Edehzhie is the first Dene Indigenous Protected Area within Canada. Edehzhie’s unprecedented status as an Indigenous Protected Area makes it a key conservation milestone for many conservationist efforts on a global scale, because Edehzhie contains unique watershed and boreal forest biomes which require human stewardship (thus, the support of the communities which surround Edehzhie), environmentalists and human rights activists alike have a stake in Edehzhie’s future.