Commemorating
the Dogrib Caribou Skin Lodge
When the University of Iowa Museum
of Natural History returned an
original 104-year-old Dogrib caribou
skin lodge to the Northwest Territories
in 1997, a special 5-month exhibit
of the dwelling – the only
surviving lodge of its kind –
drew thousands of viewers to the
Prince of Wales Heritage
Centre in Yellowknife.
After the fragile artifact was
dismantled and returned to storage,
the Heritage Centre, the Dogrib
Community Services Board and the
Dogrib Treaty 11 Council joined
forced to produce 2 replicas of
the lodge.
Many of the 75 caribou skins
needed for the project were
collected during the 1999
barrenlands caribou hunt, and
7 Dogrib women from the community
of Rae, on the North Arm of
Great Slave Lake, were appointed
to tan the hides and sew and
decorate the lodges. Seams were
sewn with caribou sinew, and
the completed lodges were sealed
and decorated with red ochre
paint, made from red ochre collected
from a site near Rae. Young
people were involved throughout
the construction process, as
traditional skills were passed
along to the next generation.
The lodges were officially
unveiled at the 2000 Dogrib
National Assembly; 1 lodge is
now part of a permanent display
at the Prince of Wales Heritage
Centre, while the other is used
in the Dogrib school system
and at special events.
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Caribou
Common Denominator
Their territories and languages may be
different, but the First Nations of Great
Slave Lake have always had caribou in common.
With the exception of the Slavey Nation,
which historically depended on moose and
fish for their livelihood, the indigenous
people of Great Slave have been united by
their use of the caribou as their main source
of food, shelter and clothing.
For thousands of years, the Dogrib and
Chipewyan people have divided their time
between the forested shores of Great Slave
Lake and the barren tundra of the far north,
following the migrations of the Bathhurst
and Beverly caribou herds. Caribou meat
was eaten fresh, dried and made into pemmican.
Bones were fashioned into needles and utensils,
antlers into tools and sinew into thread.
The fat provided fuel and light, and the
skin was made into warm clothing and tent
coverings. With up to 75% of all of life’s
necessities provided by the caribou, the
caribou hunt was a matter of life or death;
the failure of the herd to follow its established
migration path sometimes resulted in unmitigated
starvation and misery.
While snowmobiles have replaced sled dogs
as the transportation mode of the modern-day
caribou hunt, the Dene of communities such
as Lutsel K’e, on the East Arm of
Great Slave Lake, continue to travel in
large numbers to participate in the caribou
hunt. A comprehensive study of the Lutsel
K’e Dene First Nation, conducted in
the late 1990’s, showed that the most
commonly consumed traditional food in the
community was caribou, eaten an average
of 5 times a week. The study revealed that
many residents of the Lutsel K’e community
still showed a strong desire to live on
the land, and to maintain the flexibility
of a nomadic, caribou-following lifestyle.
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