Peel

March 4 2019

Yukoners overwhelmingly support permanent protection of Peel Watershed

CPAWS Yukon News final consultation, news, Peel

February 27, 2019 (Whitehorse, YT) – CPAWS Yukon and the Yukon Conservation Society (YCS) are pleased to see an overwhelming call for stronger protection in the Peel Regional Land Use Plan What We Heard Report released yesterday.

The report breaks down the 2,674 email, letter, and questionnaire submissions during the final consultations. We are pleased to see that the public has spoken and over 96.4% of people asked for at least the implementation of the Final Recommended Plan (which calls for 55% permanent protection, 25% interim protection). 64.5% of people asked for protection to be stronger than in the Final Recommended Plan.

Over the past 20 years, CPAWS Yukon and YCS have been advocating for permanent protection of this unspoiled landscape that spans over 68,000 km2 – about 14% of the entire Yukon. Home to iconic northern wildlife such as grizzly bears, wolves, moose, caribou, and lynx, the Peel Watershed provides a much needed sanctuary that is integral for plants, animals, and humans to thrive.

The landmark victory at the Supreme Court of Canada in December 2017 (by appellants First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation, CPAWS Yukon, and YCS) provided the public with this opportunity to exercise their right – as laid out in the Umbrella Final Agreement – to help decide the future of this landscape through final consultations on the Final Recommend Plan for the Peel Watershed.

Now that consultations are complete, CPAWS Yukon and YCS hope that Yukon policy- and decision-makers will act on the public desire for a protected Peel Watershed as they finalize the Peel Watershed Land Use Plan.

“We’re thrilled that so many people participated in the final consultations. It’s clear that Yukoners want to see the strongest possible protection for the Peel Watershed, and Yukon government has a great opportunity to show that they’re listening.” – Chris Rider, Executive Director, CPAWS Yukon

“Climate change and industrial development are threats to biodiversity and the health of the land in the Yukon and across the globe. Protecting wildlife and wild places like the Peel Watershed is the key to our shared future.” – Dr. Mike Walton, Executive Director, Yukon Conservation Society

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Contacts

Adil Darvesh, Communications Coordinator, CPAWS Yukon
adarvesh@cpawsyukon.org, 867-393-8080 x9

Julia Duchesne, Outreach and Communications Director, YCS
outreach@yukonconservation.org, 867-668-5678 x1

Contacts for quotes

David Loeks, Former Chair of the Peel Commission
867-633-5470, loeks@northwestel.net

Kalin Pallett, President of Wilderness Tourism Association of the Yukon (WTAY)
867-335-6469, kalin@eddyline.ca

Donald Reid, Conservation Zoologist – Wildlife Conservation Society Canada
867-456-7556, dreid@wcs.org

Google Drive folder with images
https://drive.google.com/open?id=1Zb5K0VM4LKPw0nmGSPxcLkdPEFikhyr9

December 12 2018

Peel consultations are over. What’s next?

CPAWS Yukon Blog, BlogPeelWatershed, our stories blog, consultations, Peel

Header Image: Peter Mather
Written by: Adil Darvesh, Communications Coordinator

It’s taken seven years to get to this point, but we’ve finally reached the end of the consultations on the Peel Watershed Final Recommended Plan. Congratulations to everybody who submitted their comments and participated in this important democratic process! Submissions closed in November, and now many of you may be asking: “What happens next?”.

In the coming weeks, Stantec (the firm responsible for collecting and analyzing the submissions) will release a report highlighting how many submissions were received, and what was said in those submissions. The parties of Na Cho Nyak Dun, Vuntut Gwitchin, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Gwich’in Tribal Council, and the Yukon Government will use this document to help them decide whether they want to accept the Final Recommended Plan as written, make minor modifications to the Final Recommended Plan to accommodate the responses from the submissions, or reject the Final Recommended Plan (which Yukon Government has said won’t happen). CPAWS Yukon and the Yukon Conservation Society have asked that the Final Recommended Plan be improved by protecting 80% of the watershed permanently now (rather than leaving 25% of the protected region to be ‘interim protection’, revisited at a later date).

Once the Plan is finalized, it will become the Peel Watershed Land Use Plan, and work will begin on creating an implementation (management) strategy for the Peel.

