NARRATOR: Edéhzhíe’s boreal forest, clean waters and diverse wildlife are integral to Dehcho Dene culture, language and way of life.

JONAS ANTOINE: There are great amounts of game up there. There is an area for woodland caribou. And in the summer months, there’s a lot of moose up there ‘cause a lot of them come up from the edge of the plateaus… in the spring… they spend the winter there, most of the moose are moving back down off the plateau but a few remain throughout the winter months there. And there’s also great areas for fur bearing animals like martens and lynx for trapping. And every lake that you see up there, practically every pond or lake, there’s fish in there. There’s all kinds of different fish. Every lake has white fish. Every large lake has trout. Beautiful area. To live and to be able to feed yourself. That is what we’re trying to preserve for the future.

PRISCILLA CANADIEN: What Edéhzhíe means to me is the heart and soul of the Dehcho region. It means a lot to me because the Deh Gáh Got’ie First Nation people have used the area historically for many, many years.

NARRATOR: Edéhzhíe spans over 14,000 square kilometers in the southwestern part of the Northwest Territories. These lands were designated an Indigenous Protected and Conserved Area by the Dehcho First Nations in 2018. It includes lands, waters and ice where Indigenous leadership guides the decisions and actions that protect and conserve it. In 2022, it was designated a National Wildlife Area by the Government of Canada, complementing the Dehcho First Nations’ conservation and stewardship goals and the protection of wildlife and their habitats.

Edéhzhíe is managed in partnership. The Dehcho First Nations and Environment and Climate Change Canada work collaboratively and make decisions by consensus. Decisions based in traditional Indigenous knowledge and science, and guided by the Edéhzhíe Management Board.

The Dehcho First Nations lead stewardship activities, through the Edéhzhíe Guardians, who are responsible for much of the monitoring and management of the area, including ecological monitoring, cultural protection, research projects and youth mentoring.

KODY HARDISTY-SANGRIS: The most rewarding aspect of this job is being out on the land and gathering traditional knowledge so I can pass it onto generations to come.

NARRATOR: The Guardians also work closely with Community Coordinators, who help them promote the protection and stewardship of Edéhzhíe, and assist with community and on the land programming.

ARIAL SANGUEZ: I support the Guardians in ensuring that they have the training and equipment needed to be the eyes and ears on the land.

DAHTI TSETSO: It’s not just about taking care of the land and protecting it from industrial development, from the perspective of the Dehcho Dene, they want to have Edéhzhíe to help strengthen their relationship to the land, and that’s what it’s always been for them.

NARRATOR: The Dehcho Dene view Edéhzhíe as their refuge. It is their cultural sanctuary where they go for spiritual nourishment, to heal, recover, reconnect, and reconcile with the land, their history, families and themselves. The Dehcho Dene are part of Edéhzhíe. They look after it, and it looks after them.

KODY HARDISTY-SANGRIS: Edéhzhíe means an extension of myself that’s part of the land… I have a feeling that I just can’t explain, it just calls to me.

NARRATOR: Former Grand Chief Gladys Norwegian once said that “In Dene Zhatié we have a saying, ‘yundáa gogha’ meaning ‘for the future’ and Edéhzhíe brings us renewed hope for the future.”