Deborah Simmons

Aboriginal talking circle: Aboriginal perspectives on caribou conservation - Overview by the Aboriginal Talking Circle Coordinating Team

The 13th North American Caribou Workshop in 2010 was the venue for a remarkable forum of Aboriginal knowledge holders in which experiences and ideas about caribou research and stewardship were shared in a Talking Circle format. Facilitated by Danny Beaulieu (Denesųline /Deninu Kųe First Nation) and Walter Bayha (De lįnegoti˛ne/De li˛ne First Nation), the Aboriginal Talking Circle took place over a full day as well as a half day, totalling more than ten hours. At least thirty-six Aboriginal people contributed to the discussion, representing thirty organisations and nearly as many First Nation, Inuit and Metis nations. Delegates converged from a geographical area spanning caribou ranges in six provinces and all three territories of northern Canada.

13th North American Caribou Workshop, 25-28 October 2010, Winnipeg, Manitoba, Canada.

The 13th North American Caribou Workshop which was held in Winnipeg, Manitoba, was a great success with more than 400 participants: people from Canada, the United States, Norway and Greenland, representatives from co-management and resource management boards across North America, First Nations, Inuit and Inuvialuit, governmental and non-governmental organisations, private companies, researchers, students and youth. The theme of the Workshop was Sustaining Caribou and their Landscapes – Knowledge to Action and the intent of the organizers was twofold: first, to provide participants with the opportunity to share scientific and traditional knowledge on different subspecies and ecotypes of Rangifer across the circumpolar North, the particularities of the different landscapes and land use management issues; second, to explore innovative ways to transfer knowledge to action, ensuring the long-term persistence of Rangifer throughout its range through the development of better governance structures, sound policies and effective communication.

Introducing Circumpolar Institutes: The Deline Knowledge Centre

Our community of Déline/Where the River Flows, in the Sahtu region of the Northwest Territories, is home to approximately 650 Dene, Métis and nonaboriginal people. It is the only human settlement on Sahtu/Great Bear Lake, the largest lake in Canada and ninth largest in the world in terms of surface area (31,326 km) and volume. Situated within the Arctic Circle, it is the largest lake in the world to exist in a relatively pristine condition despite historical uranium mining impacts. The Sahtugot’ine/Great Bear Lake people have been living with the chronic environmental, health, economic, and social impacts of the mine that operated at Port Radium on the eastern shores of Great Bear Lake. Originally mined for radium in the 1930s and later for uranium ore, all of which was shipped and utilized in the atomic bomb on Hiroshima during World War II, the mine site and surrounding area is now radioactive.