Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

In 2011-2012, the Sahtu Members of the NWT Official and Aboriginal Languages Boards were Theresa Etchinelle and Dora Grandejambe, with an alternate of Ann Kochon Orlias. 

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The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2012.

This paper describes the process of developing the NWT Ice Patch Study with Elders from Tulı́t’a, and the researchers’ efforts to incorporate traditional knowledge into their interpretation of archeological data. They interviewed Elders, ran science camps with Elders and youth, and involved oral histories and traditional land-use mapping in their fieldwork. The team spatially recorded oral traditions about hunting caribou in the mountains and on ice patches, contextualizing these histories with maps of place names, trails, hunting areas, resource-gathering areas, etc. Ice patches were of particular interest for the archaeological remnants of both historical caribou and their hunters.

During the study, the researchers recorded a number of Dene terms about Ice Patch conditions and other snow/ice terms (p 39).

Conditions of snow (zha)

zhahdewé                    “big snow,” a deep blanket of snow from a storm (a)

k’ahbahchoré              “ptarmigan feathers,” light, fluffy snow (a)

shiré                              dry, flaky top layer of snow (a)

fileh                              loose, crystalline snow layer below shiré (a)

náegah                         powdery snow (a)

tahsilé                          hard snow (a)

zhaaɂurééłįh               melting snow (a)

zhahtsele                     heavy, wet snow (a)

įzé                                 slushy snow (a)

dazhá                           snow on tree branches (a)

zhatú                           water from melted snow (a)

Ice or snow features

zhaayáfelah                ice patch (a)

łubee                           glacier (a)

łuugháh                      rough, broken ice on a river, making it difficult for travel (a)

p’enii                           frozen overflow, where water from below the snow or ice has seeped to surface and frozen (a)

tegahtú                       wet overflow (a)

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Thomas D. Andrews, Glen MacKay, Leon Andrew, Wendy Stephenson, Amy Barker, Claire Alix and the Shúhtagot’ine Elders of Tulita. “Alpine Ice Patches and Shúhtagot’ine Land Use in the Mackenzie and Selwyn Mountains, Northwest Territories, Canada.” Arctic 65, no. 1 (2012): 22-42.

The speakers begin by introducing themselves in their own languages. Fibbie introduces Délı̨nę, the community, geography, population, and other characteristics such as subsistence. She then moves to a discussion of Sahtú Dene language, and the age differences in language use. The community tries to mitigate intergenerational language loss with on the land programs for their children, both formal and informal, community-driven. Going on to the land during the summer is often lead by families, who still do a lot of harvesting on the land in their traditional regions. Ingeborg then discusses how people in Délı̨nę talk about place, from the point of view of a linguist. Tatti and Fink worked with several Elders and three youth participants to run a workshop in Délı̨nę in November 2012. The workshop had intergenerational participants work with audiovisual recording technology and Google Earth to record place name knowledge.

Abstract:

This paper highlights the benefits of a community-based approach (see Czaykowska-Higgins, 2009; Vallejos, 2014) in a language documentation project in the Dene community of Délı̨nę, Canada. It describes the collaborative efforts of a community researcher and an outside linguist to develop joint research interests and ground them with other community members in the specific cultural setting in order to benefit all parties. We first outline our project and the factors that contributed to the success of our research approach, focusing on an inter-generational workshop. We then introduce our results and demonstrate how the setup of the research brought forward crucial insights to the specific knowledge of place in Dene. 

After identifying with elders of the community historically and culturally important geographic locations, including the traditional name attached to each location, we learned from the elders the stories behind the name of each location. The deeper meanings of these stories are known to people who lived on the land but are often unknown to younger generations. We developed a methodology bringing together elders and younger generations in an inter-generational workshop and actively engaging both in the research process in order to contribute to capacity building in language documentation and revitalization. The workshop was facilitated by a community researcher and held in Dene to enable the documentation of interactional patterns and communicative practices. At the same time the outside linguist trained youth participants in language documentation methodology (eg. multi-media recording, Google Earth), which they were able to perform independently by the end of the workshop. Since many of the younger generation are not fluent in Dene, English summaries were given throughout the workshop. These summaries allowed the younger generation to follow the content of the stories while also witnessing cultural protocols. Despite the challenges of the language barrier, the presence of the younger generation highly contributed to the motivation of the elders.

In analyzing the complex relationships between an outside researcher and community researchers from diverse generations and backgrounds as well as among community researchers we conclude that it was the research set up and the reciprocal relationships, as well as the observation of cultural protocols that proved to be crucial in the production and analysis of natural, reliable and validated language materials. In giving concrete examples and reflecting the challenges of our approach this paper contributes to the theory of developing effective research approaches that engage citizen scientists from various backgrounds.

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Tatti, Fibbie and Ingeborg Fink. “Towards a multi-layered understanding of place in Dene: An inter-generational and inter-disciplinary approach to Dene narratives.” Presented at the 4^th International Conference on Language Documentation and Conservation (ICLDC), 12 March 2015.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

Access this Resource:

The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2011.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

One important excerpt from the 2010 report: 

“In the latter part of the 1990s, the Department of Education, Culture and Employment (ECE) consulted with communities on a variety of issues while developing its long-term strategic plan. As a result, a Strategic Plan for Aboriginal Languages was developed through the document: “Revitalizing, Enhancing and Promoting Aboriginal Languages: Strategies for Supporting Aboriginal Languages”. This document outlined what the GNWT was currently doing and planning to do to support the vision of healthy Aboriginal languages. The document was intended to be a “work in progress‟ and modified as Aboriginal language communities continued to articulate their needs, define their priorities and take greater responsibility for achieving their language goals…
The contract for the Review of the Strategy for Supporting Aboriginal Languages of the NWT was awarded to the Genesis Group of Yellowknife. The final Report was submitted in November 2009. The recommendations and information from this Report forms part of the development of a GNWT Aboriginal Languages Strategy.” (4)

Access this Resource:

The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2010.

