“Well, since time immemorial Tłı̨chǫ people have harvested caribou. Our community of Wekweeti is based where it is because the caribou were travelling in that area. Our ancestors have travelled to the barrenlands since time immemorial hunting caribou. It’s always been a part of our culture. We used to go out there in the fall to get those prime hides to do sewing, so even that is a part of the culture, and bringing back those hides to do the sewing and providing for our families in that way. For our drums, the drum is a sacred cultural aspect to the Tłı̨chǫ culture. And everything that we do in essence is revolved around harvesting of caribou. 

Elders always talk about how we – I think it’s a common sense type of practice - just having respect for the land, having  respect for the animals, having respect for yourself. As a harvester being respectful and being responsible while you’re out harvesting, I think that goes a long way. Elders have always talked about when you’re disrespecting the land and the wildlife then they’re going to go away. And they won’t come back until they know they’re being respected again. And so I think that’s one of the key things in our programs is that we try to really emphasize bringing that respect back. The hunting practices are so different than what it used to be. There’s so much disrespectful hunting practices that’s going on now. People are shooting into groups and not going after the animals that they’re wounding, they’re wasting animals out there. And we see that through our program – our winter programs – we see a lot of wasted carcasses out there, and that is not respectful towards the animal whatsoever. And there’s a lot of over-harvesting that’s going on. So I think when people are out harvesting they should be mindful of themselves when they’re out and being respectful of the land and the wildlife, and taking only what you need and following those traditional hunting practices.”