Study to look at Dene culture in the workplace CBC North
The national chief of the Dene Nations says this study is long overdue.
Noeline Villebrun says employment issues such as time off for the traditional spring hunt, and a broader definition of immediate family to include cousins, aunts and uncles are two cultural issues that should be considered in by employers.
'So when a worker wants to take time off to go to a funeral and in the collective agreement it may say immediate family is a mother/father,' she says.
'So the Dene worker may not be able to go to a funeral. A lot of times our people have given up their jobs to go to a funeral.'
Villebrun also wants to look at employment agreements developed by the Navaho Dene in Arizona.