Popular N.W.T. tourist attraction becomes on-the-land healing camp

One of Yellowknife's most popular tourist attractions began welcoming guests again a week ago for the first time in months.

But unlike the tourists that have come to Aurora Village to take in the Northern Lights, these guests are here for a different reason: to heal.

"We're so used to people coming here to see Aurora, the spirits of the sky," said Aurora village owner and former N.W.T. premier Don Morin. "Those people aren't coming. Now the people coming are here to find their spirits."

Aurora Village has just taken on a new purpose: providing shelter, nourishment and healing to people experiencing homelessness.

It's a collaboration between the Dene Nation and several Indigenous partners, including the Crazy Indians Brotherhood, the Arctic Indigenous Wellness Foundation and Aurora Village.

The partners held a news conference in one of the village's teepees on Thursday to explain the project.

The camp's first guests began arriving last week, said Michael Fatt of the Crazy Indians Brotherhood, and he can already see the difference. He hears laughter coming from teepees, and hears of others going on the land, he said. Those who have been there longer are helping guests who arrived this week.

Fatt, who has experienced homelessness in the past in several cities, said talking is important in healing.

"I know I would only talk to people who share my experiences," he said.

To be among those who experienced residential schools or the Sixties Scoop mattered in his own healing process, Fatt said.

The camp is not exclusively for Indigenous people experiencing homelessness or people from the Yellowknife area, but the core idea behind the camp was Dene people helping Dene people. Morin said some guests are from other parts of the Northwest Territories and some from Nunavut. 

The reviews from guests each morning so far? They talk about how peaceful it is and say they feel a healing spirit when walking around, Morin said. The most common remark is that they got a good night's sleep. 

The project has received $1.3 million in federal funding, said Trevor Teed, director of Lands and Environment for Dene Nation. 

Dene National Chief Norman Yakeleya emphasized that the federal money is allowing the project to do things using Dene values, traditions and ways of doing things, rather than imposing a way of structuring a program for the individuals.