Norman Yakeleya hopes young people keep Dene values alive in fast-changing world

After years leading community healing workshops on addiction and the effects of residential schools, Norman Yakeleya now works on reuniting families ripped apart by government policies such as boarding homes and the Sixties Scoop. He expects the work to take six or seven generations. As he reluctantly transitions into the role of an Elder, he’s calling on young people to return to the land, keep Dene values alive and find a balance between tradition and a fast-changing world. His wife, Sheryl, is in her first term representing the Dehcho riding in the 20th Assembly. Here he is, in conversation with Stacie Arden Smith.

Norman Yakeleya: “Yes, my name is Norman Yakeleya and I’m from Tulı́tʼa.”

CKLB: “Well, thank you so much, Norman, for taking the time to speak with me. You have a very impressive resume, ranging from community councillor, to MLA, to National Dene Chief. It’s just impressive, and I want to know how has that journey been? Where was the starting point?

Norman Yakeleya: “Well, the journey’s been quite interesting, quite I would say, mystified. Knowing how I got into my journey, I started out as a band councillor. If you look in the politics of my life, I started out as a band councillor in Tulı́tʼa, then became chief chairman of the Sahtu Tribal Council and went to school in the Native Studies Program, and shortly after that, the chief negotiator of the Sahtu Dene Métis Comprehensive Land Claim Negotiator, and then the chief negotiator for the Tulı́tʼa self-government area, then slowly into politics as an MLA (served as the member for Sahtu in the 15th, 16th, and 17th Legislative Assemblies).

“Certainly, you know, it was not something that I planned on being. I was just happy at the time before becoming a Tulı́tʼa band council member, being a drug and alcohol support worker in my community, so I did inspire into becoming a political politician. I was asked by the Elders if I would come into being a band council and a chief, and of course, when old people ask you to do something or work for something, you would listen to them, as our culture tells us. Listen to the old ones. Listen to the listen to the Elders, and that’s how I got into my political way of life, and then certainly opened up my eyes to the bit the bigger world in politics.”

CKLB:  “And through it all, I remember you being our neighbor over on Kátł’odeeche First Nation, and so you have a pretty supportive family. You know how has it been with your family coming along with you?”

Norman Yakeleya: “Well, you know it took some time to adjust to that way of life because in the political way of life or that way of life, there’s a lot of sacrifice, and because you’re traveling, going to communities, you’re away from home, and it’s usually your partner, your wife. In my case, you know, had the responsibilities of raising children, maintaining a household, and you know, being a supportive of you to do your work outside of your community. Now, you know, I also was in the Kátł’odeeche Reserve, working for the Dene Cultural Institute, and doing community healing workshops in around the North through the DCI initiative programs.

“I worked at the treatment center, and I did a whole number of community healing workshops, which was kind of the thing that was happening in the north at that time. People were being aware of the devastating, and still today, the devastating effects of drugs, alcoholism in the community, and other addictions, and you know the residential school, the losses in our communities. So, the whole movement of wellness and sobriety, and people were one of those types of awareness workshops in our community, so they can begin their journey. And the whole movement towards wellness was the thing in the north, and I was so grateful to be part of it. And you know, working in the communities and working with people that wanted. A sobriety journey.”

CKLB: “Are you still part of that? Any of the healing programs in in the Northwest Territories, or has your career sent you in a different direction?”

Norman Yakeleya: “Certainly, I’m part of it. I’m more of the background, more of advising, supporting. My career has taken me to a new direction on rebuilding the families, you know the devastating policies by government, federal and territorial government of you know removing children from their homes, and my whole focus now is bringing the families back together again, bringing the families together through a healing process to rebuild the families and rebuilding the families within the communities, and that’s a big piece of work in terms of the intergenerational trauma that happened.

“Now, coming out of that to the intergenerational healing of families and you know what it takes to bring a family together again-a family that was shattered, taken apart, and now bringing back the families through different mechanisms, through different agreements. You know, and looking at the devastating policies of the federal government that took families apart, such as the board and home, the residential school, the Sixties Scoops, child and family welfare agencies, the boarding homes, all these institutions that had a different take on the families and how they took the families apart. So now my job today is how do we bring the families back to it was at one time. That’s a huge piece of work that I’m fully concentrated on now.”

CKLB: “And that one is definitely going to take many generations to try and bring back.”

Norman Yakeleya: “That is one of the biggest work I have done and doing in my in my work today, and you are correct. It’s going to take many generations. We’re talking six, seven generation, maybe.”

CKLB: “As you are entering in your Elder status and knowledge-keeper status, what do you want to be your legacy for the next generation? What are your hopes from the work that you’ve been doing?”

