KFN Elders describe how addiction is changing their community

Fabian says the current addiction crisis in Northwest Territories communities is partly rooted in colonial decisions that date back decades. He says he has seen the gradual impact first-hand.

For the first nine years of his life, Fabian was raised on the land, where he learned Dene ceremonies, language, culture and customs.

Fabian was born in 1952. He learned by attending community activities, like feasts and drum dances, perched on his mother's back.

When he was ready, Fabian began to participate and apply what he learned.

"When you set a rabbit snare, that's a skill. The day it becomes a value is when you catch a rabbit and you eat that rabbit. Now, snaring is a value," said Fabian.

Fabian says values have changed in today's youth because of the things to which they are exposed. When they're deprived of experiences on the land, they don't value them, he argues, and when they experience drugs and alcohol, that's what they value.

He traces some of the change to residential schools, describing the way they disrupted the Dene practice of keeping children close to their mothers.

"During their whole life, the children, all they're doing is developing these values, knowledge and skills, so that some day they will become the Elders in the community and the leaders in the community," he says.

"'De' means flow and 'ne' means earth and we call ourselves Dene because we flow from the earth. Because we flow from the earth, all our belief, values, knowledge and skills come from living this creation."

Through their relationship with the land, Dene people developed ceremonies, language, culture and customs that inform their identity, belonging and purpose, Fabian says. Within a generation, he says residential schools removed that and instead, people "began to aspire to the colonial way of life."

In the earliest days of residential school, he says Dene communities tried to re-immerse the youth in Dene culture when they returned home. Children would regain traditional knowledge and resume Dene ways life.

"The government wasn't getting what they wanted. The people were still going out on the land trapping, living on the land, and having relationship with the land," Fabian said.

"Indians under the Indian Act were not allowed to possess or consume alcohol — that was changed."

From the 1950s to the early 1970s, changes to the Indian Act began to dismantle forms of prohibition.

"Dene people began to consume alcohol," Fabian said. "Boy, it didn't take long for the problem to escalate. Addiction became the way of life in most of the community."

At this point, he says, children returning from residential school were no longer re-immersed in their culture.

"They weren't returning to traditional Dene communities," said Fabian. "They were returning to communities that were in the throes of alcoholism."

Fabian says Dene identity is critical for the Kátł'odeeche First Nation's health. Without it, young people are left hopeless.

"The biggest thing about colonialism was the shame, the guilt that they instilled in us through racism," said Fabian.

"Young people stopped developing sense of purpose, sense of belonging – sense of hope and meaning in life – when they began participating in the addictions."

Fabian says addiction is "so prevalent in our communities, it's like we're at a loss on what to do." Of the changes he has witnessed, he says he is deeply disturbed to see drug dealers enter his community.

"We're no longer dealing with ourselves. Our community is not being dealt with by us, as Dene people. It's drug dealers that are dealing with us," Fabian says. "Drug dealers are part of our society now."

Artist Doug Lamalice says amid drug and alcohol addiction, he has seen social media addiction change his community "tremendously," influencing how youth walk, talk, dress, think and behave.

“We have people coming into our communities and taking our young girls, putting them on the streets, hooking them to drugs,” says Lamalice, who works with youth on Dene ways of living.

Fabian says colonial approaches to addiction and mental health don't address the issues that matter.

He says the NWT's systems of education, health, social services and justice all contribute to mental health issues, describing them as a revolving door into, out of and back into the criminal justice system. And he adds that the ceremonies, culture, language, and customs that were once the fabric of Dene society are becoming piecemeal activities.

"Culture now is recreation," said Fabian. "All our customs that we once did to make a life is now just a recreation – ceremony is now a recreation."

Fabian believes the way forward involves rebuilding the relationship between children and the land.

Lamalice says culture camps, land-based programs, and schools are crucial as it gives more options to young people in need of support. Through these programs, Lamalice teaches art classes, transfers traditional knowledge, and builds relationships with youth in his community.

"We need to show them that they’re loved. We need to show them that they’re cared for. We need them to know that they’re a part of our community and a part of our lives," said Lamalice.

"They have to see it in order to believe it and try to live it.”

Thirty years ago, Sharon Pekok had her first experience at a culture camp.

The experience opened Pekok's eyes to her Dene history, culture, and customs. Pekok says Elders taught her about Dene treaties, the way things were, hunting and trapping protocols and survival skills.

"They talk about our history, where we came from, how we came to be here in Hay River, what was our traditional lands," said Pekok.

"The land has a big impact when you embrace it," Pekok added. "It brings people together."

In March, Pekok organized the latest culture camp of her own, where residents of all ages visited Sandy Creek. Artists and Elders shared their knowledge of ceremonies, legends, arts, harvesting and preparing food.

"The Creator put everything on the land so that we have access to it through relationship," said Fabian.

"Based on those things, Dene people developed a society based in harmony, based in humility, honour and humanity.

"The challenge for us as Dene people is to see how we can regain some of that sanctity of life."

Simona Rosenfield, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Cabin Radio