Saoyú-ʔehdacho (also known as Sahoyue-Edacho, Sahoyúé-§ehdacho, Saoyú and Æehdacho and Grizzly Bear Mountain and Scented Grass Hills) is a

cultural landscape Cultural landscape is a term used in the fields of geography, ecology, and heritage studies, to describe a symbiosis of human activity and environment. As defined by the World Heritage Committee, it is the "cultural properties hatrepresent the co ...

in the

Northwest Territories The Northwest Territories (abbreviated ''NT'' or ''NWT''; french: Territoires du Nord-Ouest, formerly ''North-Western Territory'' and ''North-West Territories'' and namely shortened as ''Northwest Territory'') is a federal territory of Canada. ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

, comprising two

peninsula A peninsula (; ) is a landform that extends from a mainland and is surrounded by water on most, but not all of its borders. A peninsula is also sometimes defined as a piece of land bordered by water on three of its sides. Peninsulas exist on all ...

s in Great Bear Lake. The site has great cultural and spiritual significance for the

Sahtu people The Sahtú or North Slavey (historically called ''Hare'' or ''Hareskin Indians'') are a Dene First Nations people of the Athabaskan-speaking ethnolinguistic group living in the vicinity of Great Bear Lake (''Sahtú'', the source of their nam ...

, as it is considered sacred land and it features prominently in their oral histories.

Natural and cultural heritage

Saoyú-ʔehdacho is in size, approximately the size of the province of

Prince Edward Island Prince Edward Island (PEI; ) is one of the thirteen Provinces and territories of Canada, provinces and territories of Canada. It is the smallest province in terms of land area and population, but the most densely populated. The island has seve ...

, and consists of two peninsulas: Saoyú (Grizzly Bear Mountain) and ʔehdacho (Scented Grass Hills). The peninsulas are both characterized by flat summits, approximately

above sea level Height above mean sea level is a measure of the vertical distance (height, elevation or altitude) of a location in reference to a historic mean sea level taken as a vertical datum. In geodesy, it is formalized as ''orthometric heights''. The comb ...

respectively. The perimeters of both promontories feature a series of raised beaches, formed by the post-glacial rebound, which contain the majority of the known evidence of human occupation of the lands, including archaeological resources related to pre-contact occupation from over 5000 years ago.

National Historic Site

Bear Mountain, Great Bear Lake, Northwest Territories

Saoyú-ʔehdacho was designated a National Historic Site in 1997, on the basis that the landscape, its cultural resources (including graves, trails and cabins) and its associated oral histories contribute to an understanding of the origin, spiritual values, lifestyle and land-use of the Sahtu Dene. In 2001 and 2005, the federal government enacted withdrawal orders under the ''Territorial Lands Act'', prohibiting the registration of new mineral claims or other third party interests against the Saoyú-ʔehdacho lands. In 2007,

Parks Canada Parks Canada (PC; french: Parcs Canada),Parks Canada is the applied title under the Federal Identity Program; the legal title is Parks Canada Agency (). is the agency of the Government of Canada which manages the country's 48 National Parks, th ...

entered into an agreement with the Déline First Nation to permanently protect and cooperatively manage the site, with surface title to the

Crown land Crown land (sometimes spelled crownland), also known as royal domain, is a territorial area belonging to the monarch, who personifies the Crown. It is the equivalent of an entailed estate and passes with the monarchy, being inseparable from it. ...

s portion of the site (constituting 80% of the overall land) transferred to Parks Canada from Aboriginal Affairs and Northern Development Canada in 2009. In 2011, an Order in Council increased the legal protection for Crown-owned portions of the site by applying regulatory protections under the National Parks Act to the lands. Saoyú-ʔehdacho is the largest National Historic Site of Canada in land area. Saoyú-ʔehdacho is also: *the first National Historic Site both designated and acquired on the basis of consultation with Aboriginal peoples; *the first National Historic Site in

Northern Canada Northern Canada, colloquially the North or the Territories, is the vast northernmost region of Canada variously defined by geography and politics. Politically, the term refers to the three Provinces_and_territories_of_Canada#Territories, territor ...

cooperatively managed by Parks Canada and an aboriginal group; *the first National Historic Site in the Northwest Territories in which Parks Canada is involved in the administration; and *the first cultural landscape in Northern Canada commemorated by the

Government of Canada The government of Canada (french: gouvernement du Canada) is the body responsible for the federal administration of Canada. A constitutional monarchy, the Crown is the corporation sole, assuming distinct roles: the executive, as the ''Crown ...

. Saoyú-ʔehdacho is also the first site to be protected under the territorial government's Protected Areas Strategy, a consultative process created with the involvement of the federal and territorial governments, aboriginal groups, environmental groups and industry, with the objective of establishing a network of protected areas across the Northwest Territories.

Name

In the

Slavey language Slavey (; also Slave, Slavé) is a group of Athabaskan languages and a dialect continuum spoken amongst the Dene peoples of Canada in the Northwest Territories – or central Denendeh – where it also has official status.national Historic Sites and Monuments Board approved the official name change for the National Historic Site in October 2010.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Sahoyu-Sehdacho Dene peoples National Historic Sites in the Northwest Territories Cultural landscapes Co-managed protected areas