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I met Holly Toulejour at the Saskatchewan Indigenous Cultural Centre’s Language Keepers conference in November, 2016 in Saskatoon. Holly’s passionate presentation about the importance of language and culture to the wellbeing of northern youth was hugely inspiring, and I made sure to track her down afterwards to have a chat. One thing she said really stuck with me: “If there’s anything more powerful than language and culture, I don’t know it.” In our conversation about cultural heritage, Holly who was a social worker at Dene High School at the time, invited me to come to La Loche to learn more about northern culture and connect with some La Loche youth.

In June, 2017 I made the journey to La Loche, my first experience in Saskatchewan’s far north. La Loche has unfortunately been portrayed mostly negatively in the press, and while the community faces tremendous challenges that cannot be dismissed, there is much more to La Loche than what the press typically presents. I was fortunate to spend a week there witnessing and experiencing the beauty of the community and its people. It was a privilege to hear Dene being spoken fluently almost everywhere, though there is concern that young people are increasingly choosing to communicate in English. I was introduced to Dene traditions, many of which are intimately tied to the boreal landscape of the region. I was honoured to accompany Angele, a Dene elder, in the woods to pick muskeg tea (sometimes called Labrador tea). Ira, a Dene Studies teacher who appears in the video, generously shared much of her time with me to discuss her methods for fostering pride in Dene culture and language with her students, and also demonstrated how to make Lazy Bannock. I visited the new Friendship Centre, which has since been adorned with a brand new mural, and spent time with Holly getting to know the community and some of its residents.

 The trip was hugely significant for me, both personally and professionally. Having never spent time in the north before, I marvelled at the resilience of indigenous communities in the face of colonial practices which not only traumatically forced a change of culture more than a century ago, but which policies and current attitudes continue to make life challenging in the north. I came away from La Loche with a deepened appreciation of the diversity of Saskatchewan’s cultural landscape and I eagerly anticipate my next opportunity to visit the North.
This video, produced by Marcel Petit who joined us for half the week in La Loche, features moments from Dene High School’s Culture Day, including traditional drumming. The video participants spoke in particular about the importance of language. Contained within language is the collective and ancient wisdom of the cultural groups who speak it. Perhaps nothing is more emblematic of Living Heritage than language.