Several cemeteries and hundreds of grave sites are found in the Dogrib region. Living on the land in the North can be extremely dangerous. The harsh climate, scarce food, carnivorous animals and a host of other hazards contributed to fairly short life spans in the past. In many cases, life became even more precarious with the arrival of European explorers, traders and missionaries. Foreign diseases brought over with the newcomers ravaged the local populations, who had no immunity to these new illnesses. Those who perished in mass epidemics inhabit many of the cemeteries on the trail.

Since the arrival of Christian missionaries to the North, Dogrib graves have been marked by a cross and enclosed by a white picket fence. You can learn more about burials before the arrival of Europeans and the customs associated with grave sites further along in this section of Kw'ooyeeti.