{"id":107429,"date":"2026-07-30T12:44:31","date_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:44:31","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/?p=107429"},"modified":"2026-07-30T12:44:31","modified_gmt":"2026-07-30T16:44:31","slug":"dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\/","title":{"rendered":"Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations unite to defend water rights"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>By Kody Ferron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yellowknifer The Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations are teaming up to defend the water rights of Alberta and the NWT. On July 29, the Dene Nation announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Woodland Cree First Nation of Treaty 8 territory and the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta. The MOU, according to the Dene Nation\u2019s announcement, creates a formal partnership to protect the groups\u2019 treaty water rights. The groups say that the MOU will be renewed annually to ensure it continues to be effective in its goals, including creating Indigenous-led water monitoring and stewardship throughout the Mackenzie River Basin, creating shared environmental databases and expanding the role of Indigenous knowledge and jurisdiction in the&#8230; <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\">\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription &#8211; Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div>\n<div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F30%2Fdene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kody Ferron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yellowknifer The Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations are teaming up to defend the water rights of Alberta and the NWT. On July 29, the Dene Nation announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Woodland Cree First Nation of Treaty 8 territory and the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta. The MOU, according to the Dene Nation\u2019s announcement, creates a formal partnership to protect the groups\u2019 treaty water rights. The groups say that the MOU will be renewed annually to ensure it continues to be effective in its goals, including creating Indigenous-led water monitoring and stewardship throughout the Mackenzie River Basin, creating shared environmental databases and expanding the role of Indigenous knowledge and jurisdiction in the... <\/p>\n<div class=\"pmpro\"><div class=\"pmpro_card pmpro_content_message\"><div class=\"pmpro_card_content\">This content is for Yearly Subscription, Yearly Subscription - Corporate, Print Subscription Only, Canada Print and Online, and USA Print and Online members only.<br \/><a href=\"http:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?action=register\">Register<\/a><\/div><div class=\"pmpro_card_actions pmpro_font-medium\">Already a member? <a href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-login.php?redirect_to=https%3A%2F%2Ftheturtleislandnews.com%2Findex.php%2F2026%2F07%2F30%2Fdene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights%2F\">Log in here<\/a><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"author":101363,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"pmpro_default_level":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[8,13],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-107429","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-national-news","category-ticker","pmpro-level-required","pmpro-level-3","pmpro-level-2","pmpro-level-5","pmpro-level-4","pmpro-level-6","pmpro-level-7","pmpro-level-8","pmpro-no-access"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations unite to defend water rights - The Turtle Island News<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations unite to defend water rights - The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"By Kody Ferron, Local Journalism Initiative Reporter, Yellowknifer The Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations are teaming up to defend the water rights of Alberta and the NWT. On July 29, the Dene Nation announced that it had signed a memorandum of understanding (MOU) with the Woodland Cree First Nation of Treaty 8 territory and the Treaty 8 First Nations of Alberta. The MOU, according to the Dene Nation\u2019s announcement, creates a formal partnership to protect the groups\u2019 treaty water rights. The groups say that the MOU will be renewed annually to ensure it continues to be effective in its goals, including creating Indigenous-led water monitoring and stewardship throughout the Mackenzie River Basin, creating shared environmental databases and expanding the role of Indigenous knowledge and jurisdiction in the\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/index.php\/2026\/07\/30\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"The Turtle Island News\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/TurtleIslandNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2026-07-30T16:44:31+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/theturtleislandnews.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/facebooklogo.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"725\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"483\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@newsattheturtle\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Lynda Powless\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"3 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\\\/\\\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/30\\\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\\\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/30\\\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\\\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Lynda Powless\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#\\\/schema\\\/person\\\/7b188fd7503577895ef8b306988cd458\"},\"headline\":\"Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations unite to defend water rights\",\"datePublished\":\"2026-07-30T16:44:31+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/30\\\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\\\/\"},\"wordCount\":497,\"publisher\":{\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/#organization\"},\"articleSection\":[\"National News\",\"ticker\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-CA\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/30\\\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\\\/\",\"url\":\"https:\\\/\\\/theturtleislandnews.com\\\/index.php\\\/2026\\\/07\\\/30\\\/dene-nation-and-alberta-treaty-8-first-nations-unite-to-defend-water-rights\\\/\",\"name\":\"Dene Nation and Alberta Treaty 8 First Nations unite to defend water rights - 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