CPAWS Yukon and YCS hope that the Yukon Government will also extend the current ban on development and the staking of mineral claims in the Peel Watershed, until management plans have been completed.

Stay tuned for updates from CPAWS Yukon and YCS along the way!

For more information on the Peel Watershed visit www.protectpeel.ca

July 30 2018

Peel Watershed Photo Exhibit comes to Whitehorse

CPAWS Yukon News news, Peel, photo exhibit

July 30, 2018, Whitehorse – The Peel Watershed Portrait Exhibit is showing at the Yukon Arts Centre from August 1-30, with an opening reception from 5-7 pm on August 1. The exhibit is a collaboration between the Yukon Conservation Society, CPAWS Yukon, the First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dün, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and the Teetl’it Gwich’in Council, and features some of the many people whose lives are intertwined with the Peel Watershed.

For the exhibit, interviews and photoshoots were conducted in the four communities surrounding the Peel Watershed – Mayo, Dawson City, Old Crow, and Teetl’it Zheh (Fort McPherson) – and Whitehorse. After being shown in Ottawa and the Peel communities, the exhibit is now coming to Whitehorse. It features short excerpts from individual interviews alongside photographs by Cathie Archbould and Peter Mather.

“Not many people understand the importance of the land, ecosystems, and the animals on humanity’s well-being. The people of the North live and breathe this reality,” said Cathie Archbould, the exhibit’s portrait photographer.

“It is pretty hard to go into the Peel and not come back with special images,” said Peter Mather, the exhibit’s landscape photographer. “My hope is always that my work will inspire people from all walks of life to visit and cherish the watershed, its adventures and its people.”

The Peel Watershed is within the traditional territories of the First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dün, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and the Teetl’it Gwich’in Council in the neighbouring Northwest Territories. For generations, these First Nations have relied on the watershed for both physical and cultural sustenance. The exhibit highlights some of the many people who care for the land and have fought to protect it.

In recent years, the watershed’s future has been at stake during a lengthy legal battle over the land use planning process. In 2017, the Supreme Court of Canada ruled that the Yukon government must complete meaningful final consultations on a land use plan that protects 80% of the watershed. Since that decisive ruling, the Peel Watershed Planning Commission’s Final Recommended Plan has been under review by the Yukon government. Yukoners will have the opportunity to comment on the final plan during the final consultation period, which is expected to take place in the coming months. Dates have not yet been announced.

The Whitehorse showing of the exhibit is dedicated to the memory of CPAWS Yukon’s founding Executive Director, Juri Peepre. Juri was the driving force behind the early public campaign to protect the Peel Watershed and his legacy will live on through the protection of the lands that he loved so much.

This exhibition is also meant to express eternal gratitude to everyone from the Yukon, Northwest Territories and around the world who has poured passion, time and energy into protecting the Peel Watershed – especially the people of Na Cho Nyäk Dün, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in, Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation and the Teetl’it Gwich’in Council.

The Peel Watershed Portrait Exhibit is free to the public and open Monday to Friday 10 am to 5 pm, Saturdays 12 pm to 5 pm, August 1-30. Yukoners are encouraged to view the exhibit all month and share their own stories and images on Facebook and Twitter using the hashtag #ProtectPeel.

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Media Contacts:

Julia Duchesne, Yukon Conservation Society
Outreach & Communications Director
outreach@yukonconservation.org
867-668-5678

Adil Darvesh, CPAWS Yukon
Communications Coordinator
adarvesh@cpawsyukon.org
867-383-8080 x9

www.protectpeel.ca

February 9 2018

We did this, together

CPAWS Yukon Blog, BlogPeelWatershed celebration, Peel, watershed

We did this, together

At the Whitehorse Livestream of the Peel Supreme Court decision last December, when the news came through that we had— in a unanimous victory —won our court case, a couple things quickly became clear.

Yukoners were ready to celebrate. This is a massive victory for the Peel Watershed and First Nations rights, and it’s the result of decades of dedication from so many people. The other thing we noticed at the livestream was that people had stories to share about their connection the Peel; that although the land use planning process has been embroiled in the courts for the past three years, the Peel Watershed is so much more than politics. Everyone has a unique connection to this land. We knew that after many years of hard work, we had reached the moment where it was so important to come together and share our stories.

