For nearly 50 years, the Lutsel K’e Dene First Nation, has been advocating to protect over 33,000 km2 in the heart of their homeland called Thaidene Nene, the ‘Land of the Ancestors’. The Thaidene Nene Initiative was awarded $100,000 to contribute to the stewardship, protection, and co-management of the proposed national park reserve in Canada’s North West Territories. Their plan is to build a healthy and self-sustaining community that promotes the responsibility and capacity of Indigenous peoples to act as stewards and hosts of their traditional territories, in partnership with the rest of Canada. Their vision was realized in 2019 with the creation of the Thaidene Nene National Park Reserve.
(Note that this project was a Finalist prior to 2017, when the current 3-tiered prize model was put in place. Their nomination therefore does not correspond to a particular category.)
