Yukon First Nations are asking all Yukoners to join them in the fight against a handful of proposed amendments to the territory’s environmental assessment process.

A public forum will be held from 7 to 9 p.m. next Thursday at the Kwanlin Dun Cultural Centre, First Nation representatives explained during an hour-long press conference this morning.

Roger Brown told reporters the government-to-government discussions that should be occurring over the amendments not agreed to by the Yukon First Nations are just not happening.

It’s important now to engage the entire Yukon so that parliamentarians in Ottawa will hear clearly the level of anxiety being raised, said Brown, the manager of environment and natural resources for the Champagne and Aishihik First Nations.

Brown emphasized this is not an issue just for First Nations, but for the whole territory.

“The amendments will put our environment, our economy and our Yukon at risk,” he insisted. “They will create uncertainty, and they will increase the likelihood of litigation.”

Brown said next week’s forum provides an opportunity for all Yukoners to share their views and emphasize their concerns.

The leadership of the Council for Yukon First Nations (CYFN) – the chiefs of the 11 self-governing First Nations – passed a resolution calling for a public lobby effort to help send the message to Canada’s capital.

A 12-page glossy brochure was released this morning outlining the specific issues related to a few of the 70-plus amendments, amendments the First Nations say they had no hand in crafting, but should have been involved.

The proposed amendments to the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act, Bill S-6, have already received third and final approval by the Senate, and are now before the House of Commons for review.

Support for Bill S-6 has been expressed by industry in general, including local companies and industry organizations.

Daryn Leas, a lawyer for the CYFN, joined Brown in explaining the amendments of concern and how they were crafted by the federal government with no input from the First Nations.

A couple of the key concerns, as explained by Leas, provide the federal minister responsible for assessments with the authority to dictate policy direction to the assessment board.

It allows the federal minister to transfer that authority to the territorial minister responsible for assessments, so that the territorial minister could dictate assessment policy to the board, it was explained.

There is a grave concern over the proposed shift in timelines to shorten assessments, new timelines which even raised red flags with the assessment board and prompted the board to voice those concerns during the Senate hearings.

The CYFN lawyer said at this point there has been no decision to launch legal action, because until the amendments are passed into law, there is nothing to challenge.

There is no question the handful of amendments that were injected into Bill S-6 at the last minute by Ottawa break the spirit and intent of the territory’s aboriginal land claim agreements, under which the assessment process was created, Leas said.

He said he was at the table in 1998 when the foundation of the Yukon Environmental and Socio-economic Assessment Act was negotiated among Ottawa, the Yukon government and the First Nations.

The First Nations went to great lengths to make sure the assessment process would not be under the control or influence of any of the three levels of governments, that it would enjoy and maintain independence, he explained.

Leas said the amendments of concern represent a significant departure from what was agreed to.

Any changes to land claims agreements can only occur with the approval of all three parties, Leas acknowledged.

He said Bill S-6 may run afoul of that guarantee that there will be no changes without consensus.

“Our concern, quite frankly, is to make sure the environmental review process maintains its integrity,” Leas said.

“In our view, there is a federal agenda to streamline the environmental process in Canada.”

Leas said it runs along the same vein as Ottawa’s amendments to the federal Fisheries Act, the Species at Risk Act and the Canadian Environmental Assessment Act.

Brown said the threat of legal action does not rest with First Nations alone.

Non-government organizations or even individuals who feel an assessment process has been subject to political interference or inadequate for reasons of hasty timelines will be in a position to launch legal action, he said.

Brown said there is nothing more than the threat of legal action, uncertainty in the assessment and regulatory process, that sends a chill down the spine of industry, a chill that spills into the economy.

Since coming into effect in 2005, the assessment process has worked fine, and should left alone other than the 70 amendments all parties agreed to during the five-year review, Brown and Leas insisted.

The two noted they have requested that once Bill S-6 passes second reading and goes before the parliamentary committee for detailed review, that the parliamentary committee hold hearings in Whitehorse.

But they haven’t heard anything.