Return to the Drum: Teaching Among the Dene in Canada's North

Ronald Henry is director of the School of Translators and Interpreters
at Laurentian University.

Return to the Drum tells the story of a young Welsh woman’s sojourn
among the Sahtuot’ine in the 1960s, and her return visit 30 years
later. In addition to recounting personal events, it reviews business
decisions and examples of government policy that have affected the lives
of the Native people of the southwestern tip of Great Bear Lake.

By 1995, the village of Déline was reflecting the startling changes
associated with a transition from a traditional to a contemporary
lifestyle. The residents are succumbing to previously unknown diseases,
adopting technology, and drifting away from spiritual values.
High-priced tropical fruit, snowmobiles, and ATVs are commonplace.
Substance abuse is as pervasive as government bureaucracy, and there is
cancer, a legacy of the uranium mining that took place a half-century
ago.

Offering hope for better days is the Sahtu Dene and Métis
Comprehensive Land Claim Agreement of 1993. The agreement, which marks a
step toward self-respect and self-government, has increased Dene
participation in decision-making and stimulated economic development and
jobs. No less important is the heart beat of the “drums that will lead
us through the mists of tomorrow.”