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6 Tuesday August 11 2015 WATER AND SEWER REPAIRS The Town is busy replacing 70-year old water and sewer infrastructure. Whilethiswillcausesomeshort-term water and traffic interruptions it is good work that will ensure long-term dependable water and sewer service. FIRE ABATEMENT The Town is working collaboratively with Salt River First Nation to Fire Smart large portions of land throughout Town. In fact there may be cord wood and woodchips available at the site between Field and Wilderness. NANOOK EMO EXERCISE The Town is working collaboratively with the GNWT and Federal Government to host a large-scale military exercise and simulated evaluation of the Towns emergency preparedness - more info on this next week Northwest Territories UNEXPECTED. UNFORGETTABLE. WHATS NEW IN FORT SMITH WWW.FORTSMITH.CA For more information please contact TOWN OF FORT SMITH P.O. Box 147 Fort Smith NT X0E 0P0 Canada Phone 867 872-8400 Fax 867 872-8401 townoffortsmithfortsmith.ca By MEAGAN WOHLBERG First Nations students from across the North are training to become leaders in land protection and management as part of a new pilot program in the NWT. The Indigenous Boreal Guardians training program launched last week at the Dechenla Lodge in the Mackenzie Mountains near the Yukon-NWTborderandwillnishnextMarch at the Dechinta Bush University Centre for Research and Learning. Nine students are currently enrolled in the program learning core skills needed to work with government and industry on land use planning and protection and in the assess- ment development management and moni- toring of resource projects. Theprogramisdesignedtoidentifyandde- velopnewleaderswhounderstandthecomplex challenges facing the future of the land lead- erswhocanadvocateformanagementpractices based on indigenous knowledge community valuesandscienticmethodssaidErinFree- land-BallantynedeanofprogramsatDechinta. The idea is that it will become a train- ing program for all the indigenous nations in Canada to contribute to and be supported by to develop their own guardian programs. The pilot group includes individuals from Deline Colville Lake Fort Providence and Fort Simpson in the NWT along with stu- dents from northern Manitoba northern B.C. and Yukon. They will spend three weeks at Dechenla and 12 weeks at Dechinta. In between semesters the students are expected to return to their communities and put their newfound leadership skills to use by connecting with elders and residents around establishing a local guardian program. The hope is that it gives people the lead- ership and the program development and research skills to go back and ask the funda- mental questions what does protecting the land look like for our community and how can we organize that so that were in charge of that process she said. The course features an interdisciplinary curriculum taught by a variety of experts elders and university professors at Dechinta a land-based postsecondary institution ac- credited by the University of Alberta located at Blachford Lake Lodge in the NWT. Freeland-Ballantyne said the desire for the program was identied by the Kaska Dena nation in northern B.C. and Yukon who ap- proached Dechinta about expanding their ex- isting coursework on indigenous governance and law to include areas like environmental monitoring or science in a land-based context. The pilot will see students commit for a year in hopes that additional funding will turn the program into a full four-year Bachelor degree. Looking at best practices Guardian programs already exist in Austra- lia where the federal government worked with Aboriginal groups to establish an initiative that created work for indigenous people on the land protecting their traditional territories as part of thenationalparkssystem.Thatmodelhasbeen adapted somewhat within Canada on the West CoastwiththeHaidaCoastalWatchmennetwork andinLabradorwiththeInnuGuardianProgram. Now with the Nihatni Dene Rangers of Lutsel Ke involved in protecting the national park of Thaidene Nene and interest among the Dehcho First Nations in establishing their ownwatchmenprogramFreeland-Ballantyne said there was immediate widespread inter- est in looking at best practices and having the necessary conversations around indigenous- led land protection in the North. Therearequestionsaroundwhatinpractice does it mean to take care of the land and what does it look like to have boots on the ground and boots in the boardroom Whats the con- tinuum of skills that we need to protect land on all different levels but also to participate asequalpartnersandleaderssothatwhatever happens on the land is done by the directive of the nation whose land youre on she said. Apartfromprovidingthestudentswithlead- ershipskillsFreeland-Ballantynesaidthepro- gram is expected to have multiple secondary benetsthatstemfromconnectingpeoplewith theirlandandcultureinastewardshipcontext. What they found when they did this pro- gram in Australia was that it had really in- credible impacts in terms of education com- pletion drastically dropping crime rates boosting cultural pride and language revi- talization - there were all of these impacts simply by making sure there was funding for people to be on the land protecting their tra- ditional territory in whatever way their own nation dened protection she said. Freeland-Ballantyne said the need for such trainingisincreasinginindigenouscommunities asmoreFirstNationscompleteself-government andlandclaimagreementsasinterestgrowsin resourcedevelopmentandasprecedent-setting court cases rene the understanding of indig- enous rights over land and title. Its going to be an important role that people are playing as self government is im- plemented and we see Aboriginal govern- ments taking back the care of lands and re- sources she said. NWT bush university trains Indigenous Boreal Guardians The program is designed to identify and develop new leaders who understand the complex challenges facing the future of the land leaders who can advocate for management practices based on indigenous knowledge community values and scientic methods. Erin Freeland-Ballantyne Dechinta Bush University EDUCATION FIRST NATIONS