7 Generations' Vision
Donation protected
edanete? (How are you )I am Desuline, Dene, supporting the creation of a land-based Cultural Healing camp on my family's traditional lands, In Northern Saskatchewan along Lake Athabasca.
In The late sixties my family, under threat of jail moved into the small Hamlet of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta because of the residential school.
The former Chief Fred Marcel, Athabasca First Nation, helped my late dad, Isidore Deranger ((Djeskelni) take his children back to our traditional lands to reconnect with our tradition briefly in 1974. The Catholic church had implemented kill the Indian in the Child Policy and was succeeding in the preventing us the use of our Dene language and culture. Instead of being proud of Indigenous people they instill shame in us for being Indigenous.
Our experience on the land saved our lives . My father was a visionary and he knew the land was an integral part of our culture. The water is alive; the dunes are magnificent. We were fortunate our father was able to take his family back to our traditional hunting territory.
The family began burying family on the land who recently passed. The summer of 2021, the family took our brother Patrick’s ashes to be scattered on that same traditional territory to honor his final request. This act reviliaized a renewed interest in the land and it's healing powers.
In The late sixties my family, under threat of jail moved into the small Hamlet of Fort Chipewyan, Alberta because of the residential school.
The former Chief Fred Marcel, Athabasca First Nation, helped my late dad, Isidore Deranger ((Djeskelni) take his children back to our traditional lands to reconnect with our tradition briefly in 1974. The Catholic church had implemented kill the Indian in the Child Policy and was succeeding in the preventing us the use of our Dene language and culture. Instead of being proud of Indigenous people they instill shame in us for being Indigenous.
Our experience on the land saved our lives . My father was a visionary and he knew the land was an integral part of our culture. The water is alive; the dunes are magnificent. We were fortunate our father was able to take his family back to our traditional hunting territory.
The family began burying family on the land who recently passed. The summer of 2021, the family took our brother Patrick’s ashes to be scattered on that same traditional territory to honor his final request. This act reviliaized a renewed interest in the land and it's healing powers.
The Vision for the the cultural camp, once established, it will be a traditional Dene cultural camp and available to all First Nations across Canada.
We rely on your donation to assist us with provisions, building supplies, tools and transportation for five shelters. The call of the land is strong within the group who accompanied my dad in 1974, nothing will deter them from exercising their sovereignty over our traditional hunting lands, with the help of our ancestors.
This camp will positively impact youth who experience being on the land, listening to the drum, foraging for food, hunting, and fishing. They will learn related skills to Mother earth as our ancestors did for thousands of years.
It is a life-changing experience. It will be a turning point in their lives. As it was for other members of my family in 1974, who went with Isadore Deranger (Djeskelni)
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Organizer
E Angelina Pratt
Organizer
Dunrobin, ON