Unity

We couldn’t have achieved what we have achieved without unity. It was the first time in history that First Nations and environmental groups took a case all the way to the Supreme Court of Canada. But this was not the only reason for the success of this campaign. On a broader scale, success came from an entire territory rallying long and hard to protect this incredible watershed and modern treaties. If you were at any of the Peel events in the past few years you could see how people from all walks of life came out to support a campaign they so deeply believed in.

The success of the campaign came from a shared belief that wilderness — especially a tract of intact land the size of the Peel —is the most valuable asset we have; for now, for our grandchildren and for their grandchildren. Yukoners came together on this shared belief. And we won! It’s a success story that we hope will inspire other campaigns to know that they too can rise together. They too can protect some of the world’s most unique and vulnerable wild spaces.

Even Tom Berger, our lead lawyer, spoke of the campaign’s grassroots success.

“I think all the people involved, and Yukoners — not just those who belong to the environmental organizations, or those who were members of First Nations — participated, it really seemed to be a community enterprise,” Berger told CBC on the morning of the celebration. “That was my impression every time I came up here, and the enthusiasm was so much.”

Sharing our stories

We were planning on hosting an event after the decision, no matter what happened, but it quickly became apparent that one thing that many of supporters wanted was a space to share why the watershed matters to them so deeply. The wilderness, after all, is why so many of us live here. It is who we are and what we believe in. We planned a celebration that included a venue to share these stories, and were blown away with how it turned out.

The celebration

The celebration began with a ceremonial fire-lighting, led by Na Cho Nyäk Dän Elder Walter Peters, and a water ceremony, led by Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in Elders Clara Van Bibber and Angie Joseph-Rear. It was a windy, frigid day — the temperature dipping below minus 30 — but that didn’t deter the large crowd that gathered on the banks of the Yukon River to share in prayer and song.

We were expecting a few dozen people to show up to the story sharing circle afterwards, seventy at the most. By 5 pm, when the event was scheduled to begin, the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre’s Longhouse was packed with over two hundred people. It was a challenge to restructure the circle at such short notice, and we had to come to terms with the fact that with such a huge turnout, not everyone would be able to share their story.

Still, we were in awe as person after person stood up with the microphone to share their connection to the Peel. Whether it was exploring the watershed by boat or horse, or working behind the scenes organizing the events and protests that brought us to where we are today, every story was charged with the kind of emotion and passion that kept the audience captivated. Although everyone’s experiences and stories were vastly different, one common thread that wove the narratives together was the sense that we did it, together.

The joyful energy continued throughout the buffet dinner and speeches. The audience heard from Gwich’in leaders from Fort Mcpherson, the Yukon Minister of Environment, all five leaders from the court case and even Thomas Berger, who flew from Vancouver for the celebration. Afterwards, Matthew Lien hit the stage with his beautiful song “Headwaters,” followed by Brue Charlie and Ben Chuck on fiddle, who got the crowd on their feet and jigging in no time.

Despite some challenges adapting to the larger than expected crowds, we couldn’t be happier with the celebration, and from what we saw and heard, many who came shared the same sentiment. All night long the room was full of a sense of pride: for the land, for how hard we have worked together and for our commitment to protecting a place that will now remain vast and wild.

A huge thank you The Wandering Bison for the fabulous meal, The Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre for the venue and staff, Kate White for her chocolate cake, The Chocolate Claim, Bean North, Roxx Hunter our fabulous musicians, the Youth of Today society, Matt Jacques and Dan Bader for capturing the evening, all of our incredible volunteers, and of course our Peel partners: The Yukon Conservation Society, Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation, First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dän and Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation. Thank you to everyone who helped make this night such a success!

Click here for more photos of the celebration. Photography by Matt Jacques and Dan Bader.

What’s Next?

Although we won our Supreme Court case and the Peel Watershed is so much closer to being protected, we’re still a step away from full and legal protection for the watershed.

The Supreme Court directed the Yukon Government back to the stage of final consultations on the Final Recommended Plan. On December 1st, the day the decision was released, Sandy Silver called it a “A victory for all of Yukon” and committed to implementing the Final Recommended Plan.

Last month, the Yukon Government and First Nations met in Dawson to discuss next steps for consultations and implementation, which they project will to take around a year.

Stay tuned for more details about consultations once they are released. We need your voice for one last push to see this campaign to the end!