The NWT Language Plan was developed collaboratively, using the results of a 2010 language symposium. Its vision statement reads: "Aboriginal languages are used extensively, on a daily basis, to communicate in NWT homes and communities, as well as within the organizations and agencies providing services to the public." (7) This report counts 1,167 people able to converse in Sahtú Dene Kedǝ, with an age distribution better balanced than some other language communities. For the Sahtú region, a few key challenges are identified: the value parents place on dominant languages, communications and technology (most media are available in English and French), Residential School legacy, different dialects (purism impacting language learning), and collaborating across so many different organizations and people.

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The Government of the Northwest Territories has made this report available on their website: http://www.assembly.gov.nt.ca/tabled-documents/northwest-territories-aboriginal-languages-plan-shared-responsibility.

Government of the Northwest Territories. Northwest Territories Aboriginal Languages Plan: A Shared Responsibility. Yellowknife, 2010.

This document is an immensely useful resource for teachers and students of Indigenous languages in the Northwest Territories. It provides a collection of language books published in: Cree, North Slavey, South Slavey, Chipewyan, Tłįchǫ̨, and Gwich’in. Teaching and Learning Centres, other Community Language Groups, and numerous school boards and Divisional Education Councils contributed to its creation, with sponsorship from the GNWT and the Government of Canada through the Department of Canadian Heritage.

The Dene Godǝ, North Slavey portion of the annotated bibliography contains numerous resources that are not already referenced in this Dene Kedǝ to Dene Ts’ı̨lı̨ database. 

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The Yamózha Kų́ę́ Society has made this resource available open access here.

Visit the SSDEC's full list of resources, including other annotaded bibliographies: https://www.ssdec.net/aboriginal-language

Kaulback, Brent. Resources for Teaching Aboriginal Languages in the Northwest Territories: An Annotated Bibliography. Hay River and Fort Smith: Yamózha Kų́ę́ Society/South Slave Divisional Education Council, 2010.

The Standing Committee on Government Operations evaluated the Official Languages Act. The Committee encountered a number of key concerns during the hearings they held for this review. The lack of an implementation plan for the OLA, along with an absence of regulations, meant that standards for OL services were inconsistent and inaccessible to the public. Aboriginal languages speakers identified inequalities in support for French and their own languages, and a lack of communication between Aboriginal language communities and the NWT. The Aboriginal Languages Board did not succeed in bridging this gap.

Other challenges identified included:
- A lack of Interpreter/Translators in the health and justice systems, need for increased terminology development
- A lack of accountability for Government commitments
- A widening intergenerational communication gap
- Under resourced Aboriginal languages curriculum development
- Insufficient languages instruction, insufficient funding, resources, and training for instructors
- Funding for community languages programs is inconsistent, minimal, and causes interruptions in programs, prevents expansion, does not consider needs fairly, does not allow for year-round programming, and is inaccessible (information is difficult to find).

The committee also named some improvements, mostly stemming from the department of Education, Culture, and Employment:
- language nest program introduction
- Dene Kede curriculum implementation
- progresses in teacher training

One section of the report describes a meeting with Sahtú community members in Délı̨nę, 2008. Representatives emphasized on the land language and culture communication, and called for compulsory Aboriginal language instruction. They also commented that Dene Kede curriculum should be supported by Divisional Education Councils, and that school staff needed more support and training to use the curriculum properly. They also identified the challenge of having many fluent speakers without teaching certification, and the challenge of certified Dene teachers using English as a primary language. They called for more funding, more community involvement, and they did not know who the Languages Commissioner was or what their mandate and activities might be. They also requested more access to Interpreter/Translators (and training for them) particularly in the Justice system. (61-63)

In addition, the report contains some comments on Dene Kede curriculum from various study participants, replicated here.

- Tłįchǫ̨ delegates say their Language Centre really helped with implementing Dene Kede curriculum. They developed cultural resource kits, worked with teachers, developed teaching materials for different units, and run a one-week on-the-land orientation for new teachers. (55)
- Sahtú Delegates: Dene Kede needs more support from DECs.
- Summary (all): Lack of resources, supporting materials for Dene Kede implementation (75)

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The Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories has made this resource available on their website. 

Standing Committee on Government Operations, Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories. Final Report on the Review of the Official Languages Act 2008-2009, Reality Check: Securing a Future for the Official Languages of the Northwest Territories. Committee Report 6-16(3), Tabled May 28, 2009.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

Access this Resource:

The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2009.

Every fiscal year, the Government of the Northwest Territories issues a record of measures taken to implement the Official Languages Act. Each report details developments in both French and Aboriginal language programming. Many programs focus on connecting youth with elders, training teachers, developing curriculum, and providing government services in as many languages as possible.

Access this Resource:

The Government of the Northwest Territories makes reports from the last decade available here: https://www.ece.gov.nt.ca/en/services/francophone-affairs-secretariat/official-languages-annual-reports

Government of the Northwest Territories. Annual Report on Official Languages. Yellowknife: 2008.