Norman Yakeleya: “Well, first of all, I’m still young, so I really … Elder. It’s really weird feeling. I want to learn more from our culture and our own Elder’ way of life. Learning more of the average way of life and how it was for us. We’re in this new generation of technology and using the technology today and helping us know who we are as Aboriginal people, know who we are in this changing world, and life is changing so fast. And you know, passing along the information that makes sense for our younger generation. Our younger generation is looking to see who they are, and from my early years of growing up in Fort Norman, now called Tulı́tʼa, how we had done so far. You know, I grew up in a generation where we had dogs for dog teams for working and hunting, getting ice. We had gas lamps, candles, wood stoves, 45-gallon barrel for ice for water. We had one-bedroom households, and we walked to school in all types of weather. We cooked on stoves, and you know we were a family. We ate together. We didn’t have no cell phones on the table or any TV.

“Today’s generation, it’s all different. The (work) today is to support our children, to attend school, go to work, not be so tied to the cell phones or the TV or the games. You know, to go out … start getting ready for the berry picking and the moose hunting and the caribou, and start getting things ready for the winter and getting wood. And you know the other thing about is that our culture is that you will see the Elders for what’s going to come in the future. You know things are happening now that I heard a long time ago about the change is coming. I could see part of it today, and I could. See that the Elders, you know, when they talk to me when I was a young age, you know, I couldn’t see it, you know.

“And today now I could see some of the good things our young people are doing by going to school, getting education, working, you know, contributing to their family or their community. But I also could see where the Elders are talking about the amount of alcohol in our communities and the amount of the different drugs that are coming in and destroying our families. You know, even the amount of gambling that’s going on. It’s all about family, and what we need to do is, you know, we have to go on the land, and by being on the land, you learn to be a human again, how to interact with the family, how to think, how to live, how to work together, how to pray together. The old ones tell stories of who we are, and so our generation … I think it’s going to be the hardest. We’re in that transition mode, and some of the prophecies, they’re coming true. And I think the Elders have always told us to pray.”

CKLB: “Yes, definitely. I remember talking about Prophet Ayah, and many of his prophecies have come true, even the ones where he talks about the end of days, which I mean can be interpreted in many different ways. But I think the era in which your generation and the beginning of my generation are kind of already seeing ceased to exist anymore.”

Norman Yakeleya: “I remember going to an elder in Tulı́tʼa, named Fred Andrews Sr. He would talk to me and tell me about what things are going to be possibly happening in the future. And he told me that you might not see it now, but I’m giving you a little piece of information for the future, so you can get ready. And at one time, he told me, ‘I’m giving you all this information like a piece of paper, pieces here and there, and at the end, you put all the pieces together, and that’s what I’m giving you.’

“What to watch out for, and how to conduct yourself, keep yourself. How some of these things are going to come into community, and they’re going to be not good for our people. But they’re so enjoyable, people like them, and they’re not going to listen, and they’re going to do it anyway, and it’s going to get hard on us in terms of the lifestyle. So, I think that’s what the elders were saying. You know, the values they taught us. You know, not only sharing your food, but share your life, share your wellness. You know, go out and share. Go talk. Go listen. Go visit. You know, share the goodness in your life. Care for each other. Look after each other.

CKLB: “Abiding by the Dene laws.”

Norman Yakeleya: “Yeah. In 1984, there was a group of elders that met in Rae Edzo (Behchokǫ̀) over three days, and that’s where they put the principles and the laws, the Dene values and principles. There is, I could see, it is the only known document put by our Dene elders. Yeah.”

CKLB: “So I have one more question for you, Norman.”

Norman Yakeleya: “Okay.”

CKLB: “Because you said that politics was not the avenue that you had foreseen for yourself. So, when you were a child, what was it that you wanted to be?”

Norman Yakeleya: “Well, you know what? Growing up in Tulı́tʼa as a child, I wanted to be a priest because there was a priest named a Father Labatt in Tulı́tʼa, and there was another priest under the Pentecostal Church. His name was Dan Priest, you know, and both men were very kind, very happy, always smiling and talking, and lived a good life. I wanted to be like them, you know. They talked good, and you know what? The other thing about that, they were sober. I grew up in a household where there was a lot of drinking, so, I wanted some peace, quietness, and so I want to be like them and just be a priest and you know talk to people and talk to Jesus, talk about Jesus. Isn’t that crazy?”

CKLB: “That is crazy. That’s that is a completely different journey altogether.”

Norman Yakeleya: “Really, really,”

CKLB: “Well, it’s never too late. Just saying.”

Norman Yakeleya: “I guess that’s where the saying, leave to God, God will work its way out.”

Stacie Arden Smith / Local Journalism Initiative reporter / Native Communications Society

https://sahtudec.ca/sites/default/files/documents/dene_laws_english_poster.pdf