Memories of Mistrust and Contamination: The Legacies of Cosmos 954 and Operation Morning Light in Denendeh

On January 24, 1978, the nuclear-powered Soviet satellite Cosmos 954 burned up over the Northwest Territories. Radioactive satellite debris dispersed across hundreds of square kilometres of land, including several communities. Working with nuclear emergency teams from the United States, the Canadian military undertook a months-long operation to recover this hazardous debris from the landscape. Government accounts of “Operation Morning Light” highlighted the mission’s successes in locating harmful debris, emphasizing the negligible risk that most debris posed to the predominantly Dene and Métis communities affected. These authoritative narratives obscured the legacies of Cosmos 954 in communities like Lutsel K’e and Fort Resolution, where people still question the effects of Cosmos 954 on their traditional land, Denendeh. Their memories of the event reveal a lingering mistrust of government risk assessments and an ongoing uncertainty about the hazards of Cosmos 954 debris, especially as part of larger concerns about environmental contamination in Denendeh.M.A