09/03/2026
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Announces Cultural Revitalization Camps Across Its Territory
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation, Treaty #8 Territory
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation will establish cultural revitalization camps throughout our territory to strengthen our people, protect our homelands, and carry forward Nehiyaw laws, language, land-based knowledge, and ceremony.
For too long, provincial, and federal governments have imposed policies and legislation on First Nations without our consent or meaningful involvement. These colonial systems have failed our people and continue to damage the lands, waters, and relationships that sustain all life.
We will not stand by while governments make decisions for us, about us, and on our lands without us.
The cultural revitalization camps will create space for our members, especially our youth, to learn directly from Elders, Knowledge Keepers, land users, and community leaders. The camps will support the transfer of traditional knowledge, Nehiyaw language, harvesting practices, medicines, ceremony, governance teachings, and responsibilities to the land.
This work is about more than culture. It is about jurisdiction. It is about restoring our relationship with our territory and ensuring our people have the strength, knowledge, and unity to protect it.
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation has always had its own laws, responsibilities, and ways of caring for the land.
Those responsibilities did not disappear because governments drew boundaries, passed legislation, or ignored Treaty relationships.
We expect both provincial and federal governments to recognize that First Nations must be directly involved in every decision affecting our lands, waters, Treaty rights, and future.
Consulting after decisions are made or failing to consult completely. It is not consent. It is not acceptable.
Our Nation is moving forward with purpose. We are rebuilding what colonial governments have tried to weaken, and we are doing it on our own terms, in our own territory, with our people leading the way.
“Our culture, language, and relationship with the land are not programs for governments to manage. They are the foundation of who we are as Nehiyaw people. Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation will continue to assert our rights, uphold our responsibilities, and ensure our children know who they are and where they come from.” - Chief Sheldon Sunshine
Further details on camp locations, programming, and community participation will be shared with Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation members as planning moves forward.
Kinânaskomitin,
Sturgeon Lake Cree Nation Leadership
