CALGARY—The first time Mervin Drandbois, a member of the Cold Lake First Nations, heard Dene people from across the continent would be gathered near Calgary, it was in 2004 and he hitchhiked for four days to get there.

For him, it was a matter of learning more about his family’s ancestry.

“All of this stuff is important for our people to … be reminded of where we came from,” Drandbois said.

Now he’s back in Calgary to attend the fourth Dene gathering of its kind. All have been hosted by Tsuut’ina Nation, southwest of the city.

The Dene people — the largest First Nation group in North America, known to span from Siberia and Alaska to southern parts of the USA, Canada and Mexico — have been trying to piece together the history of their ancestors as far back as the last ice age.

Since Monday, hundreds of people from across North America with Dene lineage gathered at the Seven Chiefs Sportsplex on the Tsuut’ina reserve to attend talks, workshops, and meals. During a morning talk on Tuesday, there were about 300 people gathered in the gymnasium to hear from leaders and elders.

It’s an effort that’s been in the works for years and the goal is to link all the Dene groups in North America — approximately 750,000 people — and form a united voice, said Chief Lee Crowchild, of Tsuut’ina Nation. This year’s conference is the biggest yet.

“It’s putting these pieces of the puzzle together,” Crowchild said, adding that there has been language-based studies that have linked the various groups to one another.

“I mean, there are certain differences for sure, but we can understand what they’re saying,” he said, referring in particular to the language of the Navajo people, a group of Dene in Mexico.

The reunification means there could be opportunities for the nations to reach out to one another for support or even join together economically.

“We’re the only Dene that actually live on the prairies so we’re really isolated,” Crowchild said. “I think that’s what created the impetus to go find our relatives.”

“What that does, is it gives strength to (form) political alliances to the possibility of economic alliances.” The Dene across North America own 28 casinos in total, he said.

“Philosophically, what we’re doing is re-establishing kinship lines.”

Outside the gymnasium and among the vendors selling artwork, was Stephen Kakfwi, who was selling CDs of his music, some of it expressing the grief that lingers from his time spent at residential school as a child.

Kakfwi, a former premier of the Northwest Territories and a Dene Nation member, said sharing stories is an important aspect of reuniting, especially stories that explain how or why the Dene separated.

He recounted a story about when some of the Dene were approached by a priest, who told them about the Christian story of the birth of Jesus and the bright star that is said to have shone that night. Kakfwi said Dene elders said they already knew about that star because it was the same one that some of the Dene people followed into the mountains and never returned.

“Those people are out there somewhere. That’s who we figured the Navajo are. We figured they left over 2,000 years ago,” Kakfwi said.

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The gathering is also considered critical part of an ongoing battle to fight language and cultural erosion.

The fluency of the Dene language among youth is declining, said John Bekale, a Dene Nation elder knowledge keeper. “The little small ones. They don’t speak it. How do we get them to speak it and how do we get them to write it?”

The reunification process will be one way to compare how each of the groups are addressing these kind of issues so they can implement the methods that work.

“If we can … do it, the language aspect will survive, the culture, everything would come together,” said Bekale. He added there are other issues that need to be addressed across all the nations including stewardship for wildlife and water.

Norman Yakeleya, the Grand Chief of the Dene Nation in the Northwest Territories added he hopes the alliances will help fight through similar social issues faced by each of the groups.

“Here in the Northwest Territories, the Dene find themselves dealing with the high cost of living. Down in the United States, we know they need water,” Yakeleya said.

Eventually, Yakeleya said they hope to form a Dene congress or confederacy.

“We will share and help each other through the many challenges,” he said.

For Drandbois, he said its comforting knowing his Cold Lake First Nations community is not alone, adding the reunification will help the community deal with residual colonialism.

“We’re all coming together as one, and this is the beginning, now that we all know that there are more of us than just one little reserve.”

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