Northern First Nations united behind declaration Three northern Yukon First Nations have banded together By Sidney Cohen on December 1, 2016

Three northern Yukon First Nations have banded together to issue a declaration on the protection of renewable and non-renewable resources on their traditional lands.

In the document, signed Nov. 25, the First Nation of Na-Cho Nyak Dun, the Tr’ondek Hwech’in, and Vuntut Gwitchin affirm their right to participate in all decisions about resource extraction on their territories, and their unequivocal opposition to hydraulic fracturing. They also call for an overhaul of existing mining legislation.

The declaration, sent out Wednesday afternoon, comes amid a flare-up of disputes over the use of settlement and non-settlement land in the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in territory, and just days before the inauguration of the new Liberal government.

“This Declaration is not meant to stop economic development,” said Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Chief Roberta Joseph in a statement, rather it’s about building a sustainable economy that “respects our First Nations values.”

“The recent territorial election gives us hope, and we encourage the new government to work alongside us to building a regional economy that protects the environmental and cultural heritage of North Yukon,” she said.

Liberal Leader Sandy Silver vowed on the campaign trail to actively honour and uphold final and self-government agreements, if elected. Now that he has been, Silver will have to wade into a number of roiling conflicts over land use, one of which – the Peel Watershed dispute – has made it all the way up to the Supreme Court of Canada. The Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Na-cho Nyak Dun and Vuntut Gwitchin are all plaintiffs in that case scheduled to be heard March 22.

The declaration says the Yukon’s Placer Mining Act and the Yukon Quartz Act are “profoundly inconsistent” with the First Nations’ final agreements and with common law, which recognizes the Crown’s unique relationship with Canada’s indigenous peoples.

Current Yukon mining legislation “assumes that mining is the highest and best use of the land in the Yukon,” Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Bruce Charlie said in an interview yesterday.

This assumption, he said, doesn’t square with the final agreements.

Silver need not travel far from his own home in Dawson to set foot on some contentious land.

Right now, placer miners want to mine their claims under the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in’s subdivision located on settlement land in Dawson City. There is also another dispute between a miner and the local community over the right to work claims near the local cross country ski trails.

Adding to this, the Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in in June filed a lawsuit with the Yukon Supreme Court arguing the Yukon government failed to meet its duty to consult with the First Nation about mineral exploration on its traditional territory.

With Wednesday’s declaration, the three northern First Nations present a united front against mining companies and government actions that disregard the impacts of changing climate on the North, and the First Nations ways of life, said Charlie.

“We have to be there and do our share too, making sure not only do YESAB (Yukon Environmental and Socio-econoimc Assessment Board) or the governments of the day do their paperwork, we also have to do our paperwork too.”

The declaration confirms that the First Nations are committed to protecting the environment, and calls on everyone else to do the same.

“The ultimate goal of the declaration is to ensure that future generations have the same opportunities to practise their culture and live off the land as past and present generations,” said Charlie.

Charlie cited an example on the Gwitchin’s traditional territory.

Last winter, Northern Cross Yukon filed a judicial review of a YESAB decision to refer its application for oil and gas exploration in Eagle Plains to the board’s executive committee.

Northern Cross’s application was missing information about how the company would work around caribou migration, said Charlie.

“Where are they going to work and what are they going to do if 100,000 animals come in the area?” he said.

“That knowledge best comes from the local people, and nobody uses local people.”

Charlie said he hopes the new Liberal government will adopt this declaration and consult it in all matters relating to northern Yukon.

The document declares that First Nations have the right to participate in managing public lands within their traditional territories, and that First Nations governments have the right to participate in decisions involving resource extraction on their lands.

“The exploitation of our collective resources is a sacred privilege that has to take place in a manner that respects the rights of our people and the long term interests of Yukon society,” reads the declaration.

It calls on the Yukon government to collaborate with First Nations governments in crafting new mining and oil and gas legislation.

The new laws, it says, should enable development in the Yukon to meet the present need while ensuring future generations are able to live out their culture, and live off the land.