Whitehorse Daily Star

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Photo by Chuck Tobin

PEEL PANEL – The Kwanlin Dün All Nations Dancers provided the opening prayer songs at Monday evening’s event in support of the Peel watershed as the case is being prepared for a hearing before the Supreme Court of Canada. Chiefs of the First Nations and representatives of the environmental groups involved in the legal battle hosted a public event at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre. Shown left to right are Chief Simon Mervyn of the First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun, David Neufeld of the Yukon Conservation Society, Chief Roberta Joseph of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in, Chris Rider of the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society and Chief Bruce Charlie of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation.

High court to hear Peel case in February 2017

Another Peel watershed rally drew a healthy crowd Monday on the eve of National Aboriginal Day.

By Chuck Tobin on June 21, 2016

Another Peel watershed rally drew a healthy crowd Monday on the eve of National Aboriginal Day.

Supporters attended the event at the Yukon Beringia Interpretive Centre to hear renowned aboriginal rights lawyer Thomas Berger provide a brief summary of preparations for the Supreme Court of Canada hearing now proposed for Feb. 20, 2017.

They heard from the chiefs of the three First Nations fighting the legal battle against the territorial government alongside the Yukon Conservation Society and the Canadian Parks and Wilderness Association.

“The Peel is Going to Ottawa” read the sign greeting everybody as they arrived. “Please sign the Peel Pledge.”

The event was streamed to community halls in Dawson City, Old Crow and Inuvik.

There was memorabilia on display of the Peel struggle to date. A Protect the Peel T-shirt, a Peter Mather poster of the Wind River and a Protect the Peel hoodie were presented as door prizes.

As fate would have it, the hoodie was won by Dave Loeks, who served as chair of the Peel planning commission through the formative years of consultation and the tumultuous times of division.

A slide show of past Peel events cycled on the centre’s theatre screen as Berger made his comments via Skype from Vancouver, as the chiefs made their remarks in person.

There were photographs of the massive rally in front of the Yukon government’s main administration building, of crowds heading into the law courts on Second Avenue.

There was a picture from the 2012 elders gathering along the Dempster Highway, organized to demonstrate support for the Peel, with scores of participants standing in a huge prayer circle.

There was a boy photographed standing among rows of salmon hanging in a smoke house on the banks of the Peel River.

One photograph was of Northern Tutchone elder Jimmy Johnny – who spent every summer in the Peel watershed for more than 40 years – attending the water ceremony at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre.

The evening was kicked off with prayer songs sung by the Kwanlin Dun All Nations Dancers.

There was enthusiasm, with hearty applause at the rallying moments.

“The judgment of the Supreme Court of Canada will affect land use planning in the Yukon for the next 50 years,” Berger told the gathering of some 100 or so.

He told the audience the Yukon government dismissed the years of work by the Peel planning commission and substituted its own land use plan at the 11th hour.

He recalled how Justice Ron Veale of the Yukon Supreme Court struck down the government’s plan because its participation in the planning process was less than honourable.

Berger explained how Veale ordered the government, because of its failed participation, to largely accept the plan recommended by the commission, including a recommendation for 80 per cent wilderness protection over the 68,042 square kilometres.

But he also reminded them of how the Yukon Court of Appeal overturned Veale’s remedy, and instead ordered the parties back to the planning table, essentially a do-over.

“We will ask the Supreme Court of Canada to reinstate Judge Veale’s judgment,” Berger said.

“We think that is the right approach. We think that judgment should govern land use planning for the Peel and every region of the Yukon for which land use planning lies ahead.”

Asked whether a change in government in this year’s upcoming territorial election could have any bearing on the case, Chief Roberta Joseph of the Tr’ondek Hwech’in told the audience it would not.

The judgment of the Yukon Court of Appeal is now the leading law on the case, and without intervention from the highest court in the country, the appeal court decision will stand, she explained.

The Court of Appeal decision, she insisted, was an error.

“We do have to proceed all the way through,” Joseph said of the need to see the case to the end.

“The Court of Appeal remedy ... going back ... certainly was an error,” she told the audience. “Anybody can see that.”

CPAWS executive director Chris Rider reminded the audience how the Peel planning process went on for seven years.

The Yukon government had all that time to provide feedback to the planning process, but chose not to, he said.

And in that decision not to be forthright, Rider explained, the courts found the government did not fulfill the honour of the Crown required by territorial and provincial governments in dealing with such matters.

Rider pointed out when the government submitted its arguments to the Supreme Court of Canada regarding why there was no reason to hear the case, it said the case did not have public or national importance.

The Peel watershed, he told the audience, is larger than Ireland, it’s the largest remaining stretch of pristine wilderness in North American.

“We truly believe this an issue of public and national importance,” said Rider, sparking loud applause.

Chief Bruce Charlie of the Vuntut Gwitchin First Nation said the Yukon government seems to think it has complete control over development on Crown land in the Yukon.

The Vuntut Gwitchin have long maintained they are not against sustainable development, but they will stand to protect the resources they feel need to be protected, he insisted.

Comments (4)

Up 4 Down 4

ProScience Greenie on Jun 22, 2016 at 1:37 pm

Not saying commercial activity cannot occur in a national park but it must be done so under the strictest science based rules and come with user fees. Parks are more free of undue influence and corruption than LUP. Better all around to create a big core park in the Peel that puts the eco-system first then LUP the buffer area around it where less restricted commercial activity can occur. Just not sure why a park has never been on the agenda to protect such an important place. Surely the Peel watershed has some kind of large national park written all over it.

Up 8 Down 2

The real issue is not coming forward on Jun 22, 2016 at 11:06 am

That land is for all stake holders to use and gain from it.
Land use planning on the Peel failed from the start just like the fracking process did.
You need a process that is managed by trained planners and other experts to flush all the stake holders needs and come forth with options that has a balanced approach to the land use for the Peel.
When politicians get involved the panning is finished.
According to this piece the Supreme Court will be asked to bring forth Ron Veal ruling but the court can't rule on that because it would be setting policy not law.
Only elected governments can set law.
History has shown that the re-do-over process will be required because of all the failures in the planning process.

Up 2 Down 6

BnR on Jun 21, 2016 at 7:17 pm

PSG
Nothing like taking things to an illogical conclusion.
Please explain how creating a park would keep out the "industry" you speak of. Look at any national park in Canada, and commercial interests continue. Kluane for example has commercial trips down the Alsek, commercial hiking trips etc. In the NWT, a recently created national park grandfathered in the outfitters in the area. National park, or any park for that matter, are not created in cookie cutter fashion.

Up 8 Down 14

ProScience Greenie on Jun 21, 2016 at 4:25 pm

Let's hope the SCoC insists that the creation of a large national park in the Peel Watershed be put on the table. CPAWS, YCS and the outfitters and eco-tourism industries may hate the idea of a park cutting into profits but it is the only way to provide true protection for that watershed.

FNs may not want a park and that's their right and their business but shame on the others for not pushing for park creation, especially CPAWS and YCS who have become nothing but industry lobbyists.

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