‘Any opportunity I get, I always speak Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì’

Two Behchokǫ̀ residents were honoured with premier’s awards at a ceremony in Yellowknife last week.

Tyanna Steinwand, who works as the Tłı̨chǫ Government’s manager of research operations and training, received the Kristine McLeod Emerging Indigenous Leader Award.

“I was really surprised but it’s good to be recognized,” Steinwand told Cabin Radio. “It solidifies what I am doing and kind-of makes me want to continue what I am doing – to do the best that I can and to do better.”

Growing up in Edzo, Steinwand said she took part in a variety of sports and activities to keep herself occupied. She often captained the soccer and volleyball teams at Chief Jimmy Bruneau High School.

For the 2010 Paralympic Games, Steinwand and others flew to Vancouver as youth ambassadors. Prior to that trip, in 2006, she travelled to Ottawa for a national youth program.

“Growing up, I always took advantage of those kinds of youth programs so you can travel to new places, meet new people and youth who are on a good path,” Steinwand said, adding how easy it is to instead go down a “wrong path” with the prevalence of drugs and alcohol in the community.

“Even today, some of the people I went to school with, now they’re heavy into addictions. I think just by taking those programs and playing sports, that has really helped me stay on a good path and become somewhat successful.”

Steinwand also attended an NWT government tundra science and culture camp for two consecutive summers. During her second visit, in 2008, she decided to stay back and assist a university researcher studying moss and lichens. It was her first time walking on the barrenland and a memory she would not forget.

“They were asking some of us, ‘Does anyone want to stay to work for two weeks?’ … That was the first time I was exposed to that kind of work,” she said.

“I really enjoyed it because it was outdoors and we would go out for a long walk to the place we took the moss from, and we would put it in jars and [the researcher] would analyze it.”

‘It takes time’

Steinwand said that trip had a “big impact” when it came to narrowing down her potential career paths.

While she was interested in becoming a physical education teacher because of her involvement in sports, she ultimately decided to pursue an environment and natural resources technology course.

“It was kind-of weird to change my education goals because I was already a couple of years in. So even that change was like a big thing,” she said.

“I kind-of felt I was letting myself down and my family down. But now that I think about it, it was good that I made the decision to change because I think if I stayed with phys ed, maybe I wouldn’t have enjoyed it.”

After graduation, Steinwand wanted to try a variety of things to establish “what was best” for her. She briefly worked at the Ekati diamond mine, then at the NWT’s Department of Environment and Natural Resources as a renewable resource officer.

In 2016, she became a lands regulatory worker at the Tłı̨chǫ Government and, three years later, took up a trainee research manager role. She moved into her current managerial position in 2020.

“It takes time to do that as well,” she said. “My advice to youth would be to try out different things and see what fits you – and it’s OK if you have to change direction.”

For almost eight summers, Steinwand has been part of a caribou monitoring program called Ekwǫ̀ Nàxoèhdee K’è: Boots on the Ground.

“Every summer, we go to Contwoyto Lake and Point Lake. Now, we have another camp where we monitor the caribou,” she said. “We spend roughly three months in the barrenlands with the Elders and youth. We boat, walk around and observe the caribou. I really like it because it’s a non-intrusive way of observing the caribou.”

Steinwand’s long-term goals include engaging in projects and programs that “matter to the people.” She hopes for a future where she is able to be “self-sufficient,” especially through climate emergencies.

“When Yellowknife evacuated, Behchokǫ̀ was cut off from everything. We didn’t even have groceries in the stores when the trucks weren’t even going to Yellowknife any more because everybody was gone,” she said.

“Even for power, what are we going to do if it’s -40C and the power goes out for five days? I don’t have a wood stove, so I am totally dependent on the furnace.

“Since the water is so low, what if one day the channel dries up? Then what are we going to do? … Climate change really affects us in the Northwest Territories.”

‘We want our language to be stronger’

Steinwand’s colleague, Jacynthia Rabesca, was selected among recipients of the Premier’s Award for Indigenous Partnership for her work in the Mentor-Apprentice Program, which pairs people who want to learn their Indigenous language with a fluent mentor.

Rabesca has been the Tłı̨chǫ Government’s manager of language revitalization for the past two years. She said she was initially hesitant to attend the award ceremony in Yellowknife but felt “at ease” when she found her team would accompany her.

“I was taken aback. I was shocked because the work that we do is not just one person. It takes different regions like the Dehcho, the Tłı̨chǫ, the Yellowknives Dene, a majority of the Northwest Territories, plus the GNWT. So it’s a team effort,” she said.

At the moment, Rabesca and her team are working on a transcribing project where roughly 60 Elders are being interviewed within the Tłı̨chǫ region.

“The majority of the people I learn from are Elders who are translators, interpreters and transcribers. I learn so much from them,” she said.

“Not only are we able to speak together, but they’re teaching me more ways of using language. They take language to another level.

“They’re professionals and what they do is so amazing. Some of Elders that I work with have been in the language field for 30-plus years.”

According to Rabesca, the Mentor-Apprentice Program had nine pairs this year.

“We have a really good team. We really work well together. I think that’s why it makes it so successful,” she said.

“Everybody works well together and it’s such a successful program. We had apprentices who were in the program three years in a row who became mentors.”

Being able to speak her own language holds a lot of significance for Rabesca. She wants to extend that knowledge to those who want to learn it.

“My Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì is part of who I am. It’s just naturally that I speak it, it’s just naturally that I know it and I learnt it. It feels so good to speak my Indigenous language. I’d rather speak Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì than any other language,” she said.

“Any opportunity I get, I always speak Tłı̨chǫ Yatıì because I’m able to communicate better. I’m able to express myself in a more meaningful way, rather than speaking English. It’s just not the same

“It’s so important for people to learn because we want our language to thrive. We want our language to be stronger, and the only way that’s going to happen is through creating more speakers.”