be created and flourish. Regional joint agreements would take place to challenge or jointly deal with large projects.
The fight continues, yet I think the governments appreciate the challenge of the day has created a more respectful change in operations to promote a more respectful relationship.
It was at this time, I decided to live in the North.