Rogue Diamonds : Northern Riches, Dene Rights

When rogue geologist Chuck Fipke discovered diamonds on the Barren Grounds near Yellowknife in Canada's Arctic, international mining companies took notice. Almost immediately, miners from these large conglomerates began to stake claims to the minerals: pure "ice" diamonds untainted by bloodshed and war.

These diamond lands are home to the Dene, Native peoples who have hunted, fished and lived on these grounds since time immemorial. To mine these lands required the agreement of the First Nations, the Inuit, the mining company and two levels of government. Ellen Bielawski was part of the negotiation team that painstakingly put together a deal to satisfy all involved, and Rogue Diamonds is her provocative and insightful telling of this intense time. From closed-door meetings in town to scared ceremonies on the land, Bielawski weaves a compelling, thought-provoking account.

Ellen Bielawski is a freelance writer whose work has appeared in AlbertaViews, the Globe & Mail, the Edmonton Journal, We Alaskans, Alaska and on CBC. She is currently at work on The Peoples' Prehistory of Alaska (Graphic Arts, 2003). A naturalized Canadian who was born and raised in Alaska, she completed a doctorate and postdoctoral research on native knowledge and Arctic science before she began working with Dene in 1992. She lived in Lutsel k'e, Northwest Territories, from 1992-97, working first as an environmental researcher for the Arctic Institute of North America, where she is a research associate, subsequently as the Lutsel k'e First Nation Treaty Negotiator. She divides her time between the Northwest Territories, Alaska, and Alberta, where her two sons attend school.