Residents of the Southern Lakes voiced almost unanimous opposition to fracking in the Yukon Wednesday evening, coming out in droves to address a legislative committee at the Carcross community hall.

Elder Charlie James, a Carcross-Tagish First Nation (CTFN) executive council member and lifelong area resident, was one of 98 registered speakers.

“We need to think about our future generations,” James said in an interview today.

“Nobody’s talked that much about what our concerns are.”

The CTFN recently passed a resolution declaring their opposition to hydraulic fracturing and shale gas development within their traditional lands.

“I think Yukoners have spoken loud and clear that fracking is not what they want in our territory,” James said.

Elke Huber, a Tagish resident for nearly two decades, told the select committee that fracking is “immoral” and amounted to “ruthless exploitation” of the environment.

“Using the method of fracking is a crime against life because it consciously accepts that millions of litres of fresh and clean water will be turned into chemical waste and stored deep underground,” she said last night.

“There is no method to safely dispose of this wastewater. We would leave this toxic cocktail for our children and grandchildren.”

Hydraulic fracturing involves pumping pressurized water, sand and chemicals underground to release natural gas trapped within the shale rock.

The issue remains controversial around the country, with more than 174,000 wells already fracked in Alberta alone.

Southern Lakes residents organized a barbecue and served up grilled moose burgers outside the Carcross Community Club before the public hearing, which began at 5 p.m.

Carcross-area musician Lee Mennell played a rendition of his “123 What Are We Fracking For?” a riff on Country Joe’s classic 1967 protest song, “I-Feel-Like-I’m-Fixin’-to-Die Rag.”

Attendees joined in for the chorus, stomping their feet and clapping their hands to add a lighter note to the gathering.

Inside the hall, one woman refused to address the committee panel directly, turning around to face the assembly instead.

“I want to be respectful of my audience. I want them to see me,” she said.

The proceedings were standing room only for the first two hours.

“The people were lined up against the walls,” Huber noted.

The committee extended the hearing to accommodate the overwhelming community response, staying until 9 p.m.

“There were even young people there, which is something we haven’t seen that often yet,” Huber noted.

One CTFN citizen told the panel of politicians: “Even if you say yes, we say no to fracking.”

Jannik Schou, who lives along Deep Creek north of Whitehorse, attended the four-hour affair.

“It was quite incredible,” he said, remarking on the stream of nearly 100 speakers to and from the microphone last night.

“Every single one of them was voicing their opposition toward fracking.”

The Select Committee Regarding the Risks and Benefits of Hydraulic Fracturing will hold public hearings at 5 p.m. today and at 1 p.m. Saturday at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre in Whitehorse.

The committee also met with community members in Haines Junction on Tuesday evening.

Formed in May 2013, the select committee is made up of six MLAs: chair Patti McLeod, Currie Dixon and Darius Elias from the Yukon Party; vice-chair Lois Moorcroft and Jim Tredger from the NDP; and Liberal Sandy Silver.

By the end of the week, the committee will have held hearings in 12 communities since June.

Since its formation, it has put out three progress reports, accessible online along with the hearings transcripts.

Fracking has proved one of the most controversial issues in local and global discussions of resources development, environmental integrity and climate change.

France and Bulgaria, which have the largest shale-gas reserves in Europe, have banned fracking.

Even popular culture icons like the Rolling Stones and Matt Damon have added their voices to the conversation.

The Stones’ 2012 single “Doom and Gloom” foresees a dire environmental destiny while The Promised Land, from the same year, focuses its dramatic lens on a natural gas company salesman in a small town.

Although documentaries like 2010’s Gasland have cast a shadow on the fracking industry, shale gas extracted from depths of thousands of feet has rarely been shown to contaminate drinking water drawn from depths of only hundreds of feet.

Instances of methane leaking into aquifers in regions where shale-gas drilling occurs is an ongoing concern.

Many also argue that fracking is a much cleaner process than coal mining due to shale gas extraction’s lower CO2 emissions.

However, incomplete burning can release methane into the atmosphere, which can trap up to 20 times more CO2.