DƏNE YI’INJETL | The Scattering of Man
Unwilling participants in a wave of development that led to the creation of the largest hydroelectric project in the history of British Columbia, Canada, the Tsay Keh Dene people found themselves displaced from their land amidst the rising waters.
Synopsis
Between 1960 and 1961 the Province of British Columbia, then led by the Premier W.A.C. Bennett, underwent a series of nationalizations in order to create Provincial “Crown corporations”. This initiative included the creation of what is now known as BC Hydro.
In 1968, BC Hydro completed construction on the W.A.C Bennett Dam and began flooding the Rocky Mountain Trench in northern British Columbia, Canada. The resulting flood greatly impacted the Tsay Keh Dene people who have inhabited this area since time immemorial.
DƏNE YI'INJETL is told from the perspective of the Tsay Keh Dene Nation and its membership about the events that took place before and after the flood. Viewed by many critics as a Provincial vanity project, development of the dam was pushed forward and completed ahead of schedule, with little thought given to the resulting impacts that the natural environment and Tsay Keh Dene people would soon face.
Tsay Keh Dene Nation
The Tsay Keh Dene Nation is both culturally and linguistically Tsek’ene (Sekani). The name Tsek’ene is often translated as “people of the mountains”. The Tsay Keh Dene have used and occupied a large and well defined territory in north-central British Columbia since time immemorial.
In the 1960s the Tsay Keh Dene people were forcibly relocated to reserves outside of their territory when the Williston Reservoir and WAC Bennett Dam were created. More than 175,000 hectares of their territory was flooded including villages, graveyards, prime hunting, trapping and fishing grounds, and other culturally significant sites.
Tsay Keh Dene history reveals that the loss, disruption and dislocation caused by the creation of the reservoir were devastating. For the survivors and their descendants, the social, cultural, and economic effects of this event, including the collective trauma and a deep sense of loss, persist more than fifty years later.
About
Filmed over a three year period from 2015-2018, and in post-production from 2018-2021, DƏNE YI’INJETL – The Scattering of Man is a Tsay Keh Dene Nation driven project that is fully financed by the Nation. The feature film is the directorial debut of Luke Gleeson, who is also a member of the Tsay Keh Dene.
A core creative team of 3 people, (collectively forming Mesilinka Films - Yves Grundler, Tim Cote, Luke Gleeson), worked intimately with members to translate the vision and people’s stories into reality. This film is a first hand account of an ongoing despoliation of territory told by the people of a nation once forgotten in the name of progress.
