Elders, youth, leaders and representatives of the Yukon First Nations have declared a climate change emergency.

Regional Chief Kluane Adamek of the Assembly of First Nations (AFN) held a press conference late Tuesday afternoon after three days of a Climate Action Gathering in Whitehorse hosted by the AFN with financial support from the federal government.

Joining Adamek at the press conference were Vuntut Gwitchin Chief Dana Tizya-Tramm and Emily McDougall, a youth delegate and the AFN’s climate co-ordinator.

Together, they explained how it was a special gathering to bring together the views of the youth, the knowledge of the elders and the leadership of community leaders to create a declaration that embodies the Indigenous point of view.

It is the Indigenous people, after all, who have occupied, have lived on, who have been a part of the land since time immemorial, they said.

“We have spent two incredible days together,” Adamek said.

She said the declaration will be followed up with an action plan.

The declaration must be supported by an action plan, she said.

The plan, the regional chief explained, will be similar to setting carbon reduction targets in the Paris Agreement but it will be forged here.

Adamek said the declaration embodies the Indigenous view. The action plan will embody traditional knowledge, and a traditional approach to arrive at solutions, she said.

She said the climate emergency declaration is a step toward bringing together First Nations not just from across the North but from across Canada.

It will feed into the national two-day climate gathering the AFN is hosting in Whitehorse next month, Adamek said.

The regional chief said the people of the Kluane region know climate change is real, just like the Vuntut Gwitchin of Old Crow know it’s real.

“We know that climate change is here,” Adamek said. “We experience it in our communities more than anywhere else in the world.

“The declaration is seeking to bring together the First Nations.”

This week’s climate change gathering began Sunday with a day dedicated to providing the youth and elders with an opportunity to talk, to get know each other and to share their views.

Monday and Tuesday saw some 100 participants listen to representations from experts in the field of climate change and community leaders discuss a variety of topics, including renewable energy alternatives.

“It’s has been a very transformative and inspiring few days,” said the youth delegate and climate change co-ordinator.

McDougall said the gathering presented an opportunity to hear from youth who came from across the Yukon, northern B.C. and the Northwest Territories.

It was an opportunity for the youth and elders to share their thoughts openly, she said.

The Vuntut Gwitchin chief said the ability to deny climate change is a luxury Yukon First Nations simply don’t have.

The gathering provided delegates with a chance to provide a modern day view of how the world is changing by people who’ve been on the land for thousands and thousands of years, Tizya-Tramm said.

He said it has fostered the truest form of inherent self-government, supported by traditional knowledge.

Yukon First Nations know climate change is real, and they know they have to respond, said the Gwitchin chief, whose First Nation became the first to declare a climate emergency with its declaration last summer.

“We need to respond, and yes, we have our own solutions,” said Tizya-Tramm.

The climate change emergency declarations by the youth and the gathering as a whole were unavailable this morning as they were awaiting final approval.

The City of Whitehorse and the Yukon’s legislative assembly both declared climate change as an emergency late last year.

It’s commonly accepted that climate change is occurring in the North two to three times faster than anywhere else in Canada.