“Promoting our Dene culture is about the most important thing to me, because we do need to reconnect to our traditional roots,” says Britney Nadli. She was raised in Fort Providence, where her parents are from. Her family spent a lot of time on the land and now Nadli works as the On The Lands Coordinator for Dehcho First Nations. She’s been with the Nations for three years, hosting youth programs, promoting knowledge transfer, language revitalization, mentorship and stewardship. She also works to connect elders and youth, works on programs based on Dene core values and principles and partners with external organizations to host them. She’s the Dehcho Community Advisor for the NWT On The Land Collaborative as well. 

There are two major programs Nadli is responsible for, the Dehcho Youth Ecology and Traditional Knowledge Camp and the On The Land Camp. The youth ecology camp is partnered with Wilfred Laurier University and Aboriginal Resource Oceans Management, providing modern science activities to pair with Dene cultural activities for the youth. The camp is held in different locations each year and local communities hire local people to work at the camp. The last year was held at Nahanni National Park, partnered with Parks Canada. The program runs a week long and provides opportunities for lasting friendships and for people from different areas to learn from each other.

Working at the regional level has opened up doors for Nadli and created opportunities like getting to fly into Nahanni National Park. She’s really stepped out of her comfort zone, moved away from being so shy and found her outlook on the world has shifted. She’s found her level of fear has gone down and she’s enjoyed her time. Moving from coordinating programs at a community level to the regional level has been a welcome change full of learning and growth opportunities. She’s overwhelmed sometimes that she gets to do all this for her job. 

“With modern society, how everything is so busy now, we're starting to forget our traditional, being connected to our traditional roots.” 

Something Nadli gets to do as the Community advisor is advertise the On The Land Funding to host land based programs and cultural programming, then help communities and organizations apply for it, reaching out to remind them and helping them fill out the applications so they can host programs in their communities. She also gets to learn from elders as they share their wisdom, building relationships and trust.

“The land is our classroom. The elders and knowledge holders are our teachers.” 

What she’s learned through her work is to be respectful, to have patience and she’s found it very rewarding. She loves sharing what she’s learned in interviews in hopes youth will want to learn about their culture. Nadli is a language learner herself at 32, practicing daily and tying it and culture to her everyday life. With practice, it gets easier.  

Her advice for students who have to leave their home communities to pursue their education or careers is to build healthy and honest relationships with mentors like teachers or elders. “It’s okay to say that you need help. You’re always going to find someone that you can learn from that’s gonna be open to it and then just push yourself out of your comfort zone,” she encourages. Going to school in Grand Prairie and then working in the process plant, Nadli found mentorship and support and a love of going to the gym. “Every position that I put myself in, I always find a way for myself to succeed,” she beams. 

“Life can be funny sometimes, and you'll just end up somewhere where you never thought you would be. So you just try to make the best out of it, and then just work your butt off. I've always had that drive in me. Once I put my mind towards something, I just gotta go,” Nadli explains. 

If she could share a message with her younger self it would be, “Don't be afraid to be yourself. Don't be scared of not fitting in, because who wants to fit in anywhere? Then just step out of your comfort zone.” Doing things other people weren’t doing, moving in different crowds, she built a life, meaningful relationships, gaining knowledge and loving support. 

When it comes to inspiration, Nadli looks to her family and where she’s from, the Horn River area. Whenever she thinks of something for work and ways to improve and protect the land, she thinks of her home and the traditional values she was taught. 

With promoting Dene culture being the most important thing to her, working as the On The Lands Coordinator for Dehcho First Nations is a perfect fit for Britney Nadli. Getting to learn and connect with elders in the classroom of the land, she feels lucky every day to come to work and make a difference while growing as a person. Stepping out of her comfort zone and onto the land, she’s got a lot of opportunities to learn her culture and help others do the same.

Thanks to Alison Tedford Seaweed for authoring this article.