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Dene Ch'anie
(The path the people walk)
Since the beginning, the creator has always provided for the Dene.
The creator has provided the Dene with a TERRITORY from which all good things flow,
enabling our POPULATION to survive as a nation.
Since time immemorial, the Dene have lived our own lives on our own land in our own way.
While inhabiting our TERRITORY, the Dene have developed and maintained freedoms, languages, culture and spiritual beliefs to live in balance with mother earth.
We the Dene are a GOVERNMENT which makes laws that define and assert sovereignty over our TERRITORY based on Dene beliefs and values.
We the Dene have always entered into agreements and covenants with other nations.
We the Dene entered into an international agreement with Great Britain in 1899 and 1900.
TREATY #8 as negotiated and understood by our ancestors expresses our special relationship with the crown. This relationship is built on trust and coexistence as long as the sun shines, the river flows, and the grass grows.
We the Dene continue to assert our sovereignty and self-determination over our TERRITORY through Dene GOVERNMENTS and institutions as we define them.
We the Dene have no mandate to extinguish, alter, or change the creator's laws as instructed by our ancestors.
We the Dene have the responsibility to ensure that all newcomers respect and honour the creator's laws within our TERRITORY to live in peace, friendship, and harmony: to coexist with our nation.
The Dene uphold these rights as long as the sun shines, the river flows, and the grass grows.
This is the wisdom provided to us for generations yet to be born. This is DENE CH'ANIE.
Adopted unanimously in June 1994
In Ndilo, Denendeh
by the NWT Treaty #8 Tribal Council