Northern Alberta First Nation asks to join N.W.T.'s Dene Nation

Northern Alberta's Dene Tha First Nation is asking to join the Northwest Territories-centred Dene Nation, saying that their members have been pushed apart from other Dene people by artificial borders.

Chief Joe Pastion says the Dene Tha's request stems from a desire to join forces with other Dene First Nations, which are predominately located in the Northwest Territories.

"I guess an alliance is better than standing out alone," says Pastion. "Which in Alberta is predominately other nations than Dene."

The Dene Tha First Nation represents Dene in the Northwest Alberta communities of Bushe River, Meander River, and Chateh (formerly known as Assumption), though Pastion says some members still hunt and trap in areas near the Northwest Territories community of Enterprise.

"We do have traditional boundaries that overlap into Northwest Territories," said Pastion, "and our elders, through our oral history, they do paint the picture that the majority of our area... back in the nomadic days, a lot of Dene people travel the land. A lot of settlements were not too far in the Northwest Territories."

If successful, the Dene Tha would be just the fourth group from outside the Northwest Territories to join the Dene Nation, which currently represents 33 different First Nations, bands and councils, according to its website. 

The Arctic Athabaskan Council, headquartered in Whitehorse, Northern Manitoba's Sayisi Dene First Nation, and the Athabasca Chipewyan First Nation, headquartered in Fort Chipewyan, Alta., are currently the only members of the Dene Nation from outside the Northwest Territories.