Sahtu Secretariat resolution urges language to be officially called Sahtu Dene Kd

In Fort Good Hope, N.W.T.on Sept. 25, the Sahtu Secretariat Inc. (SSI) passed a resolution recommending thatgovernmentsand organizations no longer refer to the Sahtu Dene language by its former name.

The move isthe latest step of Indigenous organizations and governmentsto decolonize names. There have also been calls toremove the word "slave"from Great Slave Lake.

"The government and everybody else refer to the language as North Slavey, but it's always been a word that we kind of don't like," said Leonard Kenny, who is part of theDlnGot'n government'sKaowd K(main council) and was at the SSI assembly, where the resolution was passed.

Thedirectors who make up SSI, the organization responsible for the Sahtu land claim, voted in favour of recommending that the old term no longer be used.

Leonard says insteadthey want it calledSahtu Dene Kd.

"We no longer want to use that term anymore, not only ourselves, but including the federal government, territorial government and all organizations, including the other Dene that live in the Northwest Territories," Kenny said.

Kenny saidthere are different dialects in each community, but Sahtu Dene Kd encompasses all of them.

In an email, N.W.T. Languages Commissioner BrendaGauthier says her office hasn'treceived this recommendation,but addedshe's willing to assist any way shecan.