The health and wellness of Canada’s Aboriginal peoples is often measured in narrow biomedical terms with little consideration given to how health is conceptualized in Aboriginal communities. This study attempts to address this gap by providing a perspective on health and wellness developed in collaboration with the Dene community of Lutsel K’e, Northwest Territories. The research was carried out in the wake of the environmental assessment of Canada’s first diamond mine, located in the traditional territory of Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation. The study focussed on the questions “What is health?” and “What kinds of indicators would be useful for measuring the effects of diamond mining on the health of community?” Health was defined in the local language as “the Dene way of life.” Three core themes, 13 sub-themes and over 50 indicators of health were also identified through semi-structured interviews with individual community members. These indicators refer to many aspects of day-to-day life in Lutsel K’e, tying the concept of health, often discussed in theoretical terms, to tactile elements and processes at work at individual, household, and community levels. Interwoven in these narratives is a discourse about the importance of Dene values, knowledge, and institutions. The work is also telling of how small, remote northern communities respond to and resist the social, economic, and cultural pressures associated with natural resource development.

Many Aboriginal groups, in northern Canada and elsewhere, recognize the strong relationship between the health and well-being of people and environment. Western science, including theory and literature related to forest ecosystem management, has been slow to recognize the complex and diverse values that Aboriginal people associate with their lands and resources. Through case study research on the berry-harvesting practices of Gwich'in women from the community of Fort McPherson, Northwest Territories, Canada, we investigated the values that Teetl'it Gwich'in women associate with the land or nan kak. Nine different values, as well as a set of detailed measures, were identified during the research, including individual preference and well-being, family well-being, social connectivity, cultural continuity, land and resource use, stewardship, selfgovernment, and spirituality. The commercial value of berries was not identified as important to women. This interdisciplinary research has the potential to contribute to several bodies of literature including that on socialecological systems.

The Chipewyan Dene or Denésôåiné have long been dealing with variability in the movements of barren-ground caribou (Rangifer tarandus). Many generations ago, Denésôåiné hunters learned that by observing caribou at key water crossings during the fall migration, they could obtain critical information about caribou health, population, and movement patterns. Systematic observation of these indicators by hunters strategically organized along the tree line enabled the Denésôåiné to adapt their harvesting practices, including the location of family camps, to maximize harvest success. While this system of observation was developed for traditional subsistence harvesting, its techniques could be usefully applied today to other natural resource management contexts. In particular, such monitoring might help us understand how new bifurcation points created by mineral resource development may be affecting the Bathurst caribou herd. As governments, communities, and academics search for ways to include traditional knowledge in decision making for resource management, this paper recognizes that the Denésôåiné and other indigenous peoples have their own systems of watching, listening, learning, understanding, and adapting to ecological change.

Mineral resource development in the Canadian north has tragic consequences for both caribou and Indigenous people.