January 30 2018

Celebration Friday, February 2nd for Supreme Court Peel Victory

CPAWS Yukon News celebration, news, Peel, watershed

To mark the historic Supreme Court of Canada victory for the Peel Watershed a celebration will be held at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre on Friday, February 2 from 4:30 pm to 11: 00 pm. The event will pay tribute to the decades of hard work so many Yukoners have put into protecting the watershed and highlight the significance of the December 1st 2017 landmark, unanimous Supreme Court judgement.

The celebration consists of three sections (see below) and media are welcome to attend and cover the event. The exception to this is the story sharing circle, which will have no recording of any kind.

Speeches will take place after dinner, around 7:30 pm. Speakers include:
• Chief Roberta Joseph (Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation)
• Chief Simon Mervyn (First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dän)
• Chief Bruce Charlie (Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation)
• Christina Macdonald (Yukon Conservation Society)
• Chris Rider (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Yukon Chapter)
• Thomas Berger (O.C., O.B.C, Q.C.)
• The Hon. Pauline Frost (Minister of Environment, Yukon Government)
• Chief Wanda Pascal (Tetlit Gwich’in Council)
• President Bobbie Jo Greenland-Morgan (Gwich’in Tribal Council)

Event Schedule:

4:30 pm– 7:00 pm: Fire lighting, water ceremony and story sharing circle*

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm: Buffet dinner and speeches

9:00 pm – 11:00 pm: Live music and dancing

*A gathering to share stories, memories and reflections of the Peel Watershed. Participants will each have a short period of time to speak. Everyone is welcome.

Full event details here: http://protectpeel.ca/news/peel-watershed-celebration

Please feel free to contact Nadine Sander-Green (nsandergreen@cpawsyukon.org or 867-393 8080 ext. 9) if you have any questions or would like to set up an interview.

January 30 2018

Peel watershed celebration in Whitehorse

CPAWS Yukon Blog, BlogPeelWatershed celebration, Peel, whitehorse

Peel watershed celebration in Whitehorse

Header Image: Snake River, Tayu Hayward

It’s time to celebrate our Supreme Court of Canada victory, and all of you who have put so much energy, hard work and dedication into protecting the Peel Watershed! Join us at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre starting at 4:30 pm on February 2nd for an evening jammed-packed with storytelling, delicious food, dancing to live music and so much more. The event is free and everyone is welcome. There are three separate parts to the evening. Feel free to come to any or all of them. The celebration is an alcohol-free event.

Celebration Schedule

4:30 pm– 7:00 pm: Fire lighting, water ceremony and story sharing circle*

7:00 pm – 9:00 pm: Buffet dinner and speeches

9:00 pm – 11:00 pm: Live music and dance

* What does the Peel Watershed mean to you? We will gather to share our stories, memories and reflections. Participants will each have a short period of time to speak. Feel free to come and just listen. No pre-registration is required and there will be no recording (audio, photography, video) of any kind during the sharing circle to ensure a safe, welcoming environment. Everyone is welcome.

November 28 2017

A judgement is coming in the supreme court of Canada’s peel watershed case

CPAWS Yukon Blog, BlogPeelWatershed canada, case, court, hearing, judgement, legal, Peel, supreme, watershed

A judgement is coming in the supreme court of Canada’s peel watershed case

It’s finally happening! Friday is going to be a historic day in the Yukon, and beyond. The judgement in the Supreme Court of Canada’s Peel Watershed case will be released this Friday Dec. 1 at 9:45am EST.

We —alongside our co-appellants — will be holding a press conference in Ottawa at 1pm EST on Friday December 1. Speakers will include: Chief Roberta Joseph (Tr’ondëk Hwëch’in First Nation), Chief Simon Mervyn (First Nation of Na Cho Nyäk Dän), Chief Bruce Charlie (Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation), Christina Macdonald (Yukon Conservation Society) and Chris Rider (Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society, Yukon Chapter)

We’ll be hosting a livestream of the press conference in Whitehorse, Friday at 10 am at the Kwanlin Dün Cultural Centre. Stay tuned to our Protect the Peel Facebook page and our Twitter feed for live updates and a link to the YouTube URL. To learn more about the Peel Watershed and the legal case visit protectpeel.ca.