The government says the recommendation from the commission is simply that — a recommendation and not binding.

But the First Nations say the treaties are meaningless unless the recommendation is upheld. At stake, they say, is how much influence Canada’s original inhabitants will have over land and natural resources in their traditional territories.

They also say that to allow the Yukon government to renegotiate the plan would undermine the spirit of reconciliation, one of Prime Minister Justin Trudeau’s goals in building a new relationship with Canada’s 1.4 million aboriginal people, who face disproportionately high levels of poverty, incarceration and violence.

“It would destroy the faith of First Nations in these modern treaties if the government can just go back and start over and even then can reject the whole thing,” said Thomas Berger, a lawyer who represents the First Nations and environmental groups.

The Yukon government argues that the territory’s elected officials should have the final say over the region’s future.

The case has drawn widespread attention from industry groups and environmentalists.

“Mother Nature has given us many gifts, beautiful rivers, the land they flow through, the mountains and the trees that we can see, but we should not forget that she also gave us minerals that allow us to live in a modern society,” Mike Burke, the president of the Yukon Chamber of Mines, said in a statement.

“Removal of large areas of land to mineral exploration will never allow us to make proper land use decisions.”