The Dene Heroes Publication Project was awarded $100,000 to build literacy and leadership skills among Indigenous youth and increase pride in the Dene people. A team of Indigenous youth will lead the annual development and publishing of a collaborative book about Dene heroes that will be distributed to all five communities in the Sahtu. The book will inspire Indigenous students, community members, and out-of-school youth to write about someone they admire of Dene descent with contributors interviewing elders, talking about heroic qualities, writing about their heroes, taking photographs, drawing pictures, and reading what others have written. Partnering with schools, community members will contribute their ideas, stories and pictures to be published in the book that will be distributed at a celebration in each community.
Nominator: Daniel McNeely, MLA Sahtu, Legislative Assembly of the Northwest Territories
Team: Theresa Blancho, Barbara Ann Gully, Sunita Marie Kochon, Mary-Anne Neal, Dakota Orlias (Team Leader), Martha Stewart, Isabel Tutcho
