The First Nation of Nacho Nyak Dun (NND) has raised serious concerns that oral statements contributed by elders during the most recent round of Peel consultation open houses are not being considered by the Yukon government.

In a press release issued Wednesday, the First Nation noted that the government's recently published What We Heard document doesn't include any of the oral comments made by elders at the Mayo consultation session.

Nor have they been included on the government's consultation website, the First Nation said.

"This is of great concern to our First Nation,” Nacho Nyak Dun Chief Ed Champion said in the release.

"We come from an oral tradition, and when our elders made their way to the community open house in December, in -35 temperatures, they expected that their oral input would be included. So did many other NND citizens who got up to speak that evening,” he said.

The release criticizes the open house format, arguing that it was not structured to accommodate oral feedback.

"It took place in a small room with maps and displays, but no chairs for elders or others to sit on, and no opportunities for people to share their views other than in writing,” it says.

Champion also takes issue with the government's count of only 37 residents having visited the Mayo open house.

That evening, a second room was used because the first couldn't accommodate all the people, he says, estimating in the release that there were more than 60 people in attendance between the two rooms.

"We were not happy with the way the public consultation was conducted, and I feel that our citizens did their best to participate in this important process,” he said.

"It's a huge disappointment for our people to see those efforts overlooked, and I am quite concerned about the cavalier manner in which the inter-governmental consultations will be approached in the near future,” he said.

Matthew Grant, the director of cabinet communications, said late this morning the government staff took notes of any oral comments made at the open houses.

Those notes were provided to the author of the What We Heard document for inclusion in the report, Grant said.

Those opinions were not included in the online registry because the government didn't want to publish a paraphrased version of comments. The input included online is word for word, he noted.

"People at that meeting were encouraged to fill out post-it notes, and of course they also had the opportunity to call in, email in, write in a letter, that sort of thing,” said Grant.

Some oral comments were video-recorded at the Whitehorse open house.

Grant was unable to confirm before deadline this afternoon whether those comments, which could be transcribed, would be uploaded to the consultation site.

Champion could not be reached for further comment before deadline.