Today’s mission: the traditonal Deneh sport known as hand games in Behchoko, about an hour drive up North from Yellowknife. This year the pot’s bigger than it’s ever been, a grand total of 100 000$. First Nations from nearby provinces and territories gather up for their shot at the prize. We hop out of the van, and enter the building. You cannot escape the power of the continuous drumming that creates an almost trance like atmosphere. What an incredible sense of community between all the participants and observers. We wrap up our stop (even though we would have like to stayed longer), and run into friendly participants who came up from Alberta: Rodney who’s Dene and his wife Laura who’s Cree. They share powerful statements on the couch, about their long history and relationship to the land, about the difficulties of the realities they face as members of First Nations communities, but despite all still stand strong.
